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| Full name | Pattaya United Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Blue Dolphins (โลมาสีนํ้าเงิน) | |||
| Short name | PUTD | |||
| Founded | 1989 (1989), asCoke Bangpra 2008 (2008), asPattaya United | |||
| Dissolved | 2018 (becameSamut Prakan City)[1] | |||
| Ground | Nong Prue Stadium Pattaya,Chonburi, Thailand | |||
| Capacity | 5,500 | |||
Pattaya United Football Club (Thai:สโมสรฟุตบอลพัทยา ยูไนเต็ด) was a Thai defunctfootball club based inPattaya,Chonburi Province. Defunct after the 2018 season, the club was renamed toSamut Prakan City and relocated toSamut Prakan.[1]
The club was founded under the nameCoke-Bangpra Chonburi FC which derived from the sponsor and the community Bang Phra in the district ofSi Racha, the province ofChonburi. After several years in the Provincial League of Thailand, the club was promoted to theThai Premier League for the 2008 season. As a result of the promotion to the TPL, the team was renamed to "Pattaya United" and moved to the city ofPattaya. In the first season in the top-flight division, the team finished in 11th place at the end of the season.
The team moved to Pattaya for the 2008 season, and changed its name to Pattaya United FC (The Dolphins), in their first season under the new name the team finished in 11th place in the Thai Premier League, only avoiding relegation in the final game of the season. However, in the following seasons, the team improved to finishing as high as sixth, and fourth in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The team has always been looked at as a "little brother" team toChonburi FC as they both were owned by theKunpluem family, an affluence local family in Chonburi province. The club has shown potential, winning against teams with double or triple its annual budget, winning the hearts of Thai, and Foreign fans alike. After spending 6 years in the TPL, the Dolphins were relegated to the2014 Thai Division 1 League in 2014. During the offseason, the future of the club was uncertain with various speculations.
However, in January 2015 the club was sold to Enigma Sports Ventures (ESV), the sporting arm of the Enigma Global. It marked the first change in ownership in the club history, after several lucrative bids were submitted for the Kunpluem family's consideration. The family and Pattaya United board felt that the club's best interest and future lie with Enigma Sports Ventures. The new ownership's management team moves very quickly in rebranding the club, appointing the new president is, Club's first foreign Head Coach, and securing 8 top players from TPL to play in Division One. Many players were former first elevens players fromMuangthong United, as well as couple thai and foreign national team players. In 2016, Pattaya United was taken over by the Kiarti Thanee Group led by Tanet Phanichewa.[2]
At the end of season 2018, club owner decided to change the club name toSamut Prakan City and relocated toSamut Prakan Province due to local politic conflict.[3][4][5]
The club's fierce local rivals areChonburi andSriracha which all are in the same province ofChonburi. Although theKunpluem family previously owned all three teams, they have always competed hard against one another. Also, the teams over the years were not often in the same division/league as one another, when they met the games have always been the highest attendance games. In recent years, the rivalries between Chonburi and Pattaya have been the most highly anticipated game of the year inChonburi Province.
Nong Prue Stadium, formally known asNongprue Municipality Stadium inPattaya originally designed to hold just over 3,000 spectators, but over the year the additional seats were required to accommodate more fans. So as the result of that, the stadium was renovated once in 2011. Under the new ownership of Enigma Sport Ventures, the stadium is currently undergo the renovation to accommodate up to 5,500 spectators. As well as additional required upgrades by the TPL to make the stadium competition worthy for the 2015 season. In addition to the renovation to the stadium, the new gift shop and club onsite office are added to the stadium ground.
| Season | League[6] | FA Cup | Queen's Cup | Kor Royal Cup | League Cup | Top scorer | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | Name | Goals | |||||
| 2007 | DIV 1 | 22 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 30 | 14 | 41 | 2nd | – | |||||
| 2008 | TPL | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 24 | 27 | 35 | 11th | – | Tana Chanabut | 4 | |||
| 2009 | TPL | 30 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 27 | 33 | 32 | 11th | R4 | SF | – | – | Anderson Machado | 4 |
| 2010 | TPL | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 43 | 38 | 45 | 6th | QF | QF | – | QF | Ludovick Takam | 17 |
| 2011 | TPL | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 38 | 27 | 53 | 4th | R5 | – | – | R2 | O. J. Obatola | 8 |
| 2012 | TPL | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 35 | 47 | 37 | 15th | R3 | – | – | R3 | Kengne Ludovick | 10 |
| 2013 | TPL | 32 | 9 | 2 | 21 | 39 | 66 | 29 | 17th | R3 | – | – | R2 | Rod Dyachenko | 7 |
| 2014 | DIV 1 | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 42 | 53 | 41 | 14th | R2 | – | – | R3 | Cristiano Lopes | 14 |
| 2015 | DIV 1 | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 77 | 40 | 65 | 2nd | R1 | – | – | QF | Milan Bubalo | 20 |
| 2016 | TL | 31 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 46 | 66 | 34 | 12th | R2 | – | – | R3 | Júnior Negrão | 20 |
| 2017 | T1 | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 60 | 53 | 51 | 8th | R2 | – | – | R2 | Miloš Stojanović | 15 |
| 2018 | T1 | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 50 | 62 | 46 | 8th | R2 | – | – | R2 | Lukian | 18 |
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
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Coaches by Years (2007–2018)
Pansak Ketwattha2007–2009Jadet Meelarp2009Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul2010Jatuporn Pramualban2010–2011Chalermwoot Sa-ngapol2011–2013Jadet Meelarp2013 Songyod Klinsrisook2013–2014
Sean Sainsbury2015Surapong Kongthep2015
Lim Jong-heon2015
Miloš Joksić2016Kim Hak-chul2016Surapong Kongthep2016–2018
