BANGKOK (18 July 2013) – Dr. Vichit Yamboonruang, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Thai Premier League (TPL) said this week that Thailand are seeking to take their professional football to a different level and rigorously working to bring Thai football on par with other AFC Champions League playing countries.
Speaking during the official opening of an AFC Special Mission Team visit to Thailand, Dr. Vichit assured AFC on Thailand’s endeavour to promote and develop their football through the Thai Premier League.
“We still have a long way to catch up with the other top ACL participating nations but we are continuously working and we are proud of what we have achieved,” said Dr. Vichit, who is also the co -opted member of the AFC Ad-hoc Committee for Professional League.
“I am sure that the new clubs in TPL will find this inspection visit very useful as they will understand the criteria they may need to meet as a professional club and they will also get an insight into the club licensing system which we are implementing soon.”
The AFC Special Mission Team (SMT) started their inspections of various TPL clubs across Thailand to evaluate the progress made by the league and clubs.
The main objective of the mission is to review the club licensing system of the Thai Premier League and inspection of the eight Premier League clubs including those who were promoted last season.
The SMT will carry out their assessment and inspection visits of Army United, Bangkok United, BEC Tero Sasana, Ratchaburi FC, Suphanburi FC, Don Mueang United, Songkhla United and Chaiangrai United.
Ratchaburi, Suphanburi and Bangkok United finished respectively in the top three positions in Division 1 last year and were promoted to the Thai Premier League.
“We can take an example of Buriram United (pix) who will be featuring in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League in September. They are the example of how Thai clubs are progressing in play,” highlighted AFC’s head of the SMT delegation Steve Kim.
“Thailand is one of the countries who made remarkable improvements and took football development to a new height since the SMT inspection project kick-started.”
