2016 Thai League T1
The 2016 Thai League T1 was the 20th season of the Thai League T1, the top Thai professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996. A total of 18 teams competed in the league. The season started on 5 March 2016.
Buriram United are the defending champions, having won the Thai Premier League title the three consecutive seasons.
Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Football Association of Thailand cancelled the remaining league season on 14 October 2016, with three rounds remaining. Muangthong United were therefore crowned champions with BBCU, Chainat and Army United relegated.
The following day however, FAT appeared to do a U-turn and announced that further discussions with key stake holders would determine whether the league campaign would continue. These discussions were required as teams that were in the relegation places at the time of the original announcement were voicing their concerns.
On the 16 October, after a meeting of all top flight league clubs it was announced that the original decision to cancel the remaining games would stay in place, therefore crowning Muangthong United as champions for the 4th time.
Teams
A total of 18 teams will contest the league, including 15 sides from the 2015 season and three promoted from the 2015 Thai Division 1 League.
TOT and Port were relegated to the 2016 Thai Division 1 League after finishing the 2015 season. 14th-placed Saraburi withdrew from the league after the season, sparing BEC Tero Sasana from relegation. They were replaced by the best three teams from the 2015 Thai Division 1 League runners-up Pattaya United, third place Sukhothai and fourth place BBCU.
Stadiums and locations
Team | Province | Stadium | Capacity | |
Army United | Bangkok | Thai Army Sports Stadium | 20,000 | |
Bangkok Glass | Pathumthani | Leo Stadium | 14,000 | |
Bangkok United | Pathumthani | Thammasat Stadium | 25,000 | |
BBCU | Nonthaburi | Nonthaburi Youth Centre Stadium | 6,000 | |
BEC Tero Sasana | Bangkok | 72-years Anniversary Stadium | 10,000 | |
Buriram United | Buriram | New I-Mobile Stadium | 32,600 | |
Chainat Hornbill | Chainat | Khao Plong Stadium | 12,000 | |
Chiangrai United | Chiangrai | United Stadium of Chiangrai | 15,000 | |
Chonburi | Chonburi | Chonburi Stadium | 8,500 | |
Muangthong United | Nonthaburi | SCG Stadium | 15,000 | |
Nakhon Ratchasima | Nakhon Ratchasima | 80th Birthday Stadium | 28,000 | |
Navy | Chonburi | Sattahip Navy Stadium | 12,500 | |
Pattaya United | Chonburi | Dolphins Stadium | 5,000 | |
Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Ratchaburi | Mitr Phol Stadium | 13,000 | |
Sisaket | Sisaket | Sri Nakhon Lamduan Stadium | 10,000 | |
Sukhothai | Sukhothai | Thung Thalay Luang Stadium | 8,000 | |
Super Power Samut Prakan | Samut Prakan | M-Power Stadium | 4,100 | |
Suphanburi | Suphanburi | Suphanburi Municipality Stadium | 25,000 |
Name changes
- Osotspa Samut Prakan renamed themselves to Super Power Samut Prakan.
Stadium changes
- Bangkok United used the Thammasat Stadium in Pathumthani, a change from the previous season where they used the Thai-Japanese Stadium in Bangkok as their home ground in 2015.
- Ratchaburi Mitr Phol will use the Mitr Phol Stadium in June 2016, a change from the previous season where they used the Ratchaburi Stadium in Ratchaburi as their home ground in 2015.
- Sukhothai used the TOT Stadium Chaeng Watthana in Bangkok for the visit of Buriram United due to a home stadium ban.
- Muangthong United used the Supachalasai Stadium in Bangkok for the visit of BBCU due to a home stadium ban.
