Kiatisak applied for the 'hot seat' of Vietnam National Team coach?

The Thai coach revealed that he will meet the President or General Secretary of the VFF at an event of the Southeast Asian Football Federation taking place tomorrow (September 23) in Indonesia.

After leaving Port FC on September 20, Coach Kiatisak read the press and learned that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) was recruiting a head coach for the national team. "Thai Zico" was excited about this opportunity and considered it an interesting experience and challenge.

Coach Kiatisak.

According to Coach Kiatisak, he will represent Thailand to meet and exchange with leaders of VFF and member countries, in the AFF Awards 2017 event organized by the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) tomorrow (September 23).

"Today (September 22 - PV), I will fly to Bali (Indonesia) to attend the AFF Awards ceremony. Maybe, I will meet the VFF President or VFF Secretary in Bali," Kiatisak said.

Two years ago, at the AFF Wards 2015, Coach Kiatisak had no rivals in the race for the title of Best Coach of Southeast Asia.

However, Coach Kiatisak still left open the possibility of applying for the "hot seat" left by his colleague Nguyen Huu Thang. "Thai Zico" said he had just resigned from Port FC and wanted to take a short break with his family, as well as complete a course from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC Pro-Diploma Coaching).

Fans combined photos of coach Kiatisak wearing the Vietnam national team coaching staff shirt.

"I also heard that VFF and Vietnamese fans intend to invite me to be the head coach of the Vietnamese national team. Actually, I was quite happy to hear that news, but currently I have not received any official message or exchange from VFF," Kiatisak shared.

Speaking to Zing.vn, VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh said that the list of candidates is still being reviewed and accepted. Therefore, it is not certain which faces will be included in the "final round".

Currently, VFF has in hand about 15 sets of candidate profiles. Among them, there are faces with impressive records, of course, the accompanying salaries are also extremely large, exceeding the expected costs for both Kiatisak and Schafer.

According to General Secretary Le Hoai Anh, the selection of a head coach will be completed by the end of October at the earliest. In the immediate future, VFF will rely on coach Mai Duc Chung to lead the Vietnamese team in the match against Cambodia in the 2019 Asian Cup Qualifiers. The Vietnamese team won the first leg away from home 2-1.

Coach Kiatisak confidently sang Vietnamese songs "Thai Zico" performed the song "Sing with the River" when he was still on the payroll of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Club.

Kiatisak Senamuang (real name Kiatisuk Senamuang, but Vietnamese fans call him Kiatisak) was born on August 11, 1973. He is a Thai football coach and former striker.

Kiatisak played as a striker and scored 251 goals in 339 matches during his 18-year career (from 1989 to 2007). In the national team, Kiatisak played 131 times, scoring 70 goals from 1992 to 2007. "Thai Zico" and the national team won 4 SEA Games gold medals and 3 Tiger Cup championship cups (predecessor of AFF Cup).

In the past, Kiatisak came to Vietnam to play for HAGL Club for 5 years (from 2002 to 2006). After that, he was both a player and head coach of the mountain town football team. In 2011, Kiatisak officially said goodbye to HAGL to return to his homeland.

In January 2013, Kiatisak was appointed as head coach of the Thailand U23 team. In June of the same year, Kiatisak was promoted to head coach of the national team, replacing Winfried Schaefer.

After nearly 4 years with the team nicknamed “War Elephants”, Kiatisak has won 2 consecutive AFF Cups in 2014 and 2016. In addition, he also won the 2013 SEA Games during his concurrent tenure. Kiatisak achieved the feat of bringing the national team to the third qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup but was officially eliminated.

According to Zing