Thailand U23

It is a squad the Football Association of Thailand puts together for a single age bracket, drawing on the same national federation that has organised the game in the country since 1916. There was no single founding day for the team itself — it played its first recorded match, against Bangladesh, in 1991, and only took on a settled shape once the AFC U-23 Asian Cup and the 2014 Asian Games gave the age group a fixed calendar to build towards.

At the 2014 Asian Games, played on a wider continental stage, Thailand took gold as well.

No fixture matters more than the one against Vietnam U-23, replayed so often in SEA Games and AFF U-23 Championship finals that people in both countries have taken to calling it Southeast Asia's own Clásico; Indonesia U-23 pushes them almost as hard. Kiatisuk Senamuang , known throughout Thai football as Zico, has coached the age group, and it has served as the launching pad for players such as Suphanat Mueanta and Chanathip Songkrasin on their way to the senior team.