1915–1995: dynastic establishment , the founder of the Football Association of Thailand|left The team's predecessor, which operated under the name of
Siam, was founded in 1915 and played its first unofficial match against a team of Europeans at the
Royal Bangkok Sports Club Stadium on 20 December that year. The team played its first international match in 1930 against the
Indochina national team, which included both South Vietnamese and
French players. before their biggest defeat by the
United Kingdom|alt= Thailand appeared in the
1956 Summer Olympics in
Melbourne, where their loss to
Great Britain 0–9, was the largest to that point, thus failing to advance to the quarter-finals. In 1959, Thailand as the host won silver medals in the
Southeast Asian Peninsular Games after losing 1–3 to
South Vietnam in the final. In 1965, Thailand harbored its first distinct title: the very first place in the
Southeast Asian Games. They made their second and latest appearance at the
Summer Olympics in
1968, losing all three matches by at least 3 goals margin to
Bulgaria,
Guatemala, and
Czechoslovakia hence en route to a first-round exit. During the
1992 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Thailand gained a significant success defeating
South Korea 2–1 and
Bangladesh 1–0 to top the group and qualify to the
1992 AFC Asian Cup. The team's performance at the final tournament was drawing first two matches with
Qatar and eventual 3rd place
China then losing 0–4 to
Saudi Arabia. In 1994, manager
Thawatchai Sartjakul assembled a team that has been denounced as the "dream team" with players like
Kiatisuk Senamuang,
Tawan Sripan and
Dusit Chalermsan.
1996–2016: flag bearer of Southeast Asia In 1996, Thailand defeated Malaysia 1–0 and win the
1996 AFF Championship for the first time. Thailand were favorites to regain the crown in 2007, 2008 and 2012 only to lose tight finals to
Singapore and
Vietnam respectively. The regional
1998 AFF Championship saw Thailand met Indonesia in a match that ill-hearted players from both team deliberately making actions aimed to avoid facing hosts
Vietnam in the semi-finals and undergoing technical burden of moving training bases from
Ho Chi Minh City to
Hanoi. FIFA fined both teams $40,000 for "violating the spirit of the game". Thailand eventually lost the match, inevitably encountered and failed to Vietnam in the semi-finals. Thailand consecutively qualified to and participated in two AFC Asian Cup final tournaments both held within
Western Asia in
1996 and
2000 when their "dream team" was beginning its golden period. Coincidentally in both editions, the team's opponents all came from Western Asia and they are
Saudi Arabia,
Lebanon,
Iran and
Iraq, with the latter two share the same group with Thailand twice. In both editions, Thailand made two draws and lost the rest, bottomed the group stage of the first and is the worst third-placed team of the second edition. The final
2000 AFF Championship match between Thailand and Indonesia, at a sold-out Rajamangala, was almost a carbon copy of their group stage encounter. The War Elephants triumphed 4–1 again with Worrawoot setting up camp at the opponents' goal. The 28-year-old scored twice in their first match and in the final struck a hat-trick in the first 32 minutes. In the final
2002 AFF Cup final, Thailand again met
Indonesia (who was now the host) and won the game in penalty shootout despite taking a 2–0 lead. Thailand again qualified to the
2004 AFC Asian Cup and was put into a group with
Japan, Iran and debutant
Oman. Despite vast experiences in the Asian Cup, the team has yet to show a sign of improvement as they lost all matches and became the worst-performed team in the whole tournament. in
2007 AFC Asian Cup Group A match at
Rajamangala Stadium|left The sign of improvement only came in the
2007 AFC Asian Cup when Thailand participated as a well-prepared co-host and was placed with the debutant
Australia, Oman, and Iraq. The team managed a draw to Iraq and a historic win over Oman. With 4 points ahead, Thailand's chance to qualify for the next round for the first time since 1972 was all but shattered by the likes of Australia in a 0–4 demolition. The tournament witnessed the end of Thailand's recognizable generation with later retirements of Kiatisuk, Tawan, and
Pipat. In September 2008, Thailand signed a four-year contract with the
English coach
Peter Reid but Reid left his position by mutual consent after only a year in charge as his team fail to clinch the championship of
2008 AFF Championship after 2–3 on aggregate lost to
Vietnam in the finals. In September 2009,
Bryan Robson agreed to coach Thailand in his first foray into international football management and was contracted to manage the team through to the
2014 FIFA World Cup. In November, Robson celebrated his first competitive match in charge of the team with an away victory against
Singapore in a
2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifying group match but then lose to the same opponent back home. Then, two goalless draws with
Jordan and
Iran in January 2010 and an 0–1 away lost to Iran in March all effectively ended the chance of qualifying for the
2011 AFC Asian Cup. In preparations for the
2010 AFF Championship, Robson led Thailand to victorious run against Singapore and
Bob Houghton's
India in a series of friendlies. However, when entering the tournament in December, he failed to bring Thailand past group A after managing only draws against
Laos and
Malaysia and losing to
Indonesia. Robson resigned as Thailand's manager on 8 June 2011, citing health problems as the reason and was replaced by
Winfried Schäfer, who would be the ninth
German person to coach the Thailand team. talking to players during the
World Cup 2014 third round qualifying match against
Oman at
Rajamangala Stadium in 2011 The new coach called up starlets for the
