Somyot to stand for chief post
Former national police chief Somyot Poompunmuang is set to make a shock move to stand in the Football Association of Thailand's re-arranged presidential election, according to a source familiar with the matter.
In the wake of incumbent Worawi Makudi's provisional 90-day suspension by Fifa's ethics committee, the FAT election was postponed on October 17.
The normalisation committee appointed by the world football's governing body to oversee the vote has yet to announce a new date for the poll that Fifa said must take place not later than February 15.
Nevertheless, the race for FAT president post is set to heat up after it was revealed that retired police chief Somyot would run in the election. It was expected that he would put forward his candidature at the end of this month, with Pol Lt Gen Pisan Jundilok, a candidate set to stand in last month's vote, joining his bid for the secretary general's post.
"We invited "Big Aod" [Somyot] to run for the top job of Thai football and he already accepted it verbally. Pisan agreed to join his bid as the secretary general," said a source close to regional police chief Pisan
"I am giving my word that there would be no publicity stunt or anything like that as being said that Pisan would withdraw because he has close connection with Worawi's camp. We'll announce the candidacy soon."