Central Coast Mariners just ended their second matchday at the AFC Champions League Elite with defeat to Thai outfit Buriram United, where former Socceroo Curtis Good sealed a 2-1 loss for the A-League champs. The result may sound surprising to those who have never watched Asian football, but for those who have observed it, it’s entirely normal.
What made the result intriguing is Thailand, despite having many competitive clubs, have never been able to translate club success into their national team performances, regardless of age level. Yet, the scale of Thai football extravaganza might have made China, also renowned for this lavish style for a while, look lame by comparison. So why does this matter to Australia?
Thai clubs have a long history of being some of the most competitive and financially wealthy by Asian standards. This comes as nothing surprising, as football is the most popular sport in the country.
In fact, the history of the AFC Champions League Elite witnessed two Thai clubs reaching the final, with the now-defunct Thai Farmers Bank successfully winning two consecutive editions in 1994 and 1995, while BEC Tero Sasana (now Police Tero) came agonisingly close to winning Thailand’s third in 2003.
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Thai clubs also enjoyed advantages from another benefactor, which is the patronage system. Buriram United is already under Newin Chidchob, one of Thailand’s richest tycoons, and he ushered the club to a golden era, where Buriram dominated the Thai football landscape. Newin also has powerful allies, notably the Shinawatra family before the Thai coup in 2006.
Other Thai clubs also do the same, such as Port FC under Nualphan Lamsam (AKA Madam Pang) and Uthai Thani FC under Chada Thaiseth, who is known as “the Godfather” for his massive political clout. Most notably, Chonburi FC, founded in 2006, was the result of the Khunpluem and Singhtong political dynasties.
The patronage network is also supported by the power of the Thai monarchy, the world’s richest monarch. Active state intervention from the royal family often resulted in the buying of players at a much cheaper price than what non-Thai clubs could handle, hence a lot of foreigners ended up occupying many important slots in Thai clubs and receiving playing times.
For instance, Ramil Sheydayev left Azerbaijani giant Qarabağ in May 2023, and was quickly brought in by Thai giant Buriram without having to pay a single penny, which was surprising considering that Qarabağ would often demand a high price to pay before selling to someone. Yet it said a lot about Thailand’s powerful status in Asian club football.
However, Thai national teams have benefited very little. Thai club owners have a tendency of using their clubs to fight for political prestige over working to improve their national sides, resulting in a system of paternalistic management. In order to climb up the hierarchy, successes are and have to be tied to owners, and less concentrated about players or managers.
ESPN journalist Paul Murphy highlighted this issue during the Thai League season in 2019, with a promotional poster featuring the owners of Buriram, Port and Chiang Rai United, rather than the players or coaches, who should have been highlighted for their contribution. At the same time, fuelled by the desire to stay top of the ladder, Thai clubs have prioritised the use of foreign players at the expense of domestic ones. In the latest season of Thai League 1, only three Thai players were among the top scorers.
By treating clubs as a battleground for personal fame and moving up on the social ladder rather than as the means to improve the sport, Thai officials stifled Thai players from progressing. In fact, in their 2-1 away win against Central Coast Mariners, all two scorers of Buriram were non-Thai nationals, and the original line-up of Buriram had only two Thai players.
Lucas Mauragis of the Mariners. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
The impact is seen deepest with the national side: Thailand have never qualified for a single FIFA World Cup and struggled to gain momentum against teams that are supposed to be easy to beat. In the second round of the 2026 WCQ, Thailand managed to force a shock draw with South Korea away, but lost to China at home. An inability to find more goals against Singapore doomed the Thai campaign.
Their youth sections are also mired by the involvement of political tycoons. Many would try to find a way to have players from their respective clubs included rather than selecting on merit, wrecking the cohesion of Thailand youth selection and limiting playing time for young talent. In fact, the only renowned products from Thailand’s youth teams in recent years are Supachok Sarachat, Suphanat Mueanta, Ekanit Panya, and Supachai Chaided, who are the most consistent so far because they have been given more chances to compete, which is somewhat underwhelming for a country of 65 million people.
In some ways, Thailand offered a cautious lesson for Australia. Club successes do not equal national successes, and allowing football to be run in a similar patronage system with active state meddling will result in total catastrophes. Thai football’s inability to translate their club successes to national performances and the restriction of opportunities for local players are testament to the mismanagement of Thai football. Australia, while having many problems with their football structure at home, such as limited playing time for young players and the absurd calendar of the A-League Men’s season, still have better pathways in place.
Australia should avoid following the Thai path that empowers nepotism, corruption, missed opportunities and overuse of foreign players. Rather, Australia need to develop a sustainable league pyramid system akin to that of Japan and South Korea. They should set the domestic calendar to start the season in September instead of October, have a clear promotion-relegation system in mind, maximise the use of domestic talents, and develop a competitive youth tournament within the scheme – which has become increasingly necessary as Australia are still struggling to find ways to integrate into Asia.
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