'Breaking' the structure of the domestic tournament, Thailand clearly shows its determination to win the AFF Cup

Up to now, Thailand has finalized the plan to play international friendlies from now until before the AFF Cup 2024 starts in early December. Specifically, the Thai team will compete with the Russian team and the Vietnamese team in September, organize the King's Cup at home, with the participation of the Philippines, Syria and Tajikistan in October, then play a friendly match with Lebanon in November.

The Thai team has a busy schedule of matches and friendlies in late 2024.

The Thai football team has a full schedule from now until the end of the year. In addition, to focus on the AFF Cup, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has adjusted the domestic tournament schedule to avoid the time of the 2024 Southeast Asian Football Championship.

Accordingly, the final match of the first leg of the 2024-2025 Thai-League will take place on December 1, giving the Thai national team 1 week to gather and prepare for the 2024 AFF Cup opening on December 8.

After that, the second leg of the Thai-League is scheduled to take place on January 10-12, 2025, about 5-7 days after the end of the 2024 AFF Cup (the second leg of the AFF Cup final will take place on January 5, 2024). The round of 32 of the Thai Cup, instead of taking place during the AFF Cup, will be moved up early, taking place on October 30. With the group of 4 Thai clubs competing in the 2 Asian cups, AFC Champions League Elite and AFC Champions League 2, including Buriram United (AFC Champions League Elite), Bangkok United, Port FC and Muangthong United (AFC Champions League 2), the FAT will have additional separate meetings with these clubs.

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Thai-League matches are arranged to fit the Thai national team's training camp.

The reason is that the 6th round of the AFC Champions League Elite group stage ends on December 4, while the 6th round of the AFC Champions League 2 group stage ends on December 5, close to the opening day of the AFF Cup (December 8), so the FAT will convince the above clubs to "release" players to the national team soon, right after the 6th round of the group stage of the Asian Cups ends.

Of the four clubs mentioned above, FAT is likely to reach an agreement with Port FC, as this club is owned by the family of billionaire Nualphan Lamsam (often called Madam Pang), the current president of FAT. Meanwhile, Buriram United's president Newin Chidchob is an ally of Madam Pang in the FAT presidential election a few months ago, so the possibility of FAT successfully convincing Buriram United is also very high. They only need to continue negotiating with the remaining two clubs: Muangthong United and Bangkok United.

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All of the above moves show that Thai football is determined to defend the AFF Cup championship, determined to maintain their number 1 position in Southeast Asia, amidst the rise of Indonesia and the competition of Vietnamese and Malaysian football. There is no such thing as Thai football “giving up” the AFF Cup as some previous comments.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/pha-vo-ket-cau-giai-quoc-noi-thai-lan-lo-ro-quyet-tam-vo-dich-aff-cup-185240903152218976.htm