The Thai team was invited by the West Asian Football Federation to attend the WAFF Championship.
Siam Sport and Daily News (Thailand) simultaneously reported that this country’s Football Federation received an invitation to attend the 2023 West Asian Championship (WAFF Championship) from the West Asian Football Federation.
The tournament is scheduled to be held in March and has the participation of 11 teams are UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and a guest team is Thailand from Southeast Asia.
General Secretary of the Football Federation of Thailand (FAT), Patit Supapong shared: “Our desire to participate in this tournament is like Japan’s desire to participate in Europe’s EURO. Thailand is very interested in the WAFF Championship. and is in talks to join.”
Mr. Patit Supapong revealed that the West Asian Championship will take place from March 20 to April 2. Meanwhile, the FIFA Days calendar only lasts from March 20 to March 28. The Thai Football Federation is working with Thai League clubs and organizers to persuade the tournament to be postponed for a few days for the Thai team to compete in the WAFF Championship 2023.
Pathit Supapong emphasized: “It is not an easy opportunity for the Thai national team to compete with many higher ranked teams. Of course, the Thai team must play at least 3 matches to make sure that the ranking on the FIFA rankings can be increased. And this will affect the seeding in the draw for the 2023 Asian Cup finals, including the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia.”
The General Secretary of the Thai Football Federation said that there were previous conversations with the West Asian Football Federation, so now they have officially sent an invitation.
According to the latest information of Siam Sport, the Thai League organizers are ready to postpone the schedule of 2 matches to support the national team to compete in the WAFF Championship.
The Thai League’s acting chief executive officer, Kornwee Prissananantakul, said: “We have received an offer from the Thai FA and therefore, we will urgently hold an online meeting. Initially, the Thai League rescheduled the match and there was no problem. But we have to discuss with the clubs.”
At the earliest this week, the Thai Football Federation will give an answer to the West Asian Football Federation about whether to attend the WAFF Championship 2023 or not.
The WAFF Championship is a tournament held every two years by the West Asian Football Federation. The WAFF Championship was first held in 2000. Iran is the team that won the most times in the WAFF Championship with 4 titles.
Bahrain is the defending champion in the WAFF Championship after winning the 2019 tournament. According to the original schedule, the 10th WAFF Championship was held in 2021, however, the tournament was later moved to year 2023.
Nguyen Son | 14:38 02/01/2023
