Chonburi F.C.

Chonburi Football Club (สโมสรฟุตบอลจังหวัดชลบุรี) is a Thai professional football club based in the city of Chonburi, Chonburi province, that competes in the top division in Thai football, the Thai League 1. The team lifted the league title in 2007 which became the most successful season in their history.

Chonburi were founded in 1997 and their main rivals are Sriracha who are also based in Chonburi Province. The team is widely known by their nickname "The Sharks" which can be seen in the crest of the club.

Early years
In its early years, Chonburi Football Club was Assumption College Sriracha's football team. The team was managed by Annop Singtothong, Thanasak Suraprasert, Sontaya Khunpluem, and Wittaya Khunpluem. The team competed and were victorious in many youth tournaments, one of them including the Institute of Physical Education's youth football tournament.

In 1996, Sannibat Samut Prakan Association competed in the Khǒr Royal Cup and came in second place. The directors of the football team then negotiated for a merger which resulted in the creation of Chonburi-Sannibat Samut Prakan Football Club. The team then competed in Thai Division 1 League or Thai League 2 today.

Provincial League
Later, the Chonburi Sports Association had been given the chance to compete in the Provincial League in 2000. As a result, Chonburi's provincial football team was separated from Chonburi-Sannibat Samut Prakan Football Club which competed in Thai Division 1 League. The team that competed in the Provincial League acquired their players from Assumption College Sriracha and 	Chulabhon's College Chonburi. They ended their first season in the Provincial League in third place.

First major successes
In 2005 they won the Provincial League title by beating Nakhon Ratchasima at the Nakhon Ratchasima Municipal Stadium, and gained promotion to the Thai Premier League in the 2006 season with the Provincial League runners up, Suphanburi. This title was the first major success of the club. Chonburi then finished 8th in the 2006 Thai Premier League season.

In 2006 they were invited to play in the Singapore Cup and reached the final, defeating local sides Home United, Albirex Niigata Singapore and Balestier Khalsa along the way. In the final they lost to Tampines Rovers 2–3 in the extra time after leading 2–0.

In 2007 they were again invited to participate in the Singapore Cup, but were defeated in the first round against Balestier Khalsa, in a replay of the previous season's semi-finals. Chonburi lost 3–2 in normal play. They have formed links with Manchester City. In the end of this season Chonburi become Thailand Premier League champions for 2007 Thailand Premier League, This was the first trophy in major league for the club and head coach Jadet Meelarp got Coach of the Year awards and Pipob On-Mo got Player of the year awards. In July 2008 they made another important big step into the future. In addition, the previous sponsor, Hemaraj Land and Development PLC signed a major sponsorship deal which comes into force from 2009. The contract will run for three years and will amount to the sum of 18 million baht (about 350,000 Euros). This may indeed be the largest completed sponsorship of a Thai football club which was ever completed.

At the end of the 2008 season, there was only enough for runner-up. The main reason for this was certainly the profligacy. With two games left in the season you still on the first place in the table, but a 0–0 draw against Samut Songkhram made to naught in the penultimate round of the dream title defense. Jadet Meelarp was dismissed. His successor is officially announced in mid-December 2008. Kiatisuk Senamuang, known as Zico, was appointed coach of Chonburi.

As Runner-up Champion 2008 the team is qualified for the 2009 AFC Cup and was drawn in a group with Hanoi ACB (Vietnam), Eastern AA (Hong Kong) and Kedah FA (Malaysia). Chonburi has to call to mind the Zeil set to be first in the group and win the AFC Cup in Thailand. The group stage was confident survived with only one defeat in six games. In the second round Chonburi PSMS Medan in Indonesia defeated 4–1 before retired in the quarter-finals against the Vietnam representative Bình Dương 2–4. The game against Medan was also the last game of Surat Sukha, who moved to Melbourne Victory.

In July 2009. End of the 2009 season the club was only the runner-up again. At the end of 2008 they had 2 points behind the champions, 2009, there were 3 points. Kiatisuk Senamuang changed at the end of the season to Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, the association in Vietnam where he was active as a player last. His successor in Chonburi was Jadet Meelarp, which had been released a year earlier. At his side, his former boss Witthaya Laohakul was provided as technical director of the club. Unlike other top clubs in the league but vorzuweisen Chonburi had hardly known commitments for the 2010 season. Only Therdsak Chaiman you can probably fit into this category. The 36-year-old was last in the Thailand national football team his comeback from Singapore and moved to Chonburi. Although the club was again runner-up, but this is not automatically eligible in the 2009 season to participate in the 2010 AFC Cup. Instead, the Cup Winners' Cup in Thailand directly qualified for the competition. Already in the second round of the Thai FA Cup retired from the Chonburi.

