Yala City

Yala City FC is a professional football club based in the southern Thai city of Yala. Formed in 2023, the club entered the Thai Semi-Pro League in the 2023–24 season.

The ‘Potentate of the Killer Roosters’, as they are nicknamed, benefitted from a small Southern Zone competition that year, with only two entrants — Yala City and Phuket Rajabhat University. The sides met four times to decide promotion to Thai League 3 South.

Adilif Chesor scored three times in the series, playing under head coach Ibrohim Kasirak, with home matches staged at the Thailand National Sports University Yala Campus. City eventually earned promotion to join local rivals FC Yala.

Life at a higher level proved more demanding. Results were harder to come by, despite encouraging support for a new club in the system. Samart Chankachang later took over as head coach as the team struggled in a relegation battle.

In November 2024, the club moved venues to share Rajabhat University Stadium with FC Yala, before briefly returning to their original ground the following February. A stoppage-time goal by Phuket Andaman sealed their relegation at the end of the 2024–25 season.

A goal in stoppage time by Phuket Andaman at Yala FC saw City relegated at the end of the 2024-25 season, before they regrouped to play in the 2026 Thai Semi-Pro League

Yala City FC will play in the Thai Semi-Pro League South in the 2026 season.

My visit

Saturday 4th January 2025

The latest leg of our tour of Laos and Thailand, embarked upon by my wife and her relatives from Hat Yai in the south, had reached the Malaysian border at Betong, which proved to be a very enjoyable place to spend an evening. 

On our way back, Q, Taew’s cousin, had said that he would take me to the stadium in Yala after visiting Jaru Stadium the previous day. Sure enough, after collecting a sweet order from a shop in the city with a reputation for making unique items, we cut back towards the university area.

I’d have been happy with parking at the back of the Rajabhat Stadium and maybe got a glimpse of the Stadium of Thailand National Sports University located over the road. Still, my driver was having none of it. 

We entered the car park, where many were keeping fit and running around the track. The stadium was no thing of beauty, but perfectly adequate for Thai League 3 football, with a raised stand complete with a roof on one side and an open raised enclosure opposite.

Once I had got my snaps, we went round to the home of FC Yala before heading back to Hat Yai for food and then Q and I headed downtown in Hat Yai, my host ever eager to impress me.