Coach Kiatisak resigns from the Thailand national team.

After the Thai national team officially lost all hope of participating in the 2018 World Cup finals, on the evening of March 31st (Vietnam time), coach Kiatisak Senamuang unexpectedly announced his decision to resign on his personal Instagram account.

A few hours later, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) also confirmed that they had accepted Coach Kiatisak's resignation. Thus, after more than four years as interim coach and then officially leading the Thai national team from 2014, with considerable success such as winning the AFF Cup twice in 2014 and 2016, winning the SEA Games gold medal in 2013, and finishing fourth at the Asian Games in 2014, Coach Kiatisak's reign has finally come to an end.

Coach Kiatisak left to make way for a more accomplished coach to take the Thai national team to new heights. Photo: AFP

However, coach Kiatisak left with his head held high, having unexpectedly led the Thai national team to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Yet, it's clear that even when approaching a higher level in the continent, the Thai team still lacked many things. As a result, they lost 6 matches, drew 1, conceded 19 goals, and only scored 3.

Thai football now harbors great ambitions of participating in the World Cup and competing for high positions in the Asian Cup, after successfully developing its national league, which was plagued by match-fixing, into the Thai League, modeled after the attractive English Premier League, and thereby providing the Thai national team with a very high-quality pool of players.

Therefore, immediately after winning the 2016 AFF Cup, there were rumors that the FAT wanted to find a more high-caliber coach, possibly a foreign coach, to elevate the Thai national team, but also wanted to give Coach Kiatisak another chance. However, ultimately, when the Thai national team failed in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region, the former HAGL coach submitted his resignation so that the FAT could develop the Thai national team as desired.

According to TNO