Kiatisuk Senamuang

Kiatisuk Senamuang played with Perlis in Malaysia before joining an English club Huddersfield Town in 1999, which the then manager, Steve Bruce, considered merely a publicity stunt.^[3] After one season, in which he did not feature in the Huddersfield Town first team squad, Kiatisuk left English football for Rajpracha Sports Club in Thailand, later joining Singapore Armed Forces FC where he scored 15 goals in 20 games. In March 2002, he moved once again to become a star in Vietnam with Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, where he helped win the V.League 1 title several times. He returned to play for the Thailand national football team in the King's Cup.

Kiatisuk played 131 international matches and scored 70 goals for the national team. Both figures are Thai national records.

After retiring from playing in 2006, Kiatisuk went straight into management with V-League side Hoàng Anh Gia Lai

In 2008, Kiatisuk returned to Thailand to take charge of Chula United. In 2009, Kiatisuk became the head coach of Chonburi F.C. and led the club to win the 2009 Kor Royal Cup.^[4] Kiatisuk managed to finish the season in second place, with the highest points ever achieved by the club. Nevertheless, after failing to secure the domestic league title he resigned.

Kiatisuk went to Vietnam again to manage his former club Hoàng Anh Gia Lai. He finished his season in the V-League in seventh place. He led Hoàng Anh Gia Lai to the final of the 2010 Vietnamese Cup but lost 0–1 to Sông Lam Nghệ An at Thống Nhất Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City.

In December 2010, Kiatisuk returned to Thailand as the head coach of Chula United in Division 1.^[5] He brought the club to third place by the end of the season resulting in promotion to the 2012 Thai Premier League. After ten games in the top league, Kiatisuk resigned from his position due to poor results: 1 win, 4 draws, and 5 losses.^[6]

A month later, Kiatisuk decided to join Bangkok F.C. in the 2012 Thai Division 1 League to help the club to avoid relegation.^[7] Bangkok survived in the second league of Thailand after finishing in tenth place (in the middle of the table).

In January 2013, Kiatisuk was appointed to be the head coach of Thailand U-23. He won 1–0 in his debut match in the friendly against Ayutthaya F.C. of Division 1 on 12 January.^[8]

In June 2013, Kiatisuk was appointed as a caretaker head coach of Thailand senior team, replacing Winfried Schaefer. His debut match as head coach of the War Elephants was in a friendly against China on 15 June 2013, which the Thais won 5–1.^[9] He was also responsible as the head coach for the Thailand U-23 team preparing for the 2013 SEA Games.^[10]

As head coach of Thailand U-23, Kiatisuk guided the team to 2013 SEA Games gold, adding to the four golds he won as a player in four straight Games from 1993 to 1999. He also led Thailand U-23 to the semi-finals at 2014 Asian Games and finished in 4th place.^[11]

In 2014, due to his success in 2014 Asian Games, Kiatisuk was appointed to be a permanent head coach of Thailand to compete in the 2014 AFF Championship. Using mainly young players from his former U-23 side, he led Thailand to the victory with a 4–3 aggregate score against Malaysia in the final, becoming the only person to win the AFF Championship as both a player and a manager.^[12]

In 2015, for the second round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, Thailand was drawn in the same group as Iraq, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei. With Kiattisuk as manager, the team finished as the winner of the group with 14 points from six games. Thailand advanced to the final round of qualification.

In 2016, Kiatisuk managed the Thai side to defend the title in the 2016 AFF Championship. Having won all the games en route to the final, on 14 December Thailand lost 1–2 at Pakansari Stadium against Indonesia in the first leg of the final.^[13] Nevertheless, Thailand managed to secure a return of the trophy with a 2–0 win at Rajamangala Stadium and lifted their fifth regional title on 17 December 2016. Kiattisuk became the third manager, after Peter Withe and Radojko Avramović, to successfully defend the AFF Championship title.^[14]

Kiatisuk continued to coach Thailand in the final round of World Cup qualification. However, he managed to collect only one point from seven games of the qualification. Three days after a 0–4 loss to Japan at Saitama Stadium 2002 on 28 March 2017, Kiatisuk stepped down from his position as the manager of the national team after four years in charge.^[15]

After his spell at the national team, Kiatisuk shortly managed Thai League T1 club Port F.C. in 2017, but resigned due to poor results.^[16]

On 20 November 2020, Kiatisuk was appointed head coach with a two-year contract of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, his former Vietnamese club.^[17] His first match in charge was on 17 January 2021 away against Saigon. The game ended in a 1–0 defeat.^[18] On 22 January 2021, Kiatisuk won his first game in a 2–1 home win over Sông Lam Nghệ An.^[19]

At the time of the cancelation of 2021 V.League 1 due to COVID-19 pandemic, Kiatisuk's Hoàng Anh Gia Lai were the 1st place in the league table with 29 points from 12 games and qualified for the AFC Champions League, but the season was voided and the title was not awarded.^[20]

Kiatisuk is a Buddhist born in Udon Thani. Before he became a professional football player, he worked as a police officer, but always had a love for football. According to a friend, "his move to football was prompted by insecurity".

He was given the nickname Zico by his friends, in honour of his favourite Brazilian football idol Zico.

Kiatisuk learned Vietnamese and speaks the language fluently just after a first couple of years during his career in Vietnam.

He has three daughters, their nicknames are Perth, Proud and Pearl.

As of match played 12 May 2024

¹ A win or loss by penalty shoot-out is counted as a draw.
² Kiatisuk Senamuang managed the team on a one-off basis as caretaker-manager.
³ Only FIFA approved games are counted for Thailand.

Thailand

• AFF Championship: 1996, 2000, 2002
• Sea Games gold medal: 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999
• King's Cup: 1994, 2000, 2006
• Indonesian Independence Cup: 1994
• Asian Games fourth place: 1998, 2002

Krung Thai Bank

• Kor Royal Cup: 1989
• Khǒr Royal Cup: 1993

Singapore Armed Forces

• S.League: 2002

Hoang Anh Gia Lai

• V.League 1: 2003, 2004
• Vietnamese Super Cup: 2003, 2004

Individual

• AFF Championship Most Valuable Player: 2000
• V.League 1 Best Foreign Player of the year: 2003, 2004
• AFC Asian All Stars: 2000^[22]

Thailand

• AFF Championship: 2014, 2016
• King's Cup: 2016

Thailand U-23

• SEA Games gold medal: 2013
• Asian Games fourth place: 2014

Chonburi

• Kor Royal Cup: 2009

Hoang Anh Gia Lai

• Vietnamese National Cup runner-up: 2010
• Quang Trung Emperor's Cup: 2022

Individual

• ASEAN Football Federation Coach of the Year: 2015,^[23] 2017^[24]
• V.League 1 Manager of the Month: January 2021, March 2021,^[25] April 2021,^[26] July 2022

Kiatisuk became the first Thai footballer along with some others to appear in a video game when he appeared in World Soccer Jikkyou Winning Eleven 2000: U-23 Medal Heno Chousen as a player of the Thailand U-23 team.^{[citation needed]} His name in the game is "Senamuran" (セナムラン).

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
• List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
• Top international football goalscorers by country

• Fan site