Chonburi (football club)

Football club "Chonburi" was founded in 1997 . Their principal rivals are Pattaya United and Sriracha , which are also based in Chonburi province. ^[1] The team is better known for its nickname, “Sharks,” which can be seen on the club’s logo.

The team won the championship in 2007 and this year was the most successful in the history of the club. ^[2]

The first significant successes of the club

In 2005, they won the provincial league, defeating Nakhonratchasiya in the Central Stadium of Nakhonratchasime , and advanced to the top division in the 2006 season from the provincial league along with Suphanburi . Sharks finished the 2006 season in the Thai league in 8th place.

In 2006, the club was invited to play in the Singapore Cup , on the way to the final Chonburi beat the local clubs of Home United , Albirex Nіgata Singapore and Balestє Khalsa . In the final, they lost in extra time Tampins Rovers with a score of 2: 3 after they won with a score of 2: 0 during the fight.

In 2007, they were again invited to take part in the Singapore Cup , but were defeated in the first round against Balesta є Khals (with the same rival Chonburi had met in last year’s Cup semi-final). Chonburi lost 3-2 in the main time. It was at this time that the club began a partnership with Manchester City .

In July 2008, they made another important step for the development of the club. In addition to the previous sponsor, Hemaraj Land, the club signed a new large sponsorship deal with PLC Development, which entered into force in 2009, the contract was for three years, and the amount of sponsorship was 18 million baht (about 350,000 euros). This deal was the largest sponsorship contract ever concluded with a Thai football club ^[3]

In the 2008 season, the club could win the championship, but took only two places, although the team had the opportunity to become a champion. The main reason for this was ordinary waste. For two matches before the end of the season, the club was still in first place in the championship standings, but a 0-0 draw with Semut Songkhram in the penultimate round wiped out all the chances of winning and getting the coveted title of champion of the country. Zhadіta Mіlarpa was dismissed from the post of head coach of the team. In mid-December 2008, it was officially announced that the next head coach of FC Chonburi would be Katasak Cinamuang, known by the nickname “Zico”.

In July, at the end of the 2009 season, the club again took second place in the championship. At the end of the 2008 season, they took 2nd place. Therefore, Kiatisak Cinamuang retired from the post of head coach of Chonburi at the end of the season and joined the Hoang Anh Gia Lai club from the Vietnam Championship, where he actively played as a player. His successor in Chonburi was Zhadіt Mіlarp, ​​who was fired from this position a year earlier. He was joined by the former president of the club Vitthaya Hloagune, but already as the technical director of the club. Unlike other league top clubs, Chonburi could not boast of any results during the 2010 season. Only Thurdsak Chaman could probably fall into this category. The 36-year-old was the last Chonburi player in the Thai national football team . The football player got into the national team after his return from Singapore to Chonburi. Although the club again took second place in the championship in the 2009 season, but this did not mean that Chonburi automatically won the right to participate in the 2010 AFC Cup. Instead, the winner of the Thailand Cup Winners' Cup will directly qualify for the tournament. Already in the second round of the Thailand Cup, Chonburi stopped his performances in the tournament.

Performances in Asian Continental Tournaments

As the vice-champion of the 2008 country, Chonburi participated in the AFC Cup 2009 and performed in a group with AKB Hanoi ( Vietnam ), Eastern ( Hong Kong ) and Kedah ( Indonesia ). Chonburi was faced with the task of winning the group stage and bringing the AFC Cup to Thailand . The group stage the team went very confidently, suffered only one defeat in six games. In the second round, Chonburi met with the Indonesian representative of PSMS Medan and defeated him with a score of 4: 1, before dropping out of the tournament at the quarter-finals against the representative of Vietnam in Bin Duong with a score of 2: 4. The game against PSMS Medan was the last in a T-shirt "Chonburi" for Surat Dry, after the bout he joined the club Melbourne Victory .

In 2008, for the first time, Chonburi played in the AFC Champions League against Japanese champion Gambi Osaki . On March 20, 2008, the club won its first win in the AFC Champions League against Melbourne Victory . ^[4] The game was overshadowed by a dispute when Melbourne Victory scored his only goal while FC Chonburi was injured on the field and his teammates knocked the ball out of the field to help the injured. However, this was not enough when Cameroonian striker Baga scored the ball from 35 yards, and then Chonburi scored and the second goal for an extra time to save Melbourne Victory from their first defeat in the tournament with a score of 3: 1.

At the beginning of the 2008 season, Chonburi used the Chonburi City Stadium, which seats 5,000 spectators. Due to disagreements with local authorities, the club began to hold their home games since 2008 at the stadium in Sri Racha, which belonged to the Assumption School. For the AFC Champions League games in 2008, the club used the National Stadium in Bangkok (Thailand), which was also used for the AFC Cup matches in 2009. In the 2010 season, the club returned to Chonburi and held their home games at the reconstructed stadium of Chonburi College. ^[five]

In the 2010 season, they moved to IPE Chonburi Stadium.

In the 2012 season, the club moves to the reconstructed City Stadium in Chonburi to host the AFC Cup and Thai Premier League matches .

Regarding the future, a new stadium is designed with a modern training complex. The new stadium will seat 15,000 spectators and meets all modern requirements. ^[6] It will be one of the few new buildings in Pattaya and one of the most modern stadiums in Si Racha in Chonburi province. The stadium should be built near Bang Saen on Ten Rai Square. The territory under construction is about 1.5 hectares. The ground for the stadium was donated by the President of the Association Vittayu Khunpluem.

•   Champion of Thailand (1): 2007
•   Vice champion of Thailand (5): 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
•   Thailand Cup Winner (1): 2010
•   Winner of the King's Cup (4): 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012

•   Prince Amponsa

• Official site