Leicester City FC to develop soccer academy in Thailand
Leicester City, a Thai-owned English Premier League soccer club, plans to spend up to Bt600 million to develop a full-scale soccer academy in Thailand in one or two years.
Located on King Power Group’s 50 rai (8 hectares) of land near Suvarnabhumi Airport, the academy will allocate Bt200 million to Bt300 million to its first phase.
It will open for applicants aged eight to 21. It will be able to serve about 200 players.
Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, chairman of King Power Group and Leicester City Football Club, wants to make Thailand a hub of Asia in developing soccer players for local leagues and export.
He purchased the club in August 2010. It has moved from the Championship to the Premier League this season. More than 100 million pounds (Bt5.3 billion) has been used to buy the club and operate it over the past four years.
“The soccer academy became a priority matter for us to focus on from the first day we bought the club. First, we will use our academy’s facility in England, which has been certified by the Premier League as a ‘category 1’ facility,” Vichai’s son, vice chairman Aiyawatt, said yesterday.
“My father has his dream to develop Thai soccer players so that they will show their talents in England one day,” he said.
Leicester City yesterday launched a campaign worth between Bt200 million and Bt300 million to take 16 Thais up to 16 years of age to its soccer academy in England for two and a half years of training. Screening will run from October 15-26.
“We believe we can produce about 80 young Thai players from our soccer academy in the next 10 years, and they will be able to play a crucial role in developing the local soccer industry,” Aiyawatt said.
The club in July opened a merchandise shop at the Skytrain’s Siam Station. About 80 per cent of the merchandise is locally produced and the rest imported from England. The shop rings up Bt50,000-Bt60,000 in sales a day. “We are also negotiating with a discount-store chain in Thailand to sell Leicester City’s official goods in its stores,” he said.
The club’s merchandise is also available at King Power’s duty-free stores at Rangnam Road and the Srivaree Complex and in Pattaya, as well as three duty-free outlets at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