2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and have the starting set of matches losing minimal to Australia, defeating Oman 3–0 and drawing
Saudi Arabia but did not make it after losing to these teams altogether in the second set. In the
2012 AFF Championship, Thailand topped their group and surpassed Malaysia in the semi-finals but handed the crown to Singapore in the finals. In the
2015 Asian Cup qualification, Thailand showed a setback with its defensive frailties exposed by Middle Eastern rivals (Iran,
Kuwait,
Lebanon) when losing all 6 games in the qualifiers, conceding 21 goals in the process. In June 2013, Schäfer canceled his contract. The FA of Thailand appointed the former player
Kiatisuk Senamuang as the new caretaker coach for the national team. His first ride was a
friendly against
China PR on 15 June, which Thailand surprisingly won 5–1. at the
Bukit Jalil National Stadium in
Malaysia|alt=|224x224px In 2014, Thailand ended a 12-year drought of the
AFF Championship title from the late goals by
Charyl Chappuis and
Chanathip Songkrasin which gave them a dramatic 4–3 aggregate victory over Malaysia in the second leg of the finals at Bukit Jalil. The team did not lose any match up until the second leg of the finals and often featured a
tiki-taka playing style, for instance including 27 consecutive passes during the first leg of the finals against Malaysia. Kiatisuk consequently became the first person to win the ASEAN Football Championship as both a player and a coach. Thailand succeeded in protecting AFF Championship reign two years later in
2016, defeating Indonesia 3–2 aggregately despite losing the first leg. In 2015, evasion fuelled hope for both the players and Thailand fans of finally reaching the World Cup tournament and tension is mounting as the national team commenced AFC's
second round for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.
Teerasil Dangda, Thailand's renowned striker, rejoined the rank of the national team after his loan with
UD Almería ended earlier. Drawn in Group F along with
Chinese Taipei,
Iraq and
Vietnam, who Thailand played its first match home against on 24 May and can only be won by a victory goal from a shot 20 yards away. They played a much easier match at the same opponent's home soil, winning 3–0. Thailand won both matches against Chinese Taipei and drew 2–2 both matches against Iraq, allowing them to qualify for the next round as group F winners. In the last round, Kiatisuk's men shared the same group with
Australia,
Japan,
Saudi Arabia,
UAE along with previous opponent, Iraq. Again, Thailand was eliminated without winning a match and recorded only two points out of ten matches.
2017–present: aiming for continental success Rajevac, Sirisak and Nishino , wearing black to mourn the death of King
Bhumibol Adulyadej Since taking over the administration by
Somyot Poompanmoung, FA Thailand aims to drive men's national football team to be one of the leading teams in Asia by which there are concrete 20 years development plans and preparations. After the elimination from World Cup qualifiers, Kiatisuk resigned and Thailand appointed
Milovan Rajevac as a coach, thus marked the first non-
Brazilian/German/English team's chief. With the new coach, however, Thailand failed to defend its AFF Championship title in
2018 when losing Malaysia in the semi-finals by the
away goals rule. Ahead of
2019 AFC Asian Cup, Thailand was drawn into group A together with the host
UAE,
Bahrain and
India. Rajevac oversaw Thailand in the commencing 1–4 loss to India. The Serbian coach was sacked and his assistant,
Sirisak Yodyardthai became the interim coach on 7 January. Sirisak guided Thailand to a 1–0 win over Bahrain and a 1–1 draw with the host UAE, enough to move on to the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 47 years. Their success was greeted with congratulation from the FA. Thailand encountered
China in the round of sixteen, taking an early lead but eventually lost 2–1 as China make their decisive respond. After finishing in the fourth place of
2019 King's Cup and losing the rival Vietnam in that tournament, Sirisak had resigned and FA Thailand appointed the Japanese coach
Akira Nishino, who had brought Japan to the round of 16 of
2018 FIFA World Cup, for replacement. This was the first-ever Asian coach becoming Thailand's head coach. The team was drawn into group G of
the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification with other three Southeast Asian rivals: Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia; along with
United Arab Emirates. Despite defeating Indonesia 3–0 and UAE 2–1, Thailand failed to revenge Vietnam when getting goalless draws in both legs, while losing Malaysia 1–2 in Bukit Jalil. With these results, Thailand could only get the third place in group G after five qualifying matches. After a one-year disruption due to
COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand and other teams in group G had to play their remaining matches in Dubai, UAE. However, the team suffered a huge loss of key players when
Chanathip Songkrasin was injured, while
Teerasil Dangda and
Theerathon Bunmathan refused to participate the qualification due to various reasons. Without these three players, Thailand showed a poor performance in
Dubai - drawn the bottom place team Indonesia 2–2, then lost the UAE 1–3 and Malaysia 0–1, respectively; which eventually pushed the team down to the fourth place of the group G. Nishino did not come back to Thailand to explain the team's failure, but unilaterally returning to Japan, which made FA Thailand appoint
Anurak Srikerd as the caretaker and consider sacking Nishino in upcoming days. On 29 July 2021, shortly after Nishino came back to Thailand, FA Thailand decided to terminate the contract with Nishino.
