AUU Dream Team

AUU Dream Team FC

Ground: Nong Chok National Training Centre

Capacity: N/A

Club Founded: 2020

Club Dissolved: 2023

Many amateur football clubs come and go around Bangkok. One such example is AUU Dream Team FC, which lasted just over three years.

The origins of the club and any connection to a company are unclear. However, AUU became connected with Thai League 3 club Inter Bangkok, which changed its name to AUU Inter Bangkok for a couple of seasons.

Dream Team joined the Bangkok Premier League in Division 5, then played in Division 3 after the pandemic restrictions were lifted. They played the 2022-23 season as a Division 2 club before disappearing off the radar.

My visit

AUU Dream Team 7 SPA Srongpol 1 

Bangkok Premier League Division 3 - Sunday 3rd April 2022

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Sunday afternoons often saw my pal Steve and me head to amateur league football, which I had discovered through Facebook. He was occupied until 3pm, so this 4pm kick-off, not too far away, fitted the bill on a weekend of few fixtures during the Songkran holiday.

The only information I had for the venue was that it was at the National Training Centre in Nong Chock. We set out by taxi, going the wrong way, which meant a long detour, taking us past Bangkok Arena.

Just how an arena, miles from the city, had its title was one I couldn’t answer, but it looked impressive enough from outside. Originally titled Bangkok Futsal Arena, it was built for the 2012 World Cup of that sport. Unfortunately, it was never used after a faulty floor was laid. As to its future, who knew?

Anyway, we eventually found what we were looking for after passing the former BEC Tero Sasana stadium and then being dropped off by the large buildings, which once looked like a blueprint for the future but were now semi-derelict.

Around the back were three pitches. I quickly worked out which was ours as I recognised the visiting side warming up. SPA Srongpol was a kind outfit run by Chai Phichai, who gave me a club shirt a few months ago, when I visited my first game in Bangkok after my relocation.

Chai was ever helpful in informing me of fixtures and even asked me if I fancied a game. Twenty years previously, for sure, but my days at that level were well in the past. Though I must admit, on occasions, I did wonder if I should make a comeback after watching Srongpol in action.

A couple of which occurred during the first half of this encounter. The game started reasonably even before the fitness and skill of the youthful AUU side began to tell. A superb free kick on fifteen minutes from midfielder Rata Kochasen opened the scoring and opened the floodgates.

Four minutes later, a far post diving header from front man Phawat Limprapunsilp doubled the lead. An awful goal kick and bad defending led to the third in the twenty-second minute as Sirawit Klaijinda made no mistake.

Srongpol were being pulled apart at ease. French goalkeeper Michele Lanari made a rare save before a free kick cannoned off his bar with the stopper well beaten. He was picking the ball out of the net once again, nine minutes before the interval, following a long-range effort from defender Chanakorn Soikham.

The goals were being shared out by the Dream Team, with Nonthaphon Daoruang collecting a long pass and lobbing Lanari a couple of minutes later to make it 5-0. It was half a dozen on the stroke of halftime as the same player was sent clean through.

During the break, we tried unsuccessfully to find somewhere to buy water. We walked around the pitch and took in the pleasant surroundings. It really did have potential, if not for the national team, then a professional club as a base.

Credit to Srongpol, who reorganised and made five changes, including the goalie. They were far better after the interval, despite conceding ten minutes after the restart as Nonthaphon completed his hat trick after getting clean through once again.

Whether AUU took their foot off the gas, or Srongpol were genuinely decent, is hard to tell, but it made for a far better watch. The away side got their reward with sixteen minutes remaining as Phitsanu Chivajorn netted a consolation.

We decided to walk after the game and have a look at the old stadium, which once hosted big crowds in the top level of Thai football. A game had just come to a conclusion in the Bangkok Premier League on the pitch. I later found out that APD United used it for their home games before they found their own facility.

Wandering down lanes was a nice way to catch up and have a natter before returning to civilisation on Mit Maitri Road. After a barren wait for a bus back to Minburi, we eventually hailed a taxi back to Pak Soi Market.

Unfortunately, owing to the holiday, Toy Bar wasn’t open, so we went our separate ways to catch up with the football from England on TV at home. It had been a really nice few hours.