Bangkok United FC is a professional football club from the Thai capital, formed as Bangkok University FC in 1988 when they were based at the University Stadium in Rangsit and played in academic competition football and winning university championships.
The club became members of the second tier Thai Division 1 League for the 2002-03 season, winning the title at the first attempt under coach Somchai Subpherm to be elevated into the top level of Thai football, where they ended fourth in their debut campaign.
Punnarat Klinsukon was the star player as his side lifted the Thai League title in 2006, which was backed up by fourth place in 2007. United played their 'home' matches at alternative venues in the AFC Champions League of 2007, Thai-Japanese Stadium and the Thai Army Stadium.
In 2009 the club changed its name to Bangkok United in an arrangement with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to fall in line with the Football Association of Thailand's new regulations that all teams in the topflight must be registered as limited companies.
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| The club's former home at Thai-Japanese Stadium |
The team also moved from the Bangkok University Stadium nearer to the centre of Bangkok by using the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Din Daeng as the club took on the nickname of 'Bangkok Angels' prior to new coach Worakorn Wichanarong taking over in 2010 before being replaced by Prapol Pongpanich.
The team was relegated from the Thai Premier League at the end of that 2010 season despite healthy backing from True Corporation, who became the new owners of the club, with their name often preceding that of Bangkok United in the title. Suwaroch Apiwatwarachai then had a spell in charge of the team.
United ended the 2012 season in third place and earned promotion back to the TPL under the tutelage of Sasom Pobprasert thanks to the goals of Romain Gasmi. United finished in eighth place on their return to the top flight in 2013 as Thai striker Sompong Soleb cheered the faithful with his goals.
For the 2014 season United rebranded themselves and introduced a new club logo and abandoned their traditional green, white and orange colours for a red and black outfit as the Portuguese coach Rui Bento took over the management of the team before being replaced by Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul after just a few months.
The Brazilian, Alexandré 'Mano' Pölking arrived as the new coach in June 2014, installing a playing style which received acclaim from neutrals as well as United fans. The team improved their previous finish before making the astute signing of Dragan Bošković from Suphanburi.
The club made another move; this time back to near where they were formed as they took up residency at Thammasat Stadium in Rangsit in time for the 2016 season as they required a facility that could be used by any potential Champions League appearances.
The Montenegrin frontman Bošković would finish as the leading scorer for the next three seasons, with Bangkok finishing as league runners-up in 2016. However, the team couldn't progress from the group stages of the AFC Champions League in 2017. A third-place league finish ensued in 2017 with United reaching the FA Cup Final.
The match at Supachalasai Stadium ended in a 4-2 defeat to Chiang Rai United, with Pokklaw Anan and Jaycee John netting the consolation goals. BU went out in the Preliminary Round of the 2018 Champions League to Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim before ending the 2018 domestic season as runners-up.
Nelson Bonilla netted the goals in 2019 which saw the team end in fourth place. Pölking departed in October 2020, with his successor being Totchtawan Sripan. Nattawut Suksum ended top scorer as the team ended 2020-21 in fifth place. Leading midfielder Heberty led the goals tally in 2021-22 with the Angels finishing third in the table.
The Australian, Aurelio Vidmar, had arrived as the new head coach in March 2022 before he was replaced by the returning Totchtawan Spripin in the mid-season break during the 2022-23 campaign. The new man led the side to second place in the league as Willen Mota top scored, as well as ending as beaten finalists to Buriram United in the FA Cup.
The 2023-24 campaign ended in a second successive runners-up spot in the league with Mota and Mahmoud Eid scoring regularly. The Bangkok Angels lifted the FA Cup following a 2-1 win against Kanchanaburi at Ratchaburi with the assistance of some controversial VAR calls.
Bangkok United FC will play in the Thai League 1 in the 2024-25 season.
My visits
Thai-Japanese Stadium
I was in Bangkok having a break and staying with my good friends Steve and Ea While Steve was working I found myself with time on my hands so I got on with discovering the clubs and stadiums of Bangkok.
