Summary A football fan who attended the vote said he was desperate for Somyot to win
BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand s Football Association was set Thursday to elect a new president after an ill-tempered campaign which has turned up an ex-police chief backed by Leicester City s owners as the favourite to succeed the scandal-mired former boss.
Scores of police ringed the Bangkok stadium which will host the vote later Thursday in case of protest, an indication of the level of acrimony that swirls around the Thai game.
Somyot Poompanmoung, the colourful ex-head Thailand s police, is the frontrunner for the presidency, pledging to elevate the standard of the kingdom s football and distribute resources more fairly.
He is supported by a number of big Thai football clubs as well as his friend Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, the billionaire owner of table-topping English Premier League outfit Leicester.
Somyot wants to succeed Worawi Makudi, a former FIFA insider and Thai football s Teflon man who for years refused to be floored by a cascade of scandals and a long list of enemies.
Worawi, a FIFA executive committee member for 18 years until last May, cannot run in this election after being suspended by the game s governing body over an alleged breach of its ethical code.
He denies any wrongdoing.
Instead Worawi is widely believed to be backing former Thai national team coach Charnvit Pholchivin for the top job.
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Other candidates include Nataphol Teepsuwan, who is the chairman of Bangkok FC, another ex-policeman and an Football Association of Thailand (FAT) administrator.
"After today s election, I want everyone to work together and hope the conflicts will disappear so Thai football can move forward," Natapol told reporters ahead of the vote.
Observers say the squabble within Thai football mirrors the junta-run country s recent political quarrels where elections have simply been ignored or annulled by powerful elites.
In a rowdy campaign, Worawi s rivals have pilloried his tenure while the candidates have questioned each other s eligibility to run the game.
Attempts to suspend the election have also been made, the last one rejected by a court late on Wednesday.
The jocular Somyot, who enjoys a kickaround and recently told AFP "he always wins", has vowed to clean up the sport, allocate funds fairly and raise the standards of referring.
He wants to establish a national level academy system and says his links with Leicester City will help boost the quality of Thai coaches and backroom staff.
A football fan who attended the vote said he was desperate for Somyot to win.
"I want sincere people to run the game so that all of problems can be cleaned up and Thai football can reach a better standard," Jakphol Lakthong told AFP.
Worawi was a longtime ally of the shamed suspended FIFA chief Sepp Blatter.
But he has finally been sidelined, a victim of heightened scrutiny by FIFA since a corruption scandal billowed out of the governing body s Zurich headquarters last year.
While heading the FAT he faced down fraud, graft and bribery allegations as well as a petition by tens of thousands football fans urging Thailand s junta to kick him out.
