Khon Kaen

 

Khon Kaen FC is a professional football club from the city of Khon Kaen in Thailand’s north eastern region of Isaan, that was formed in 2005.

Initially the club played in the Provincial League, consisting of regional clubs. This competition was not recognised by the FA of Thailand, so many count June 21st , 2007 as the date that the club was publicly formed.

‘The T-Rexs’ moved into the Khon Kaen Province Stadium to compete in Group A of Thailand League Division 1, finishing in fourth place. The following season, the top flight was condensed to one division, with Khonkaen finishing in mid table with Issarapong Lilakorn ending as top scorer.

Fourth place and then a runners-up berth came in 2009 and 2010 with Sarawut Vichien and then Surachat Singnhon topping the scoring charts. Pichet Supomuang was head coach as the side played in the retitled Thai Premier League season of 2011.

The team finished bottom of the table despite the goals of Laos international Khampheng Sayavutthi, under the captaincy of Rermrat Ngam-Chareon, to be relegated to Division 1. The club finished in eleventh position and then sixteenth in 2013 as Argentinian striker Matias Recio led the way.

A seventeenth place in 2014 condemned Khonkaen to relegation as Japanese forward Junki Yokono did his best with his goals. The club were placed in the third tier Regional League Division 2 North Eastern Region for the 2015 campaign.

A sixth place was followed by a fourth place ending in 2016 with Tanapol Srithong banging in the goals. Thai league football was reorganised to a four tier format for the 2017 season. Khonkaen were placed in Thai League 3 Upper Region.

The goals of Thotsaphon Yotchan and the experienced Macedonian, Darko Tasevski and Australian Richard Cardozo were too much for opposition defences as Khonkaen romped to the league title and promotion to Thai League 2.

The 2018 season saw the T-Rexs push for further promotion, aided by the goals of Marc Landry Babo and Yotchan under head coach and former Thai international player Pattanapong Sripramote. The season ultimately ended in a fourth-place finish.

This was backed up with eighth place in 2019 as Seiya Sugishita top scored under Japanese head coach Miura Masayuki. Sirisak Yodyatthai took over before he was replaced later in the season by Pichet Suphomuang as the team ended in tenth place in 2020-21 when the calendar was realigned to match Europe.

Masayuki returned in 2021-22 as crowds began to plummet as rivals United prospered. Suphomuang had another spell in charge of the team who were relegated to Thai League 3 Northeast. Hiroki Ono was put in charge of the team for the commencement of the 2022-23 campaign which ended with a fourth-place finish with Judivan as leading scorer.

Suttinun Boonmee took over as head coach in the summer of 2023, before being replaced by Somchai Makmool with Khon Kaen ending the campaign in the pack well behind the two playoff qualifiers. Apisak Asayut took over as head coach at the start of the 2024-25 campaign.

Khon Kaen FC will play in Thai League 3 Northeast in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Wednesday 20^th June 2018

My two-week tour of Bangkok and Isaan was regrettably reaching its closing stages. I’d had the time of my life. My second visit to Udon Thani saw heavy rain, an England World Cup win and heavy activity in the bar area of town.

I’d certainly packed plenty in, so after a hearty Thai breakfast I headed to the bus station. The train didn’t depart for several hours, and I needed to see somewhere different and get on the road again, as much for my sanity and the protection of my wallet!

Fortunately, the people at the bus station were most helpful and within a few minutes, I was onboard the service heading to Khonkaen. There was plenty of room on board as I settled down to enjoy the ride and grab a rest.

The weather was warm and the sun was shining, so the curtains were down to protect us from the glare on the air-conditioned vehicle. I settled back and listened to music, trying to vaguely follow the journey via the Google Maps App on my battery-guzzling spare iPhone.

As we approached the initially decent-looking sized city from the north I began to panic a little. We’d stopped to let a couple off and then took a turning right on the ring road away from the centre. I frantically went down the bus to enquire.

All was well. I’m not sure how we communicated with little language in common, but it was all smiles as I headed back up the aisle. We had gone around the 230 road, which circled the city to drop off at Khon Kaen Main Bus Station No3.

This was definitely not as planned, but it gave me a great opportunity to visit the Khon Kaen Province Stadium as it was located between where I was and my hotel in the centre. I managed to show the taxi driver where I wanted to go on my phone map.

He dropped me right outside the venue. As luck would have it the perimeter fencing was not too high, and I could have got access regardless, as a school sports day was taking place on the track surrounding the pitch.