After a couple of grounds one beautiful morning, I took a taxi to the Thai Japanese Stadium which didn't have a Skytrain or Metro station nearby.
It played host to Port Authority of Thailand FC before their move back across the city to their renovated home. 'The Bangkok Angels' moved into this in the city, which has a capacity of 10,320 after their name change. It is one of the more substantial stadiums in Bangkok.
The word 'BANGKOK' had been picked out with white seats in the stand opposite the main stand. This stand also has an insignificant cover. Unusually for a Thai stadium there is a perimeter fence on three sides separating the stands from the pitch.
Bangkok United 2 Chanthaburi 1 (Sunday 8th April 2012) Thailand Division One (att: 1,021)
I dodged my way around the crowd and found the club desk selling tickets. I paid my 60 baht (around £1.15) and had my wrist stamped as is custom so I could use any catering or club shops at half time and went up the steps to a fairly busy stand.
Maybe they were reluctant to pay 10 baht more for an inferior view? At half time I went downstairs to have a look at the club shop. I bought an orange United home shirt which cost me 500 baht (just over a tenner) before enjoying and filming the rest of the dance.
It ended soon after and I congratulated the not-so-young leader on his efforts, which he seemed to appreciate. I was suffering from dehydration so I was relieved that the catering stand sold Gatorade. I got a bag of crisps to keep me going as I didn't want to spoil my evening meal.
I bought a couple more plastic bottles of refuel and I was slightly shocked when I tried to get back into the stand. The guards insisted on pouring both drinks into plastic glasses. They obviously hadn't seen how poor my throwing arm was!
I enjoyed the whole experience of the second half, even though it was goalless. I loved watching football in warm conditions and seeing how animated the locals got. I saw a western family sitting watching lower down the stand. I surmised that the pretty young lady was perhaps a WAG to one of the imported players?
The visitors tried desperately to grab an equaliser, while United had chances of their own. As the half continued an electrical storm was brewing and coming closer as it lit up the distant suburbs.
With only a couple of minutes remaining some of the floodlights went out. The referee stopped the game. That was my signal to make a run for it. I knew only too well how huge the storms could be in Thailand.
Taxis would be at a premium and I didn't particularly fancy getting soaked or worse. I'm not sure whether they went back on to complete the game in full light or not, but I later found out on the web that there had been no further goals.
I hailed a taxi very quickly and soon wished I hadn't. I had to meet Steve and Fah for a mookata traditional Thai barbeque, at a place I'd been to before on Nawamin Road. I told the driver this and then rang up Fah so she could explain in Thai.
My driver who worryingly took a swig of extra strength lipo, which is used to stay awake, then took me via every toll road he could seemingly find. He drove like a lunatic in the torrential rain.
I used the phrase 'jai yen yen', meaning calm down, jokingly to begin with and then in a sterner tone with an expletive chucked in the middle as I thought about covering my eyes.
He asked me to ring Fah once again and I spoke to Steve. I realised where we were as I could now see out of the window as the rain abated a little. He had taken me on the route I wished the driver had taken to get me to the RBAC Stadium earlier that afternoon.
We were near the airport and heading to Fashion Island Shopping Mall, which was the route I'd used often to get to Steve's house. We joined up with Ram Intra and went back towards Bangkok on it to turn off where I wanted to be. During the afternoon I had completed a circular tour of the city, when half of it wasn't required!
I was shaking when I greeted my friends. The mookata was pretty poor as the locals had been and gone and eaten the best stuff. Never mind. It had been a brilliant day and holiday as a whole.
I said my goodbyes and headed back to my basic hotel wishing I was around for the next weekend's round of games in a league set-up that's hard to fathom but wonderful at the same time.
To see a brief clip of the game that I recorded, click here.
Thammasat Stadium
Bangkok United 2 Lamphun Warriors 0 (Sunday 6th November 2022) Thai League 1 (att: 1,307)
A chance to finally tick off United in a home game came by way of it being conveniently kicking off after I had headed to Kanjanapat v Saraburi United in the third tier with visiting German friends Thorsten and Maren.
