by Harry Webb
20th February, 2015
September 1998, Thailand achieved their highest FIFA ranking in their history, ranked 43rd in the world. 17 years later, find ourselves ranked 143rd. To put it into perspective, there are 209 FIFA credited nations, and somehow Thailand, a football loving nation is ranked 143rd.
Our South East Asian neighbors (Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines) are above us. Although, just recently Thailand won the AFC Suzuki Cup, to be named the Champions in South-East-Asia and there were some positives to take.
A football loving country with a population of just over 67million is ranked 143rd in the world. Luxembourg (Population approx: 488,000), Faroe Islands (Population approx: 50,000) and Haiti (Population approx.: 10.32million), all ranked higher than Thailand. I scroll up and look at some of the teams above us and it amazes me. The likes of Luxembourg (129th), Faroe Islands (105th) and Haiti (78th), finding themselves in the top 100, are all above Thailand. No disrespect to any of those countries, but surely Thailand is a better footballing nation in terms of potential and the ability of young players (12 and Under). However, to a certain extent, I believe, the FIFA rankings don’t show the full image.
Thailand is a country that lives and breathes football. We are talking about a nation that is football mad. On the weekends, pubs, bars, restaurants, they all have football on, the English Premier League, La Liga and in recent years the Thai Premier League.
From the highest FIFA Ranking in Thai Football History (43rd), within 7 years, in 2005 they had fallen dramatically to 111th. 1 year later, fallen even further to 137th. Thai Football scares me. I believe now compared to 10 years ago, Thai Football has grown drastically and I believe a lot of that is down to the Fans. Though there have been improvements, more could have been done. The Thai FA and Thai Football Clubs have to look at themselves and ask are they doing as much as they can. Changes need to be made. There are problems now that were present 10 years ago.
Thai Football Academies
All over the world, teams professional teams have football academies. That is to a certain extent the same for some Thai clubs.Chonburi, BEC Tero, Buriam even Pattaya United (although recently I’ve been told it has folded), all have football academies. Although, most of these academies only consist of an U19 team and that’s as far as it gets. Teams don’t have their own Academy headquarters and facilities, meaning there are no structured academies, where you have a U8s all the way to U21s team. How can clubs not see the benefits of academies?
I’ve been told Thai Teams do have ‘academies’ but done a little differently, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as we are talking about Thailand here, where anything is possible.I’ve heard that Thai Teams do have academies, but they are completely different teams, meaning they will have a local U8 team as part of their academy, however, the local team is not allowed to use the clubs name (Confusing). It is a very complicated situation. All this wouldn’t be a problem if there were actual football academies, which no doubt would help develop and produce better Thai footballers. A chain reaction happens after this, it is clear:
Academies = More opportunities for younger players & more opportunities for coaches. This results in more developed coaches & better players (from the playing experience, the training, the coaching, etc). This all leads to an improvement in the men’s (Possibly one day women’s) leagues, making it more competitive. Also giving a greater pool of players to choose from for all age groups in International Thai Football. This results in more commercialisation, thus more people in Thailand being interested in Football (E.g Suzuki Cup), resulting in more fans at games. The benefits just go on!
Surely, just surely you think someone in one of the top positions in Thai football realises Thailand need structured academies. Academies where youngsters all over Thailand can dream of being part of, can dream of one day becoming a footballer, playing in the Thai Leagues and maybe one day play for the national team.
Coaching Standard
To coach in Asia, you must have your Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifications. Question is, how many of the coaches in Thailand actually do have it? I am sure not many people in Thailandhave ever heard of AFC courses (E.g. AFC License C). Whereas, if you are talking to someone who is interested in football in a European country (E.g. England), they will have heard of FA Level 1 all the way to the UEFA Pro License. I had no idea about the AFC License C course, till maybe a year ago. There is hardly any information on it out there.
