Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: Facility investment and having dedicated officials were part of the recommendations made by AFC to improve clubs’ chances of qualifying for the next edition of the AFC Champions League as an inspection visit concluded in Thailand.
A meeting between the AFC, Football Association of Thailand (FAT) General Secretary Ong Arj and Thai Premier League (TPL) CEO Dr. Vichit Yamboonruang as well as a press conference were the last activities of the last day of the visit by the AFC Special Mission Team (SMT).
TPL’s Dr Yamboonruang said during the visit’s closing: “We are very happy to complete the successful inspection with the AFC SMT team. They provided their knowledge and experience to our league and clubs and we appreciate again the AFC's support to this project.
“I am sure that it would be of great help to the development of our professional football. This time, they inspected the eight clubs whose stadiums needed to be verified whether they could meet the ACL Criteria. Also they consulted our clubs about the youth development programmes and sound financial model for club operations.
“Especially, the SMT team emphasised about the importance of improvement in our flood lighting system which currently requires only 600 lux in average. We will work hard to improve this area for our league and broadcasters.”
SMT Head Steve Kim added his comments that included some recommendations for the league and clubs improvement: “We are delighted to come back again to Thailand with an observation of improvements in some areas such as branding and various communication platforms at league and club level. Also we were impressed by the active match day experience programmes and investment in facility by a new club or promoted clubs.
“Especially, we’d like to congratulate Buriram's advancement to the quarterfinal stage in the current edition of the ACL and it's not a one-night’s achievement. You proved your hard work in professional football development. At the same time, we would like to encourage the league and clubs to look at a couple of elements which will help increase the value of your league and clubs. First of all, the flood lighting system is not up to the standard which AFC requires.
“We would like to urge you to give more attention and establish a mid-term plan for investment in this facility. The TPL is becoming a popular product in this local market and you need to take advantage of this opportunity to develop it.
“Secondly, clubs need to think about having dedicated officials for a certain function such as event manager, competition (match operation) manager or media officer who understands how to do a quality control of the delivery of your product. It will make a difference gradually in the end in terms of the value of your product.
“Lastly we’d like to advise league and clubs to make a proper use of their facility to prepare for match days and non-match days. Some clubs have a good facility, but we found out that they operated wrongly as there had been no consultation of an expert group such as FIFA, AFC, FA or League.
“We look forward to seeing more improved Thai Premier League and clubs in 2014,” Kim concluded.
The main objective of the mission was 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 carried 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.