The Football Association of Thailand (FAT), which oversees football, futsal and beach football, has made national headlines over the past few days, but not in a good way.
The news concerns accusations that Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon interfered with national football team management by asking the FAT's president to resign. The deputy prime minister also serves as the president of the Thai Olympic Committee and oversees the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).
Political interference is not trivial as it might induce a ban from Fifa (Fédération Internationale De Football Association). Over the past few years, Fifa has banned a few countries on the grounds of political interference.
For example, India was banned in 2022 after its football association was dissolved by a court order. Indonesia was banned from competing in the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers because the government disbanded the independent national football association.
Apart from facing a ban on competitions in Fifa's certified events, governments will see their access to Fifa's capacity-building projects and financial help curtailed.
The FAT controversy comes at an unfavourable time as Thailand will host a Fifa Congress with the sport's big wigs and players travelling to Bangkok in May next year.
The allegations were made by the FAT's chief Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang, who tendered his resignation over the weekend. His official resignation states that his resignation follows an order to do so given by Gen Prawit.
But Pol Gen Somyot, a former national police chief, has not gone quietly and has left with some parting shots.
"Gen Prawit should reprimand me in private instead of in public with media," he told media while adding that Thai football is "one million per cent" interfered with by politics.
As the FAT president, Pol Gen Somyot has had to listen to many complaints aimed his way. The national teams have not met expectations, and the local football industry is in the doldrums, with the value of the Thai League Broadcast licence dropping to 50 million baht from one billion plus baht. Thai football fans had also urged him to resign several times due to the performance of Thai football players, but he stood steadfast in his conviction to stay.
But the last straw was the under-22 men's final between Thailand and Indonesia at the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia. Besides the Thai team coming in second place, Thai footballers and staff engaged in a shameful brawl beside the pitch. It is not the first time that the national team has engaged in fisticuffs with other teams.
Yesterday, the FAT's board went into damage control and asked Pol Gen Somyot to stay until his term ends next February. But that's far from enough: the board and SAT must launch a fair probe to determine whether Pol Gen Somyot's accusations of political interference have substance.
It is obvious that Gen Prawit is blunt, and he should have been more diplomatic and respectful towards the FAT's chief. Yet Gen Prawit commented as head of the Thai Olympic committee that supports and oversees all national sports teams.
The question is whether harsh criticism should be interpreted as political interference. Did Gen Prawit use political power to tamper with the FAT's management? Related bodies such as the FAT and SAT must find out before Thailand's image suffers further.
