Thai soccer leagues to merge
[SOCCER] The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) and Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) yesterday reached an agreement to merge the hitherto separately run Thailand Premier League and Thailand Professional League, finally putting an end to an issue which has dragged on for more than a year.
At the end of 2005, the FAT set up the 12-team Thailand Premier League, intended to be the country's top league, mostly made up of teams based in Bangkok. It soon faced competition following the foundation of the Thailand Professional League, set up by the SAT and consisting of provincial teams. All agreed that it was no good for Thai football to have two leagues, and there was an attempt to merge them, but the issue long remained unresolved, causing sceptics to accuse the organisations of squabbling over the merged budget. After a meeting at SAT headquarters yesterday afternoon, the two parties at last broke the deadlock and launched a revamped Thailand Premier League, which will kick off on March 18. It has 16 members, with 12 teams playing in the last season, two from Division 1 and two from Professional League 1. The Royal Thai Police and Royal Thai Navy qualified from Division 1 as champions and runners-up respectively while TOT and Nakhon Pathom qualified from Professional League 1. Division 1 has 24 members, seven from last season, two from Division 2, 11 from Professional League 1 and two from the Professional League.
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