Using England as an example, every county in England has its own county FA that provide Footballing qualifications, EVERYcounty. Courses aren’t difficult to find and not difficult to enrol. Coach education does help lead to more effective coaches especially for a country like Thailand where the football is developing. Coach education has a massive part to play.
How many AFC License C courses are done in Thailand? How many a year? How do you enrol on them? I don’t know. This is basic information that the Thai FA should be providing, especially if they want to help Thai Football.I can tell you now between now and the beginning of August, the Devon FA have 9 FA Level 1 courses (The very first course to start you in English Football Coaching). This is just 1 county and 1 course amongst many others that are available.
This may not come as a surprise, but I believe many of these coaches in Thailand are getting jobs because they know the owner, or they know someone important at the club. It comes back to that argument where “It’s not what you know but who you know”. But it is clear the WRONG people are getting jobs, it is clear that they shouldn’t even be there because of their qualifications! It seems in order to become a coach in Thai Football, you need a small understanding of the game like watching the Premier League every week and you’re sorted. These decisions are impacting Thai Football, for the worst.
This is a big big problem. A lot of the Thai Coaches I have come in contact with have a background in the police force, army, politics etc. Individuals aspiring to become football coaches need coach education, not just for the qualifications but also for the knowledge, ESPECIALLY within Thai Football, where it is developing. More effective coaches allow a better learning experience for young players, thus resulting in more developed physically, psychologically, socially and technically better players.
Mentality
The mentality amongst Thai players needs to change. I see too many cases where Thai players get easily frustrated and make a mistake such as kicking out towards a player, which is easily avoidable. This was no different in the Suzuki Cup 2nd leg in Malaysia. When Thailand went 3-0 down, you could see that negative mentality, where players started to lash out. This mentality results in silly challenges being made and silly bookings. These all accumulate and may result in a key player missing an important fixture. Not just that, this has a knock on effect on teammates. This mentality of giving up is amongst many Thai league teams not just the national team. It is also amongst teams in grassroots level, where the footballing pathway starts.
Thai players technically and tactically are very good from a young age, though when the going gets tough, many players hide, many players give up. You see Thai teams go down 3 – 0 and start shooting from ridiculous angles/distances or start making silly fouls on a consistent basis. Thailand need to move towards a never die attitude, where if they are down 3 – 0 within half an hour, to keep going and maintaining that high work ethic. I’ve seen articles saying “Just the beginning for Kiatisuk’s kids” after the Suzuki Cup 2014 win. There were many positives to take, but the same poor mentality was present amongst the team. This has been around for years.
Thai FA
14th January 2015, after searching long and hard for contact details, I believe I managed to contact the Thai FA. I contacted them regarding the AFC License C course, with hope that I would get some useful information. To my disappointment, I did not receive a reply, still haven’t. I had contacted asking about the possibility of enrolling on an ‘AFC License C’ course and other information such as, the duration, the prices amongst other things. I had given them basic information about myself regarding my football knowledge and qualifications and the coaching degree I am finishing. You would think the Football Association of your own country would help you develop as a coach. Not just help you, but on a larger scale help Thai Football.
I am sure there are thousands of people in Thailand just like myself who want to coach Football. Where are the opportunities? How can we find out when even the Thai FA doesn’t respond? This one moment just summed up the Thai FA and Thai Football for me, poorly structured and poorly organized.
There are many more problems in Thai Football, Grassroots, Match Officials, Facilities, Club Structures, and Marketing, amongst many others. I thought I would just give you some of the problems in what I believe to be the main areas.
Thai Football is suffering. I believe the individuals in powerful positions have let the Thai Football Community down. They have not done as much as they could have and this dates further back before my first live Thai Football Game in 2008.
Though I do want to end on a positive note. The development of any sport, the most difficult part is gaining an interest into the sport. This isn’t a problem for Thai Football. There is so much potential. Thai football is like a dormant volcano, where under the right conditions, is ready to erupt.
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