​Thailand team is at risk of being eliminated from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Vietnam benefits

The election of the President of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) on February 12, 2020 has only 2 candidates. They are Mr. Worawi Makudi, former President of the Football Association of Thailand, former member of the FIFA Executive Committee and current President Somyos Pumpanmuang. Recently, Mr. Worawi Makudi sent a request to the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) to remove the current President of FAT - Somyos Pumpanmuang from the nomination list. The Sports Authority of Thailand then intervened, this is an action against FIFA regulations.

FIFA is very determined

The election for the President of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) on February 12, 2020 has only two candidates, Mr. Worawi Makudi (left), former President of FAT and current President Somyos Pumpanmuang. Photo: FAT

Immediately, FIFA, the world's most powerful football body, sent an official statement to the Football Association of Thailand: "FIFA has received the letters dated January 29 and February 5, 2020, regarding the election process of the Football Association of Thailand. In this context, we would like to draw your attention to your concerns about the FAT's interference in the election process."

"Therefore, we hope that the Football Association of Thailand can hold the election independently on February 12, 2020 in accordance with FIFA regulations. FIFA and AFC observers will also participate. We encourage you to immediately notify us if there is any interference from the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) in this election."

Former FAT President Worawi Makudi, who is a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, announced his return to Thai football with the message "I will appoint Kiatisak as head coach to regain the number one position in Southeast Asia from Vietnam".

Remember, Mr. Worawi was previously suspended by FIFA from all football-related activities for 3.5 years, due to his involvement in the suspicion of receiving “kickbacks” from votes supporting Russia to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar in 2022. Now the suspension period has ended and this is considered the right time for “boss” Worawi to return.

Mr. Worawi was quite clever when he pointed out the decline of Thai football, allowing Vietnamese football to surpass him from youth football to the national team in both men's and women's tournaments due to the incompetence of the leader, the President of FAT - Somyos Pumpanmuang.

During Mr. Worawi's tenure as FAT President from 2007 to 2015, Thai football held the Southeast Asian title with Coach Kiatisak at the U-23, Olympic and national team levels. He affirmed that if he were to take the FAT President's seat, he would put Kiatisak in charge of the national teams thanks to his impressive achievements.

Regardless, the UAE remains the main rival.

FIFA's letter emphasized that if Thailand violates the election, it will be immediately banned from participating in international tournaments. Photo from FIFA website

FIFA did not threaten that if the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) interfered with the election process, contrary to the regulations, they would be immediately banned from participating in international tournaments. The Thai men's football team would be eliminated from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. In this case, FIFA would most likely cancel the results of the matches that the Thai team participated in.

If this happens, it will be a huge advantage for the Vietnamese team, because coach Park Hang-seo's team only got 2 draws when facing Thailand. If FIFA cancels the results of these 2 matches, the Vietnamese team will still be at the top of Group G with 9 points. Following will be the UAE (6 points) and Malaysia (3 points). At the bottom of the table is still the Indonesian team.

At that time, the match with host UAE (the last match of the group stage) will determine the top ticket of Group G. At that time, FIFA will also have to re-define the criteria for considering the 4 second-place teams with the best results, because the remaining 7 groups still have 5 teams competing.

With FIFA's rather tough actions, although experts, media and Thai fans are quite fed up with FAT President Somyos Pumpanmuang, perhaps the Sports Commission of Thailand still does not dare to risk intervening.