Bangkok United F.C.

True Bangkok United
ทรู แบงค็อก ยูไนเต็ด
	File:Bangkok United, 2018.png
Full name	True Bangkok United Football Club ; สโมสรฟุตบอลทรู แบงค็อก ยูไนเต็ด
Nickname(s)	Bangkok Angels ; (แข้งเทพ)
Short name	BUFC
Founded	1988; 36 years ago, as ; (Bangkok University Football Club) ; 2009; 15 years ago, ; as (Bangkok United Football Club)
Ground	Thammasat Stadium ; Pathum Thani, Thailand
Capacity	25,000
Owner	True-D
Chairman	Kachorn Chiaravanont
Head Coach	Aurelio Vidmar
League	Thai League 1
2021–22	Thai League 1, 3rd
Website	Club website
	Current season

True Bangkok United Football Club (Thai: สโมสรฟุตบอลทรู แบงค็อก ยูไนเต็ด) is a Thai professional football club based in Pathum Thani province. Formerly known as Bangkok University Football Club until 2009. The club was relegated from the 2010 Thai Premier League only 4 years after winning their first league title in 2006. In 2012 they got promoted to Thai League 1 again, after finishing 3rd in 2012 Thai Division 1 League.

History

Origins of the club: "Bangkok University"

The club was originally formed as Bangkok University FC in 1988 as a team for students at Bangkok University's Rangsit Campus in Pathum Thani Province, just north of Bangkok, the club have gone from provincial football, and winning university-level titles, to being a professionally run outfit in the top flight in the Thai Premier League.

An era of titles

Along the way to the Top flight, they won the Thai Division 1 League in 2003 and even captured the 2006 Thailand Premier League title against the odds, which has also enabled the club to taste life in the AFC Champions League.^[1]

The club appeared in the 2007 AFC Champions League but played their home matches in the group stage away from the club's home. The first match on 7 March 2007 against Korea's Chunnam Dragons was played at the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Bangkok and the second, on 25 April against Indonesia's Arema Malang, was played at the Thai Army Sports Stadium in Bangkok, where tickets cost 50 baht. Both matches ended 0–0. The third, against Japan's Kawasaki Frontale, was played at the Thai Army Sports Stadium. The team has failed to qualify for the next stage.

Bangkok University Shirt with sign of champions squads in 2006

Slow down

Bangkok University FC always used the Bangkok University Stadium for domestic competitions until the end of the 2008 Thailand Premier League season. The stadium was based on the Bangkok University's Rangsit Campus and had a capacity of 5,000, currently used by the club as a training ground.

2009 – Development of club's name

Bangkok United in 2015 ahead of the game against Muangthong United

At the start of the 2009 season, the club changed their club name from Bangkok University to Bangkok United with a partnership with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to be in line with the Football Association of Thailand's (FAT) new regulations that all teams in the top flight must be registered as limited companies. They also changed their club nickname to 'Bangkok Angels', and were officially unveiled on 4 March 2009.^[2]

Also, with this name change, the club relocated to a new stadium, the Thai-Japanese Stadium which was based further center in Greater Bangkok. The stadium is for multi-use, such as athletics and football and holds a capacity of 10,320. The stadium was also shared by Thai Port FC whilst they waited for their stadium to be upgraded. On 31 May 2009, after 5 home matches, the club returned to using Bangkok University Stadium as a home ground again until the renovations of Thai-Japanese Stadium were finished before the start of 2009 season's second leg in August. Bangkok United narrowly escaped relegation in the 2009 Thai Premier League.

2010 – New Owners

For the 2010 Thai Premier League season, United was backed by Thai media company True Corporation. The early season optimism did not last long and the 2010 campaign ended in relegation. The Angels only won two home games all season. Rather surprisingly the two victories were against high-fliers Buriram PEA and Chonburi. Incidentally, both victories were achieved at the Bangkok University Stadium after they switched their home fixtures from the Thai-Japanese Stadium to the university midway through the season.^[3]

Return to prominence

Mano created history with the team by claiming 75 points – the club's highest points in a single season.^[4]

In the 2015 season, the club move to Thammasat Stadium to pass the assignment of AFC Champions League regulation.^[5]

