Identifying Thailand's opponent at King's Cup, Madam Pang wants to win

The schedule for the 51st King's Cup was announced by the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) on August 14, with the Thai team only facing Fiji, who is ranked 150th in the world. Madam Pang wants the 'War Elephants' to win.

Thailand team may meet Iraq in King's Cup final

According to the 2025 King's Cup schedule announced by FAT, the Thai team will meet the Fiji team at 8:00 p.m. on September 4, before that is the match between the Iraqi team (ranked 58th in the world ) and the Hong Kong team (ranked 147th in the world) at 4:00 p.m. on the same day. The two winning teams will compete in the final at 8:00 p.m. on September 7, while the two losing teams will compete for third place at 4:00 p.m. on the same day.

Madam Pang wears a T-shirt 'Thai people love Thai football' calling on fans to buy it to support Thai football

Photo: FAT Screenshot

This year's King's Cup matches were all held at the province's Kanchanaburi Stadium (which has a capacity of only about 13,000 spectators), with the winning team receiving a prize of 2 million baht (about 1.6 billion VND), and the runner-up team receiving 1 million baht (about 813 million VND).

The competition format was also approved by FAT, including if after 90 minutes there is no winner, the two teams will proceed to penalty kicks to determine the winner, no extra time. Each match, teams will be allowed to replace up to 5 players, VAR technology will be applied in all matches.

Madam Pang (billionaire Nualphan Lamsam), President of FAT, really wants the Thai team to win the King's Cup to regain the trust of fans after receiving a huge shock when losing to Turkmenistan with a score of 1-3 on June 10, which puts them at risk of losing their ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup finals.

Coach Masatada Ishii of the Thai team is also facing great pressure, which is to find positive results right at the King's Cup, otherwise, there is a high possibility that this Japanese coach and his compatriot in the women's team, Mr. Futoshi Ikeda, will both face the possibility of being fired by the FAT.

Thailand team lost the AFF Cup championship to Vietnam team

Photo: Ngoc Linh

Meanwhile, Thai media reported that FAT will bring the King's Cup to Kanchanaburi province, which will help attract up to 13,000 fans for each match in this tournament. Tickets are currently on sale for 200 baht (about 162,000 VND) and 300 baht (243,000 VND).

This will also help the Thai football authority to earn a lot of revenue to solve the current financial difficulties. In addition, it is expanding the campaign to sell T-shirts of the program "Thai people love Thai football" launched by Madam Pang.

According to Siamsport , the Thai team will face a big challenge at the upcoming King's Cup, which is the high possibility of meeting the Iraqi team in the final match.

The Iraqi team is preparing for the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. Their agreement to participate in the King's Cup and possibly face the Thai team is aimed at getting acquainted with an opponent in the Southeast Asian region, before the decisive match with the Indonesian team on October 11. Then, the match against the Saudi Arabia team on October 14.

Therefore, coach Masatada Ishii and his team will be under a lot of pressure from Madam Pang to win the King's Cup.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xac-dinh-doi-thu-cua-doi-tuyen-thai-lan-tai-kings-cup-madam-pang-muon-vo-dich-185250814111532856.htm