Score one for Phuket football

PHUKET: Officials from the newly-formed Phuket Football Association (PFA) have committed themselves to develop football in the province following an AFC Vision Asia team’s assessment visit to initiate their Vision Thailand Project in Phuket.

Football officials in Phuket have high hopes that the island will become the next haven for the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC’s) Vision Asia program.

The AFC, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, is the governing body of Asian football and one of the six Confederations making up FIFA. Responsible for running football in Asia, including Thailand, the AFC manages the ‘Vision Asia Project’ which it set up to develop grassroots and youth football across the continent. (See the-afc.com.)

The Governor of Phuket has appointed an interim Executive Committee whose job is to organise the PFA’s first Congress and elections next year in order to help the PFA create clubs and launch the inaugural Phuket Provincial League.

The Vision Asia delegation’s three-day visit to Phuket, from April 30 to May 2, allowed AFC experts to assess the status of football in the island resort province. Phuket had encouraging news for them.

The island’s club, FC Phuket, is having a good season and is currently in second place (behind FC Trang) in Thailand’s Second Division for the Southern Provinces.

Eam Thavornvongwongse, president of the Phuket Sports Association, told the Gazette that he sees the Vision Thailand Project as a good opportunity for Phuket to realize a lifelong wish – to see more players from Phuket wearing Thailand’s national team jersey.

“I would like to see the re-emergence of players from our region… [but] there is still a lot to be done before Phuket football becomes more organized and systematic,” he says.

FC Phuket is sponsored by the Phuket Gazette and PGTV.

Don’t miss today’s game. Your FC Phuket faces the Surat Thani ‘Killer Roosters’, currently number three in the Second Division standings, at 6pm at Surakul Stadium.

— Gazette Sports Desk