The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) have agreed to play a friendly with Hong Kong in October as part of their Asian Cup preparations. Thailand has been drawn along with hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), India and Bahrain in Group A of the continent's show-piece event which is set to start from January 5, 2019.
Hong Kong will also try to make the most of this encounter to fine tune their final preparations before they head into the East Asian Football Championship preliminary round two with an aim to qualify for the finals which will take place in Taipei in November.
“We need training games before the tournament and Thailand also shown its interest in playing a friendly against us in the same period. We think the match can bring a positive effect," said Hong Kong’s administrative manager Liu Chun-fai.
Milovan Rajevac's men will also take part in the biennial football competition organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), the AFF Suzuki Cup as defending champions.
A total of 10 teams will vie for the AFF Suzuki Cup trophy from November 8 to December 15, 2018. Thailand are drawn in Group B along with Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. They will also be joined by the winner of the play-off between Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste. Each team play two games at home and two games away in the group stages. The top-two teams progress from each group into the semi-finals which will be played over two legs home and away. The final will also be a two-legged affair.
Thailand will look to put their hands on the trophy for a record sixth time to successfully cap off their preparations for the Asian Cup.
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)