Mano's Bangkok improved on the season before to finish fifth in the Thai Premier League. Since 2015, the club became one of big club in Thailand league. The team under German-Brazilian manager Alexandré Pölking has been widely praised for instilling an energetic, play with a galavanting style of attacking football reaching levels of intensity that are rarely seen in this league.^[6]

Entering the 2016 season, The Bangkok Angels ended in second place in the Thai League 1 and created history by claiming 75 points – the club's highest points in a single season. The team missed an opportunity to qualify for the AFC Champions League by failing to beat Johor Darul Ta'zim in the qualifying play-offs match.^[7]

One year later, The Bangkok Angels started winning 1–0 against Navy on the opening day. Nevertheless, The team managed to end their season on a high note by finishing third in the Thai League 1 and reaching the 2017 Thai FA Cup Final, losing 4–2 to Chiangrai United. Despite coming third, The club managed to be the league highest scorers with an impressive 97 goals from 34 games, making them the most productive team in the division by far and finishing just one short of breaking a record set by Buriram United themselves in 2015. A big contributing factor to this was the goals from attacking duo Dragan Bošković and Mario Gjurovski who netted 50 goals between them.

In the 2018 season, The team ended in second place in the Thai League 1 by claiming 71 points.

Academy & Youth

Bangkok United signed a collaboration agreement with Surasakmontree School^[8] and Bangkok Christian College.^[9] These agreements resulted in the introduction of young players from these schools joining the first team such as Sasalak Haiprakhon, Sarayut Sompim, Jakkit Wachpirom, Anusith Termmee, Nattawut Suksum, Wisarut Imura, and Guntapon Keereeleang.

Bangkok United operate Youth and Junior Youth teams as part of their academy to nurture local talent under a big project "cp-dreams." (Thai lit. ซีพี สานฝัน...ปันโอกาส).

In 2019, 7 youth players of "cp-dreams." project from Bangkok Christian College were call-ups to Thailand U-12 and they helped Thailand U-12 to finish in third place in U-12 Junior Soccer World Challenge football tournament.^[10] – beat Tokyo Verdy Junior, 2–0 beat FC Barcelona, 1-0 and beat JFA Training Center Osaka, 2–1.^[11]

Sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Thai League kit partners
Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt (major)	Shirt (minor)
2017–2018	Ari	True	CP All / CP / Allianz / Chia Tai / Toyota / Ziebart / Euro Cake
2018–	Ari	True-D / Huawei / Daikin	CP All / CP / Smart Heart / Toyota / Ziebart / Euro Cake

Kit history

Ari (2017–present)

2016

2017

2018

2019

Affiliated clubs

FC Tokyo (2017–present)^[12]

The Bangkok Angels signed a partnership agreement with FC Tokyo of the J1 League in September 2017. There is the deal to work together at developing the academy players, strengthen the bond between two teams in order to improve the over all top team level and creating a new business.^[13]

Stadium

Thammasat Stadium

Thammasat Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the city of Rangsit, Pathum Thani, Thailand. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 25,000. It is on Thammasat University's Rangsit campus. It is located close to Bangkok.

It was built for the 1998 Asian Games by construction firm Christiani and Nielsen, the same company that constructed the Democracy Monument in Bangkok.

Its appearance is that of a scaled down version of Rajamangala Stadium. The tribunes form a continuous ring which are quite low behind each goal but rise up on each side. Unlike Rajamangala though, Thammasat has a roof covering both side tribunes. Most striking about this stadium are the floodlights. Thai architects usually favour concrete pylons but these are the steel variety. As viewed from the exterior of the stadium the base of each pylon seems to grip the outside of the stadium and they dramatically lean over the tribunes so as to better illuminate the playing area.

