Why is Thai women's football declining?

The failure in the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers is the next warning in the decline of Thai women's football in recent years that shows no signs of slowing down.

Thailand women's team (left) failed to qualify for the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship - Photo: AFC

The milestone marking the decline of Thai women's football was after the 2019 Women's World Cup. After this tournament, the Thai women's team had major changes both in the coaching bench and team personnel. Coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian - who led Thailand to the 2015 and 2019 World Cups - said goodbye to the team.

Consequences of generational transition

In terms of personnel, the Thai women's team has also entered a period of extremely strong generational transition. In fact, Thai football people have tried to make this transition process not too hasty.

At the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup, Thailand still has 13/23 female players who participated in this tournament 4 years ago. But unfortunately, the next generation of Thai women's football has not met expectations, and there is a large gap in level with their seniors.

The departure of Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian was also a heavy blow to the Thai women's team when the following coaches such as Mr. Spencer Prior (England), Naruphol Kaenson (Thailand), Miyo Okamoto, Futoshi Ikeda (Japan) were not really suitable.

Thailand women's team faces difficulties after generational transition - Photo: AFC

In 2024-2025, Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian returned to the Thai women's team with the hope of bringing the team back to its previous orbit. But the situation and everything has changed, leaving Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian powerless to turn the situation around.

Other causes

It must also be admitted that in the period after 2019, the upper echelons of Thai football were quite unstable with many problems that caused them to neglect taking care of the women's team. This was also the time when FAT was under a lot of pressure when the Thai men's team faced fierce competition from Vietnam.

Not to mention the regional and Asian teams have progressed very quickly. A typical example is the Philippine women's team when they rose strongly thanks to a team of naturalized players. The Asian opponents also had a systematic women's football debut and progressed very quickly.

Thailand seems to have failed to keep up with this development and has also underestimated the ability of the teams. In the recently concluded Asian Women's Football Championship qualifiers, Thailand, as the host, lost to India in the decisive match and lost their ticket to the next round.

With the harsh reality requiring constant change and development, if Thailand does not have a specific plan in the near future, it will be difficult for the Thai women's team to reduce this decline.

NOSTALGIA

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vi-sao-bong-da-nu-thai-lan-sa-sut-20250707114953196.htm