Although the arena was like many in Thai football, a multi-purpose venue catering for several sports, Khonkaen had at least used liberal amounts and black and yellow paint so it looked like the home of the team.

The raised spectator deck was a horseshoe shape around the track and was all open aside from the main side, where a roof covered the individual seats and VIP area. The end by Thanon Lao Na Di had no spectator accommodation with just a scoreboard filling in the space.

Facilities for swimming and an indoor arena flanked the main stadium. As I left I saw an advert for League 4 side Khonkaen United, who shared the stadium. Little did I know then that both clubs would travel in opposite directions with United taking over the mantle of the higher-ranking club in the city.

Feeling energised, I decided to walk to Hotel Glacier, my accommodation for the evening. It was a mile and a half, which wouldn’t normally concern me, but it was a good workout in the heat with a rucksack.

A stop was needed for water and Gatorade as I took note of the area for that evening. As ever I would be looking to see as much as possible. My walk took me past 24 Taps, a bar selling draft beers and a shopping mall that would provide me with food and shelter from a heavy downpour.

Khonkaen certainly offered me a decent evening and a nice hotel. The bar areas were good and the people were friendly. I even discovered that the city was having a Skytrain built. It was definitely earmarked for a return visit.

Khon Kaen 0 Sisaket United 0 (Sunday 18^th February 2024) Thai League 3 Northeast (att: 636)

A game in which I’m not sure if either side would have scored if they had been there until midnight. Not that endeavour was missing, but no real chances were created, aside from the hosts seeing an effort come back off the bar in the first half.

Sisaket incidentally were without their best player Panigazzi. My mate was chatting with him the same afternoon at the Rasisalai match. The Argentinian confirmed that he picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away for no reason in the previous match to be suspended for one game and be available for more important matches.

A draw very much suited Sisaket, with table toppers Mahasarakham grabbing a late equaliser against second-bottom Surin KCM the previous evening. The point for United means they were a point behind going into the next week’s final game when they would host the leaders. Both sides had already qualified for the playoffs, but finishing top assured an extra home game in the six-team division.

As ever, it was so much more than just the football as me and my wife Taew had a marvellous weekend. We were meeting my co-host Dale and his wife from our Thai football podcast on Sunday lunchtime.

By then we had travelled up on Saturday morning by bus for 296 Baht each from Sisaket and enjoyed a magnificent evening in Ton Tann Night Market, entertained by Thai singing superstar Gavin D after we inadvertently sat in the seats of the car sponsor.

There was great food and drink, loads of retail, and giant screens showing football. The cheer when Liverpool scored was huge. The whole venue was better than anywhere I'd previously visited of that sort in Thailand.

Sunday morning consisted of a walk and shopping in a mall that puts those in the UK to shame ensuring my good lady enjoyed her visit, then a lazy lunch in the expat zone at Yokotai Restaurant where the food was excellent, if on the expensive side.

We then headed off to the 6pm kick-off. I’d arranged through a Facebook group to meet an elder Welshman, Michael and his wife who live in Khon Kaen and who go groundhopping around Thailand. They offered great company as the three ladies went inside and got the seats while we nattered about back home and Thai football.

The other home fans smoothed it over with security for me to sit with them in my Sisaket shirt, not that there was any danger of any animosity. The locals couldn’t have been more friendly, which included the couples who sold beer for 75 Baht. It was obvious though that they had little time for their rivals Khon Kaen United.

Admission was free in the open side and away end which drew Khon Kaen’s biggest home gate of the season. We went under the roof of the main stand and paid 50 Baht, for a better view and we heard thunder as we got out of our taxi.

Dale, a lifelong Oldham fan was made up when a fella around our age walked along the front just before halftime in a Latics top. Andy, on his first visit to the stadium, was welcomed and joined us for the rest of the evening, and I knew a lot more about the mob from Boundary Park by the time we eventually got home.

Five of us went on to Rimrang Station complex. It is a bar and food area built on the old railway tracks, with the line now going overhead through the city. It was very good, as was the sky bar above a street bar only our new friend knew about to round off the evening.

My Roving Report for a Thai Football Podcast

Monday morning was interesting and a struggle, as we were on the 8.40am flight to Bangkok and we didn't get home until after 1am. Khon Kaen was on our list of places we certainly want to return to. It is highly recommended. 

Next time though, a different hotel, the Glacier Hotel had certainly gone downhill since my previous visit, no doubt like many Thai businesses owing to the lack of customers during COVID-19.