Fruitful victories under Alexandré Pölking On 28 September 2021, Brazilian
Alexandré Pölking was appointed as the head coach of the Thailand national team, replacing
Akira Nishino. Pölking's first task was the
2020 AFF Championship in December 2021 held in Singapore. Between 5 December 2021 and 1 January 2022, Polking accomplished the very task as he managed the War Elephants to win 6–2 on aggregate after being held to a 2–2 second-leg draw by Indonesia, guiding Thailand to win the AFF Championship for the sixth time. In the
2022 AFF Championship, Thailand defended their title on 16 January 2023, winning the tournament by a 3–2 aggregate score in the
two-legged final against
Vietnam to secure their seventh title. In October 2023, Thailand embarked on a European tour playing two friendlies against
Georgia and
Estonia and with star players like
Chanathip Songkrasin,
Nicholas Mickelson and
Ekanit Panya injured and club team refused to release
Teerasil Dangda and
Theerathon Bunmathan,
Supachok Sarachat,
Sarach Yooyen,
Pansa Hemviboon for international duties, Thailand have to relies on inexperienced international players and also giving the opportunity for new young players a chance to touched up for the future international matches. On 12 October 2023, Thailand suffered their worst defeat in the 21st century losing against Georgia 8–0 at the
Mikheil Meskhi Stadium. In the next match against Estonia on 17 October,
Jakkapan Praisuwan equalised it for Thailand for a hard fought 1–1 draw at the
Lilleküla Stadium.
2023 AFC Asian Cup on New Year’s Day Match at Toyo Tires Cup in 2024 After a hurried attempt, Japanese manager
Masatada Ishii was announced as Thailand's temporarily new head coach, with a contract lasted until the end of the
2023 AFC Asian Cup as he faced a daunting prospect of reviving the lacklustre Thai side to reach continental level. His first match, a friendly against his homeland Japan, saw Thailand thrashed 5–0 in the second half after an impressive first half display, increased negative feelings among Thai fans as the War Elephants faced a huge challenge in
group F at the Asian Cup, with Saudi Arabia,
Kyrgyzstan and Oman on the same boat. However, Thailand started their Asian Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Kyrgyzstan, marking Thailand's first win in an Asian Cup opening match. Thailand's next match was against Oman, who performed well over the past three years and whose manager,
Branko Ivanković, who had never lost to Thailand in his coaching career. However, Thailand resolutely defended throughout the match, resulting in a scoreless tie, giving Thailand four points and an early progression to the knockout stage. Thailand would then go on to produce its most famous game in their modern Asian Cup history against Saudi Arabia in the final group stage match, including a famous penalty save by
Saranon Anuin resulting in another scoreless draw, ending their losing streak that started in 2012 to the same opponent and, for the first time ever, Thailand gained a shutout record in the Asian Cup group stage. However, Thailand failed to end their knockout stage losing streak record in the Asian Cup, losing 2–1 to
Uzbekistan in the round of 16 to equal their 2019 run. Despite this exit, Thailand's performance in the tournament earned the team significant praise, and Masatada Ishii was appointed on a permanent basis, with the aim to help Thailand to qualify for the
third round of the 2026 World Cup qualification and the
2027 AFC Asian Cup.
2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying The
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification saw Thailand drawn in group C against
South Korea,
China and
Singapore, with the target to be winning the second place to advance to the final round. However, Thailand would get off to a disastrous start, flopping at home to China 2–1 despite opened the scoring by
Sarach Yooyen. This home loss ultimately sealed Pölking's fate, despite a 3–1 away victory over Singapore which moved Thailand up to second place; with the Brazilian sacked for failing to meet expectations. After the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, Thailand played two more qualifiers, both against South Korea, in March 2024. On 21 March 2024, Thailand managed to earn a surprise 1–1 draw in front of 64,912 fans in
Seoul, but would later lose 3–0 at home to the same opponents. Thailand would end their qualification campaign in June undefeated, notably with a 1–1 draw away to China, before managing to overcome Singapore 3–1; yet their inability to convert scoring opportunities, as well as giving up a late goal in their draw with China, sealed Thailand's fate. The team did not advance to the next phase and finished behind China based on head-to-head results, as both teams ended with the same goal difference and points total.
2024 ASEAN Championship In the 2024 ASEAN Championship, Thailand was drawn to first group against
Malaysia,
Singapore,
Cambodia and the qualified team in the qualification-
Timor-Leste. They finished the group with 4 wins-included their biggest win (10-0 against Timor-Leste) during the tournament, conquered top 1 in the group. In the semi-final, they met Philippines. In the first leg, they lost to Philippines by 1–2. But after 3 days later, they won Philippines in the second leg by 3–1 after extra time, booked a place to the final. In the final, they lost 1-2 in the first leg and 2-3 in the second leg against Vietnam, this also marked the first time they lost all two legs in the final in AFF Cup. And after this tournament, they only received the runner-up. == Team image ==