I had been to Thammasat Stadium at the end of the previous season for the League Cup semi-final tie between PT Prachuap and Chonburi, and had even visited the Thai-Japanese Stadium for my third Covid vaccination soon after arriving in Thailand in December 2021.
We managed to hail a cab after coming out of the Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University and crossing the busy Pahonyothin Road. Our driver was a real character chatting away, which was too much for my limited local tongue but laughing as we went.
After a U-turn which had my pals anxious, we jumped out of the cab on Khlong Luang Road, which we crossed by footbridge and then walked through an extension car park to the area selling an extensive range of football snacks, but no beer.
Plenty of souvenirs were also for sale and music was played. The club did their best to make it homely, but Thammasat and its surroundings were simply too big for them. The tickets for the home stand were reasonably priced at 100 baht and we got a cracking view.
Home fans at the front, predominantly teen-aged, did their best to drum up an atmosphere as we settled into our seats high in the stand. It almost felt like being at the cinema with lots of legroom, food, and panoramic vantage point.
I had decided before we arrived that I wanted the visitors to win as I had been less than impressed with some of the celebrations of the United players away to Port a few weeks earlier, even if I acknowledged that they were a good side.
We were about to see something akin to a one-sided cup tie as Lamphun were going to have their hands full. However, they had the earliest opportunity when Anan Yodsangwal and Chenrop Samphaodi combined well with Yodsangwal having his effort blocked by defender Peerapat Notchaiya.
United responded with a fine move which saw the ball pulled back to Thitiphan Puangchan, whose volley lacked punch and was easily gathered by keeper Nont Muangngam who was to become a prominent feature throughout the evening.
United tried to play patiently and drag the Warriors defence out of position, and it nearly paid off when a fine through ball from skipper Everton fed in Vander Luiz whose shot was saved by the advancing Muangngam. The Brazilian had raised my ire in the clash at the PAT, so I was happy he was thwarted.
My two friends had seen Lamphun take a 5-0 beating at their temporary Chiang Mai base to Muangthong United a week earlier and had not been impressed. I enjoyed their work ethic and fancied them to score, probably more out of optimistic blind faith.
The resulting corner swung in by Heberty saw Suphan Thongsong denied with a header by the flying visiting custodian. Chayawat Srinawong then dragged back for Heberty who fired wide as the frustration began to grow for the Bangkok Angels.
A partial block by Aly Cissokho saw him help deny Vander Luiz, whose effort came back off the foot of the post, which I found most amusing as the teams trotted down the tunnel all square a little while later.
Soon after the restart, Srinawong was held up in the box, so he laid the ball back to Thitiphan Puangchan who saw his shot come back off the post with the keeper well beaten. Was it going to be one of those nights?
The pressure continued unabated and finally, the Lamphun rearguard was breached when Vander Luiz played the ball square to Henerty whose low left-foot shot from outside the area went into the corner past the outstretched hands of Muangngam.
Amazingly Warriors came close to an equaliser when a cross from Yodsangwal saw a header from Mohammed Osman come back off the crossbar. At the other end, Zander Luiz cut inside to shoot but his effort hit a desperate defender and went over the bar.
The lead was extended on seventy-three minutes when the excellent Mahmoud Eid crossed to find sub Ratchanat Arunyapairot whose scruffy finish did the job, but they all count as any scorer will tell you.
Somehow Eid was denied when his header from a corner hit Zander Luiz on the line after a fingertip save by Muangngam before going behind off the head of the sprawling goalie. The away team never gave up a losing cause and again came close to a goal.
Home keeper Michael Falkesgaard made a real pig’s ear coming out of his box and was dispossessed by Samphaodi. Unfortunately for the loanee from BG Pathum United, he didn’t get enough on his shot, and it was easily stopped by defender Putthinan Wannasri.
Then they brought on a sub apparently on big money. I thought that Ognjen Mudrinski must have enjoyed the nightlife of Chiang Mai since his arrival and shape. Going through the motions is being kind.