Stadium and locations

Coordinates	Location	Stadium	Year
14°02′19″N 100°36′08″E / 14.038739°N 100.602272°E / 14.038739; 100.602272	Pathum Thani	Bangkok University Stadium (Rangsit)	2007–2008
13°46′00″N 100°33′10″E / 13.766774°N 100.552844°E / 13.766774; 100.552844	Bangkok	Thai-Japanese Stadium	2009–2015
14°04′04″N 100°35′55″E / 14.067778°N 100.598611°E / 14.067778; 100.598611	Pathum Thani	Thammasat Stadium	2016–present

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Position
2007	AFC Champions League	Group F	Chunnam Dragons	0–0	2–3	4th out of 4
			Kawasaki Frontale	1–2	1–1
			Arema Malang	0–0	0–1
2017	AFC Champions League	Preliminary round 2	Johor Darul Ta'zim	1–1 (a.e.t.) (4–5 p)
2019	AFC Champions League	Preliminary round 2	Hà Nội	0–1

Performance in AFC competitions

AFC Champions League: 3 appearances
2007: Group stage

2017: Preliminary round 2

2019: Preliminary round 2

Season by season record

Season	League^[14]										FA Cup	League Cup	ACL	Top scorer
Season	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts	Pos.	FA Cup	League Cup	ACL	Name	Goals
2002–03	↑ Division 1 (2)	22	13	8	1	42	10	32	47	1st			—	—	—
2003–04	Premier League (1)	18	9	4	5	26	22	4	31	4th				—	—
2004–05		18	5	7	6	16	21	−5	22	7th				—	—
2006		22	11	6	5	25	17	8	39	1st				Ubon Kaikaew	7
2007		30	14	5	11	39	36	3	47	4th			Group stage	Kittisak Siriwan	8
2008		30	9	8	13	28	36	−8	35	10th			—	Suriya Domtaisong	8
2009		30	5	15	10	24	34	−10	30	13th	Quarter-finals			Ubon Kaikaew	4
2010	↓ Premier League (1)	30	5	9	16	25	52	−27	24	15th	Fourth round	Quarter-finals		Sarif Sainui	5
2011	Division 1 (2)	34	15	6	13	54	49	5	51	6th	Second round	First round		Romain Gasmi	13
2012	↑ Division 1 (2)	34	23	5	6	57	29	28	74	3rd	Third round	First round		Romain Gasmi	17
2013	Premier League (1)	32	8	7	17	38	61	−23	31	13th	Fourth round	First round		Sompong Soleb	9
2014		38	15	9	14	55	56	−1	54	8th	Quarter-finals	First round		Romain Gasmi	12
2015		34	16	9	9	59	47	12	57	5th	First round	Second round		Dragan Bošković	13
2016		31	26	2	3	72	36	36	75	2nd	First round	Quarter-finals			20
2017	Thai League (1)	34	21	3	10	97	57	40	66	3rd	Runners-up	Second round	Preliminary Round 2		38
2018		34	21	8	5	68	36	32	71	2nd	First round	Second round	—	Robson	14
2019		30	13	11	6	55	32	23	50	4th	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Preliminary Round 2	Nelson Bonilla	16
2020–21		30	15	6	9	57	39	18	51	5th	Semi-finals	—	—	Nattawut Suksum	12
2021–22		30	15	8	7	53	30	23	53	3rd	Third round		—	Heberty	15

Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Promoted	Relegated

(1), (2). Brackets with numbers inside indicates the level of division within the Thai football league system
N/A = No answer

Players

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	PHI	Michael Falkesgaard
2	DF	THA	Peerapat Notchaiya
3	DF	BRA	Everton (Captain)
4	DF	THA	Manuel Bihr
5	DF	THA	Putthinan Wannasri
7	MF	THA	Anon Amornlerdsak
8	MF	THA	Wisarut Imura
10	FW	BRA	Heberty
11	MF	THA	Rungrath Poomchantuek
13	DF	THA	Nitipong Selanon
16	DF	THA	Mika Chunuonsee
17	MF	THA	Tassanapong Muaddarak
18	MF	THA	Thitiphan Puangchan
19	DF	THA	Tristan Do


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	FW	THA	Chananan Pombuppha
21	MF	THA	Chayathorn Tapsuvanavon
24	DF	THA	Wanchai Jarunongkran
25	GK	THA	Patiwat Khammai
26	DF	THA	Suphan Thongsong
28	MF	THA	Thossawat Limwannasathian
29	FW	BRA	Willen Mota
30	MF	THA	Ratchanat Arunyapairot
34	GK	THA	Warut Mekmusik
35	MF	THA	Pasakorn Biawtungnoi
36	FW	THA	Chayawat Srinawong
39	MF	THA	Pokklaw Anan
90	MF	BRA	Vander Luiz
93	FW	PLE	Mahmoud Eid

Out on loan