Pattani

Marlon Silva now wears the armband at a club that exists because the Thai Football Association once decided every province needed a professional side to call its own.

Runners-up in the southern region of Thai League 3 in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019 and again in 2024–25, the club finally won the promotion play-off in 2024–25, lifting them into Thai League 2, and within a year they went again — beating Nongbua Pitchaya on penalties in the 2025–26 promotion play-off to reach Thai League 1 for the first time.

None of that has come against the rivals who matter most locally. Games against Narathiwat carry weight well beyond the table, played out between communities either side of the region's Muslim-Malay and Buddhist-Thai divide, sometimes folded into the wider Golok Cup fixtures with FC Yala and Songkhla FC.

Pattani still play in yellow and green at the Rainbow Stadium, a ground some records list at 8,000 seats and others at 12,000. Whichever figure holds, it will be tested for the first time by top-flight football this season.