Surat storm to the top!

Surat Thani stormed to the top of the 1st Division after defeating Sisaket 2-0 on Wednesday.

It makes a big difference from last year when they struggled at the bottom of the table and just avoided relegation.

So, Ok, they have played one more game than everyone else, but everyone knows i've got a soft spot for any team from the south, so to see them leading it's great cause for celebration.

That's hope, come Saturday, they will still be Kingpins, as the 1st Division comes centre stage as the TPL takes a weeks break for the Tawna Sripan testimonial game against the Tai Airways sponsored New Zealand!

Weekends Results

Premier League Results:

March 21

Bangkok Glass 1 v 0 Sriracha (Leo Stadium)
Chula United 0 v 2 Thai Port (Chulalongkorn University Sports Stadium)
TTM Samut Sakhon 1 v 2 BEC Tero Sasana (Samut Sakhon Stadium)

March 22

TOT 0 v 0 Muang Thong United (Thai Army Sports Stadium)
Nakhon Pathom 0 v 1 Osotsapa M-150 (Kastetsart Kamphengsan Stadium)
PEA 2 v 0 Bangkok United (Ayutthaya Stadium)
Rajnavy Rayong 2 v 0 Samut Songkhram (Rayong Stadium)
Pattaya United 0 v 0 Chonburi (Nongprue Municipality Football Field)

Well, what can i say?

Looks like it's going to be another long low scoring season in the TPL.

Osotsapa have played all 3 games away so far, and next time out on 4th April (after International game break) they will be playing at their new home. The Thanarom Village Park. This could be the best thing to look forward to for a while.


Division One Results

March 21

Chanthaburi 2 - 3 Police United (Chanthaburi Stadium)
PTT 2 - 1 Rattana Bundit (Chonburi Physical Education Institute Stadium)
Suphanburi 3 - 0 Khonkaen (Suphanburi Municipality Stadium)


March 22

Prachinburi 0 - 0 Royal Thai Air Force (Prachinburi Central Sports Stadium)
Thai Airways 1 - 2 Surat Thani (Banbung Stadium)
Thai Honda 3 - 0 Nakhon Sawan (72-years Anniversary Stadium)
Songkhla 1 - 1 Sisaket (Jiranakorn Stadium, Hat Yai)

Great kick off to the season.

Thai Honda thumped Nakhon Sawan, which to me, tells me that Nakhon shouldn't be playing at this level. A long hard season is predicted for them!!

Suphanburi will surely be strong, but last year they did score plenty, but also conceded plenty.

Persoanlly, for me, i was interested in the Surat Thani and Songkha gams, both being from the South. 3 decent points picked up for Surat. For Songkhla, the next few weeks will tell if it was a decent 1 point against Sisaket, whom were also promoted from last years Division 2.


There's a mid week match in Division 1 this week and then the return of the newly formed 2nd Division, which kicks off with Friday night football!!

Weekend Fixtures: Return of Division One!!

Premier League Fixtures:

March 21

Bangkok Glass v Sriracha (Leo Stadium)
Chula United v Thai Port (Chulalongkorn University Sports Stadium)
TTM Samut Sakhon v BEC Tero Sasana (Samut Sakhon Stadium)

March 22

TOT v Muang Thong United (Thai Army Sports Stadium)
Nakhon Pathom v Osotsapa M-150 (Kastetsart Kamphengsan Stadium)
PEA v Bangkok United (Ayutthaya Stadium)
Rajnavy Rayong v Samut Songkhram (Rayong Stadium)
Pattaya United v Chonburi (Nongprue Municipality Football Field)

By all accounts, TOT will play at the Army Stadium and then move to their new home the game after. Pattaya - Chonburi game should be a cracker.


Division One Fixtures

March 21

Chanthaburi - Police United (Chanthaburi Stadium)
PTT - Rattana Bundit (Chonburi Physical Education Institute Stadium)
Suphanburi - Khonkaen (Suphanburi Municipality Stadium)


March 22

Prachinburi - Royal Thai Air Force (Prachinburi Central Sports Stadium)
Thai Airways - Surat Thani (Banbung Stadium)
Thai Honda - Nakhon Sawan (72-years Anniversary Stadium)
Songkhla - Sisaket (Jiranakorn Stadium, Hat Yai)

March 25

Surat Thani - Sisaket


Not sure why, but Royal Thai Army and Customs Department games have been
removed for this week

National Team Callups

Thailand play New Zealand next week (28th) for Tawan Sripan's farewell game.

A few new players have been added to the squad:

Nantawat Thansopa of Bangkok Glass, last years AFC Champions League leading goalscorer.

Keerati Keawsombat of TOT who has started the recent season on fire.

Tanapat Na Tarue, an experienced Defensive Midfielder for Muang.

Recalls have also been given to Vietnamese based Nirut Surasiang and Sakda Joemdee, along with the return of Kiatprawut Saiwaeo, who has been out injured for a long while.

TPL - Matchday 2 Results

15.03.2009 Sriracha FC 0-3 Thai Port
15.03.2009 Nakhon Pathom FC 3-1 Pattaya United
15.03.2009 Muang Thong United 2-1 Rajnavy Rayong
15.03.2009 Samut Songkhram 0-1 TOT FC
14.03.2009 Chonburi FC 1-0 Osotsapa FC
14.03.2009 Bangkok Utd 2-1 TTM Samut Sakhon
14.03.2009 BEC Tero Sasana 0-1 Provincial Electricity Authority
14.03.2009 Chula United 1-2 Bangkok Glass


Sriracha and Rajnavy appear to be struggling to live up to the hype in the top flight.