Personnel and sponsoring
Team | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Main sponsor |
Army United | Watcharakorn Antakhamphu | Sakka Sport | Chang | |
Bangkok Glass | Aurelio Vidmar | Matt Smith | Nike | Leo Beer |
Bangkok United | Alexandré Pölking | Ari | True | |
BBCU | Jatuporn Pramualban | Ego Sports | 3BB | |
BEC Tero Sasana | Surapong Kongthep | Apichet Puttan | FBT | FB Battery |
Buriram United | Ranko Popović | Made by club | Chang | |
Chainat Hornbill | Worakorn Wichanarong | Pisan Dorkmaikaew | Warrix | Wangkanai |
Chiangrai United | Made by club | Singha Park | ||
Chonburi | Nike | Chang | ||
Muangthong United | Totchtawan Sripan | Grand Sport | SCG | |
Nakhon Ratchasima | Miloš Joksić | Grand Sport | Mazda | |
Navy | Stefano Cugurra | Nataporn Phanrit | Made by club | HR-Pro |
Pattaya United | Kim Hak-chul | Tanasak Srisai | Tamudo | Nongnaka |
Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Pacheta | Carlos | Ari | Mitr Phol |
Sisaket | Masahiro Wada | Made by club | Muang Thai | |
Sukhothai | Somchai Chuayboonchum | Yuttapong Srilakorn | Mawin | Chang |
Super Power Samut Prakan | Pairoj Borwonwatanadilok | Grand Sport | M-150 | |
Suphanburi | Sérgio Farias | Warrix | Chang |
Managerial changes
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
Chonburi | Jadet Meelarp | End of Contract | 14 December 2015 | Therdsak Chaiman | 21 December 2015 | |
Super Power Samut Prakan | Kritsada Piandit | End of Contract | 14 December 2015 | Somchai Subpherm | 14 December 2015 | |
Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Josep Ferré | End of Contract | 14 December 2015 | Pacheta | 5 January 2016 | |
Sisaket | Chalermwoot Sa-Ngapol | End of Contract | 14 December 2015 | Božidar Bandović | 5 January 2016 | |
Suphanburi | Worrawoot Srimaka | End of caretaker role | 14 December 2015 | Sérgio Aparecido | 6 January 2016 | |
Muangthong United | Dragan Talajić | Sacked | 19 January 2016 | Totchtawan Sripan | 20 January 2016 | |
BEC Tero Sasana | Rangsan Viwatchaichok | End of caretaker role | 27 January 2016 | Branko Smiljanić | 5 February 2016 | |
Suphanburi | Sérgio Aparecido | Sacked | 21 March 2016 | 4th | Ricardo Rodríguez | 22 March 2016 |
BBCU | Koichi Sugiyama | Sacked | 25 April 2016 | 18th | Jatuporn Pramualban | 23 May 2016 |
Chainat Hornbill | Issara Sritaro | Sacked | 25 April 2016 | 16th | Koichi Sugiyama | 28 April 2016 |
Super Power Samut Prakan | Somchai Subpherm | Resigned | 28 April 2016 | 16th | Pairoj Borwonwatanadilok | 28 April 2016 |
BEC Tero Sasana | Branko Smiljanić | Sacked | 11 May 2016 | 12th | Surapong Kongthep | 12 May 2016 |
Nakhon Ratchasima | Sugao Kambe | Moved to technical director | 12 May 2016 | 16th | Miloš Joksić | 29 May 2016 |
Buriram United | Alexandre Gama | Sacked | 22 May 2016 | 3rd | Afshin Ghotbi | 24 May 2016 |
Pattaya United | Miloš Joksić | Signed by Nakhon Ratchasima | 29 May 2016 | 12th | Kim Hak-chul | 27 June 2016 |
Chainat Hornbill | Koichi Sugiyama | Resigned | 20 June 2016 | 17th | Worakorn Wichanarong | 20 June 2016 |
Bangkok Glass | Anurak Srikerd | Resigned | 23 June 2016 | 3rd | Aurelio Vidmar | 1 August 2016 |
Suphanburi | Ricardo Rodríguez | Resigned | 28 June 2016 | 9th | Sérgio Farias | 4 July 2016 |
Sisaket | Božidar Bandović | Sacked | 12 August 2016 | 11th | Masahiro Wada | 1 September 2016 |
Buriram United | Afshin Ghotbi | Sacked | 20 August 2016 | 3rd | Ranko Popović | 25 August 2016 |
Foreign players
The number of foreign players is restricted to five per Thai League T1 team. A team can use four foreign players on the field in each game, including at least one player from the AFC country.Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | AFC Player | Former Player |
Army United | Frauches | Josimar | Kai Hirano | Zdenko Kaprálik | Hassan Sunny | Raphael Botti |