Asian competitions
In 2008, in the first AFC Champions League, Chonburi played against the Japanese champions Gamba Osaka. On 20 March 2008 the club achieved its first victory in the AFC Champions League against Melbourne Victory. The game was clouded by controversy when Melbourne Victory scored their only goal whilst a Chonburi FC player was down injured and his teammates were calling for the ball to be played off the park. It mattered little when Cameroonian striker Baga scored a goal from 35 yards out and then followed it up with a second goal in extra time to condemn the Melbourne Victory to their first loss in the competition 3–1.

Academy & youth program
Chonburi is well known for producing football talent as well as using their youth players in the first team. In the 2007 Thailand Premier League in which they have been crowned champions, over 80% of their first-team players came from their youth program. However, in the past, their youth players stayed at boarding schools in Chonburi province such as Assumption College Sriracha and Chulabhon's College Chonburi.

Today Chonburi has a football academy where academy players train and live every day at. The idea of creating a football academy was spearheaded by former Chonburi head coach and current technical director Witthaya Laohakul, who stressed the importance of creating and producing quality football players for the first-team. In 2009, Chonburi decided to remodel its academy and youth program by building an actual football academy in Ban Bueng District. The new academy is located far away from Chonburi surrounded by paddy fields and was once rented out to JMG Academy. In addition, this new football academy includes a dormitory and football training facilities for the academy players.

Chonburi recruits academy players by scouting them from tournaments as well as offering trials. Worachit Kanitsribampen is one of the first successful players to come out of Chonburi's newly restructured academy.

Affiliated clubs

 * 🇯🇵 Vissel Kobe (2012)
 * Chonburi announced a business partnership between Vissel Kobe of the J1 League in 2012. The deal will facilitate player and staff exchanges both at the professional and youth level, as well as friendly matches, the creation of new football schools, and marketing opportunities.

Stadium
At the start of the 2008 season, Chonburi used the Chonburi Municipality Stadium plays in the 5,000-seater in Chonburi. Due to disagreements with the local authorities, the club wore its home games from 2008 of the Princess Sirindhorn Stadium. For the games of the 2008 AFC Champions League you had to dodge into the National Stadium, which was also used for matches in the 2009 AFC Cup Bangkok. For the 2010 season, the club will return to Chonburi and will host its home games at the renovated Chonburi Sports College Stadium.

In 2010 season they moved to IPE Chonburi Stadium.

In 2011 season they move to Chonburi Stadium after renovate the stadium for played in the AFC Cup, and Thai League.

Season by season record

 * P = Played
 * W = Games won
 * D = Games drawn
 * L = Games lost
 * F = Goals for
 * A = Goals against
 * Pts = Points
 * Pos = Final position


 * TL = Thai League
 * T1 = Thai League 1


 * DQ = Disqualified
 * QR1 = First Qualifying Round
 * QR2 = Second Qualifying Round
 * QR3 = Third Qualifying Round
 * QR4 = Fourth Qualifying Round
 * RInt = Intermediate Round
 * R1 = Round 1
 * R2 = Round 2
 * R3 = Round 3


 * R4 = Round 4
 * R5 = Round 5
 * R6 = Round 6
 * GR = Group stage
 * QF = Quarter-finals
 * SF = Semi-finals
 * RU = Runners-up
 * S = Shared
 * W = Winners

Current squad
Note 1: The official club website lists the supporters as player 12th man. Note 2: Players who are AFC Champions League quota foreign players are listed in bold.

Former players
For details on former players, see List of Chonburi F.C. players and Category:Chonburi F.C. players.

Manager history
Manager by Years (2004–present)


 * 🇹🇭 Witthaya Laohakul 2004–2006
 * 🇹🇭 Jadet Meelarp 2007–2008
 * 🇹🇭 Kiatisuk Senamuang 2009
 * 🇹🇭 Jadet Meelarp 2010–2011
 * 🇹🇭 Witthaya Laohakul 2011–2013
 * 🇯🇵 Masahiro Wada 2014
 * 🇹🇭 Jadet Meelarp 2015
 * 🇹🇭 Therdsak Chaiman 2016–2017
 * 🇩🇪 Goran Barjaktarević 2018
 * 🇹🇭 Jukkapant Punpee 2018–2019
 * 🇹🇭 Sasom Pobprasert 2019–2023
 * 🇹🇭 Adul Lahsoh (interim) 2023
 * 🇯🇵 Makoto Teguramori 2023
 * 🇹🇭 Nutthawut Vijitwetchakarn (interim) 2023–2024
 * 🇹🇭 Witthaya Laohakul (interim) 2024
 * 🇹🇭 Pipob On-Mo 2024–

League

 * Thai League 1
 * Winners (1): 2007
 * Runners-up (5): 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014
 * Provincial League:
 * Winners (1): 2005

Cups

 * FA Cup
 * Winners (2): 2010, 2016
 * Runners-up (2): 2014, 2020–21
 * Kor Royal Cup:
 * Winners (4): 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012