BEC have had 2 games against championship opposition and lost both 1-0. I'm sure they will overcome this, but i think it tells us that they aren't really championship contenders this year.

Chonburi contnue to plow on with the 1-0 wins. Something that kind of annoys me really. They have such a huge support base and an excellent defence but they don't take the game to teams. Surely they should start to really finish teams off?

Now my surprise package this year is going to be TOT. I think their win away to Samut Songkhram will go un-noticed, but i doubt many more teams will take points away to Samut.

Thai League Dropouts

Nakhon Sawan have been re-invited to the 1st Division after the Army Welfair Dept dropped out after securing promotion from Division 2 last year.

Full list of dropouts since FAT went professional earlier this year:

Bangkok Bank
Krung Thai Bank
Coke-Bangpra

Army Welfair Department
Airforce Training College
Marine College

Navy Fleet Support
Thonburi College


To be honest, it's probably for the best that these teams did drop out in this new era.

Royal Thai Police have also re-named themselves as Police United!

TPL Round 1 Results

PEA 0 - 1 Osotsapa M-150 (Ayutthaya Stadium)
Chonburi 1 - 0 BEC Tero Sasana (Princess Sirindhorn Stadium)
Bangkok Glass 1 - 1 TOT (Leo Stadium)
Samut Songkhram 3 - 0 Chula Utd (Samut Songkhram Stadium)
Bangkok Utd 0 - 0 Nakhon Pathom (Thai-Japanese Stadium)
Pattaya Utd 1 - 1 Sriracha (Nongprue Municipality Football Field)
Muang Thong Utd 3 - 0 Thai Port (Thunderdome Sport Complex)
Rajnavy Rayong 0 - 3 TTM Samut Sakhon (Rayong Stadium)

Outstanding result of the weekend must go to Muang, so OK, they have an all star lineup, but as a club to play there frist ever game in the top flight and defeat a side that has more or less been there since 1996 by 3 goals to nil, then thats telling something to the league.

PEA getting beat on the first weekend of the season, maybe not such a surprise to the guys in the know, they do seem to be having some troubles, but to be honest, getting beat by Osotsapa doesn't say much to me. Osotsapa are one of these teams that can beat the big boys but not quite match them at the end of the season.

Chonburi started life once again as one of the favorites and beat another potiental rival in BEC. Again Chonburi are keeping thigns tight in defence and not scoring many, this weekends goal came from a free kick. This year, we may again see Chonburi concede vert few, but again fail to score on a regular basis.

Rajnavy have shown in the last decade that they are a yo-yo team, again after this weekend's result, they seem to want to keep up this unwanted statistic.

I was very surprised with the Samut Songkhram result, winnign 3-0. Maybe this tells us more about Chula, and possibly a big struggle for them this year.

Bangkok Glass, with practically last years KTB team got life underway with a 1-1 draw with TOT and in the big Chonburi derby, Pattaya and Sriracha drew 1-1. A think after about 5 - 6 weeks of the season we will start to see just what these two teams can do.

For full results and scorers visit this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Premier_League_2009_Fixtures_%26_Results

Division 2 Confirmed Clubs

This is what supposedly makes up the new Division 2 League, but don't count on it until a ball is kicked!!

Northern Region

Kamphaeng Phet FC
Chai Nat FC
Chiangrai United FC
Chiang Mai FC
Tak FC
Nakhon Sawan FC
Phichit FC
Phitsanulok FC
Phetchabun FC
Phrae FC
Sukhothai FC
Uttaradit FC

North Eastern Region

Chaiyaphum United FC
Surin FC
Nakhon Phanom FC
Nakhon Ratchasima FC
Buriram FC
Mukdahan-Savannakiet FC
Roi Et FC
Loei FC
Sakon Nakon FC
Udon Thani FC
Ubon Ratchathani FC
Ubon United FC

Central & Eastern Region

Cha Choeng Sao FC
Thai Summit Samut Prakan FC
Nakhon Nayok FC
Prachuap Khiri Khan FC
Rayong FC
Ratchaburi FC
Rose Asia Pathum Thani FC
Lopburi FC
Saraburi FC
Sing Buri FC
Ayutthaya FC

Southern Region

Krabi FC
Nakhon Si Thammarat FC
Narathiwat FC
Pattani FC
Phattalung FC
Phuket FC
Yala FC
Satun FC

Bangkok & Field Region

Bangkok Christian College FC
Bangkok Bravo FC
Bangkok North Central ASSN FC
Kasetsart University FC
Kasem Bundit University FC
Rangsit University FC
Nakhon Sawan Rajabhat University FC
Raj Pracha FC
Raj-Vithi FC
North Bangkok College FC
Samut Prakan FC

The Big Kick Off!

The 2009 Premier League campiagn kick's off tomorrow:

Fixtures played on 7th & 8th of March.

PEA - Osotsapa M-150 (Ayutthaya Stadium)
Chonburi - BEC Tero Sasana (Princess Sirindhorn Stadium)
Bangkok Glass - TOT (Leo Stadium)
Samut Songkhram - Chula Utd (Samut Songkhram Stadium)
Bangkok Utd - Nakhon Pathom (Thai-Japanese Stadium)
Pattaya Utd - Sriracha (Nongprue Municipality Football Field)
Muang Thong Utd - Thai Port (Thunderdome Sport Complex)
Rajnavy Rayong - TTM Samut Sakhon (Rayong Stadium)

Chonburi Claim Kor Royal Cup

Chonburi defeated 2008 Thai Premier League Champiosn PEA 1-0 in the season opener to claim the 2nd piece of silverware on offer this season.

Details of the game here (Thai Script): http://www.fat.or.th/web/news_detail.php?nid=01171