Bangkok Glass | Ariel Rodríguez | Romain Gasmi | Kalifa Cissé | Toti | Matt Smith | Darko Tasevski Lazarus Kaimbi |
Bangkok United | Gilberto Macena | Leandro Tatu | Mario Gjurovski | Dragan Boškovic | Jaycee John | Kalifa Cissé |
BBCU | Dooh Moukoko | Diarra Ali | Julius Oiboh | Ma Sang-hoon | Woo Geun-jeong | |
BEC Tero Sasana | Łukasz Gikiewicz | Miloš Bosančić | Milan Bubalo | Sreten Sretenović | Takahiro Kawamura | Greg Nwokolo Kim Jung-Woo |
Buriram United | Diogo | Kaio | Bruno Moreira | Andrés Túñez | Go Seul-ki | Weslley |
Chainat Hornbill | Reis | Sinama Pongolle | Kazuto Kushida | Jo Tae-Keun | Sho Shimoji | Renan Silva Wesley Alex |
Chiangrai United | Wellington Bruno | Hironori Saruta | Kazuki Murakami | Lazarus Kaimbi | Mark Bridge | Danilo Cirino Dennis Murillo |
Chonburi | Anderson | Leandro | Rodrigo Vergilio | Prince Amponsah | Kim Jong-pil | |
Muangthong United | Xisco | Célio Santos | Lee Ho | Naoaki Aoyama | Cleiton Silva Michaël N'dri Mario | |
Nakhon Ratchasima | Björn Lindemann | Dominic Adiyiah | Marco Tagbajumi | Noah Chivuta | Satoshi Nagano | |
Navy | Addison | André Luís | Aron da Silva | Anggello Machuca | Victor Igbonefo | Felipe Ferreira |
Pattaya United | Antonio Pina | Júnior Negrão | Yoo Jae-ho | Fran González | Soony Saad | Yukiya Sugita |
Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | Germán Pacheco | Marvin Ogunjimi | Carlos | Yannick Djaló | Takuya Murayama | Heberty Łukasz Gikiewicz |
Sisaket | Chico | Victor Amaro | Adefolarin Durosinmi | Bojan Dubajić | Anton Zemlianukhin | Lyuben Nikolov Norbert Csiki |
Sukhothai | Alex Rafael | Renan Marques | Bireme Diouf | Jhon Baggio | Hiromichi Katano | |
Super Power Samut Prakan | Dennis Murillo | Jeferson | Anthony Komenan | Sydney Urikhob | Lee Hyun-woong | Aron da Silva Ahn Jae-hoon |
Suphanburi | Dellatorre | Márcio Rosário | Darko Tasevski | Kim Seung-yong | Jung Hoon | Tinga Carmelo González |
- Former player are the players who were out of Thai League T1 squad/left club in the mid-season transfer window.
Results
League table
Positions by round
Result table
Season statistics
Top scorers
Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
1 | Cleiton Silva | Muangthong United | 27 |
2 | Dragan Bošković | Bangkok United | 20 |
2 | Júnior Negrão | Pattaya United | 20 |
2 | Heberty* | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | 20 |
5 | Ariel Rodríguez | Bangkok Glass | 19 |
5 | Jaycee John | Bangkok United | 19 |
7 | Josimar | Army United | 16 |
8 | Renan Marques | Sukhothai | 15 |
8 | Yannick Djaló | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | 15 |
10 | Adisak Kraisorn | Muangthong United | 14 |
- * Transferred to Al-Shabab after 20 weeks.
Top assists
Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
1 | Jhon Baggio | Sukhothai | 13 |
2 | Chanathip Songkrasin | Muangthong United | 11 |
3 | Soony Saad | Pattaya United | 9 |
3 | Mario Gjurovski | Bangkok United | 9 |
5 | Anton Zemlianukhin | Sisaket | 8 |
5 | Wellington | Chiangrai United | 8 |
5 | Sarach Yooyen | Muangthong United | 8 |
5 | Toti | Bangkok Glass | 8 |
5 | Cleiton Silva | Muangthong United | 8 |
5 | Adefolarin Durosinmi | Sisaket | 8 |
5 | Theerathon Bunmathan | Buriram United, Muangthong United | 8 |
5 | Tristan Do | Muangthong United | 8 |
Hat-tricks
Clean sheets
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
1 | Kawin Thamsatchanan | Muangthong United | 16 |
2 | Siwarak Tedsungnoen | Buriram United | 10 |
2 | Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool | Suphanburi | 10 |
2 | Narong Wongthongkam | Navy | 10 |
2 | Ukrit Wongmeema | Ratchaburi Mitr Phol | 10 |
6 | Kittipong Phuthawchueak | Bangkok United | 9 |
7 | Chanin Sae-ear | Chonburi | 8 |
7 | Intharat Apinyakool | Chiangrai United | 8 |
7 | Kampol Pathom-attakul | Nakhon Ratchasima | 8 |
10 | Prasit Padungchok | BEC Tero Sasana | 7 |