Meanwhile, Muangngam kept out a couple later efforts. He could be proud of his night's work. At full time we departed from behind the away fans curve and was soon in a taxi back to Yaek Kor Por Aor for the BTS Skytrain to make our own way home.
It had been a delight to share some good times at three games with my visitors and hopefully help them in the same way they did for me when I visited Germany a couple of years earlier. As for Thammasat Stadium. Well, I wouldn’t be rushing back, or at least I said that at the time!
Bangkok United 2 Port FC 2 (Sunday 7th April 2024) Thai League 1 (att: 3,876)
My first football for a couple of weeks after my participation on the committee of the Chiang Mai International Cricket Sixes. We had a ball in the north with a successful event even in temperatures sometimes tipping over forty degrees. It was no shock to feel similar heat when heading out to this match north of the capital.
I was rewarded with a cracking match between the hosts who were in second spot before the start and their third-placed visitors. Just how the players maintained their energy levels was something to behold in the searing heat, while the game became naturally stretched and slower towards its conclusion.
United started by far the brighter of the sides and were dominant in its early stages after an early header from Barros Tardeli for Port was tipped over by Thai international goalie Patiwat Khammai. A brilliant flowing home attack was thwarted by a clearance from a Port defender from under his own bar. It was no surprise when Bangkok went ahead after seventeen minutes.
A pinpoint cross from Bassel Jradi found the excellent Mahmoud Eid at the back post. His unmarked header went back across the goal and into the far corner past keeper Somporn Yos. I was doing my update reports for my mate Dale to collate back in Kendal for our weekly podcast and I was predicting that the hosts could win handsomely, but never presume in football.
Out of nowhere Port found their feet and began to play superbly. Suphanan Bureerat, who I thought had an outstanding game went close with a curling effort from outside the box. Then a delicious cross bent in towards goal from Tanisith Siripala picked out Felipe Amorin who rose to head home at the far post on thirty-four minutes.
A couple of minutes later Felipe made it 2-1 to Port. The Bangkok defence went missing, not for the first time down their right. Tardeli made the most of the space, setting up his fellow effort who put the ball away into the corner with aplomb. The home support was stunned while the away mob from Khlong Toei, which numbered around three hundred celebrated.
Thossawat Limwanasathian went perilously close with a long-range free kick for United in the last meaningful action of the half. At the interval, I caught up with Matt, a home fan and fellow contributor to the podcast and a young fella from Newcastle who was travelling with friends and trying to fit in some matches. He said he was most impressed with the match and the whole round experience.
Port nearly extended their lead when Felipe was denied his hattrick by the outstretched foot of Patiwat. There were a couple more opportunities to clinch the match before the home side took control and exerted pressure. The equaliser came just past the hour mark. Somporn produced a remarkable save to keep out a volley from Willen Mota, but Jradi was on hand to head home the rebound.
The pressure on the away goal continued. Somporn made a great stop from an effort from sub, Vander Luis, with the same two involved again a little later. Somehow a flick on near post header was not converted by the melee of home players as Port held out. Their defence had given their all, including Englishman Charlie Clough. I thought a draw was about right.
I caught a van to the station where a monorail took me to Lak Si. The direct bus from there was old but thankfully air-conditioned. It got caught in heavy traffic not far from its destination where I had a ten-minute walk. The journey took nearly three hours.
While I cheer for Port, I was not going to pay double the ticket price to stand behind the curve on an open area when I could gain a magnificent, covered view looking down on the pitch near the hallway line. I’d reached an age where I could control my emotions and just enjoy the match.
Refreshments were purchased outside on the vast forecourt and taken in. There was a good range available but only one stall selling soft drinks. Mad in the conditions. Fortunately, a sponsor marquee sold energy drinks for those who spotted them.
Post-match I headed to the stop where I had previously caught a bus back towards the city after a Thailand game, only to see it turn left instead of right and leave me stranded. Another was not far behind, so I headed to the main road to catch it, which was just as well, as it went straight on.
The old wooden floored vehicle required the windows to be wound down and belched out more filth than Bernard Manning. I arrived home at Hathai Rat at 10.30pm after another top day out.
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