Southeast Asian Newspaper: "Thailand ends Japanese football style"

(Dan Tri) - Thai football has caused controversy by firing three Japanese coaches in just three months, causing SEAsia Goal to question the strategic direction and future of Thai football.

Thai football is undergoing a sudden "purge" of Japanese coaches. In just three months, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has fired three Japanese coaches from the national men's, women's and U23 teams, causing much controversy and raising questions about the future direction of Thai football.

According to SEAsia Goal, a website specializing in Southeast Asian football, "the Japanese style has ended in Thai football". Specifically, coach Masatada Ishii of the men's team, coach Futoshi Ikeda of the women's team and coach Takayuki Nishigaya of the U23 team have all had their contracts terminated. This move shows a comprehensive restructuring in the coaching structure of FAT.

Shocking decisions

Coach Ishii was fired by FAT on October 21 (Photo: Getty).

The decision to fire coach Ishii on October 21, who had only led the Thai men's team for a short time and achieved positive results, was particularly surprising. FAT explained that the separation was due to "the work of coach Ishii and the coaching staff as well as the principles of team building not being in line with the orientation of the federation".

FAT stressed that this was not due to the team underperforming, but rather a lack of compatibility in philosophy. This is all the more puzzling as under coach Ishii, Thailand has shown signs of improvement, including reaching the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup with an unbeaten record in the group stage and winning two consecutive victories in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers against Taiwan.

Coach Ishii has publicly expressed his confusion and anger at the decision, revealing on social media that the FAT abruptly terminated his contract after a meeting that was initially supposed to "review the two matches against Taiwan." The reason given was "to change the national team coaching staff for each age group," a reason he could not accept and refused to sign the contract termination document.

Meanwhile, the dismissal of coach Nishigaya of the U23 team in early July was considered more understandable when the team suffered 5 consecutive losses. Similarly, coach Ikeda of the women's team could not continue to lead after two consecutive losses to the Vietnamese team.

FAT continuously fires Japanese coaches (Photo: SEAsia Goal).

What future for Thai football?

SEAsia Goal asks: "Is this the end of the 'Japanese style' that has dominated Thai football for many years? If so, what football philosophy will be pursued next?"

Fans' reaction to these decisions was one of disappointment and disbelief. Comments on the SEAsia Goal website expressed concern about the development of Southeast Asian football in general and Thai football in particular, with questions such as: "Why is Southeast Asian football not developing?", "Fans are extremely sad", "Southeast Asia has too many problems" and "The Football Association of Thailand is starting to decline".

The sudden change of the entire Japanese coaching staff by FAT, especially when some coaches are performing well, is causing public opinion to raise many questions about the stability and strategic direction of Thai football in the future.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-dong-nam-a-thai-lan-ket-thuc-phong-cach-bong-da-nhat-ban-20251024204204703.htm