Khon Kaen Football Club (Thai: สโมสรฟุตบอลจังหวัดขอนแก่น) is a Thailand professional football club, based in Khon Kaen province, a city located in the heart of the North Eastern Region of Thailand. The club currently plays in Thai League 3. In 2011, they achieved promotion from Thai Division 1 League to the Thai League 1 for the first time in their history, by finishing runners-up in the Thai Division 1 League.
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| Full name | Khon Kaen Football Club สโมสรฟุตบอลจังหวัดขอนแก่น | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The T-Rexs (ไดโนเสาร์พิฆาต) | |||
| Short name | KKFC | |||
| Founded | 2005 | |||
| Ground | Khon Kaen Provincial Administrative Organization Stadium Khon Kaen, Thailand | |||
| Capacity | 7,000 | |||
| Chairman | Kasom Chanawong | |||
| Head Coach | Apisak Asayut | |||
| League | Thai League 3 | |||
| 2023–24 | Thai League 3, 5th of 13 in the Northeastern region | |||
Khonkaen play their home games at the Khon Kaen Provincial Administrative Organization Stadium. They traditionally play in black and yellow, and their nickname is commonly known as The T-Rexs which came from the famous rich dinosaur fossil excavations of the province.
History
Khon Kaen Football Club was publicly formed on 21 June 2007, before that time the club played in the Provincial League which largely consist of regional football clubs, nonetheless, the league was not recognized by the Football Association of Thailand.[1]
In 2007 the league was merged into Thai Premier League and Thai Division 1 League and the club was registered to be professional football club in this year and was allocated into Thai Division 1 League Group A, the club was close to promotion by finishing at the fourth place that season.
In the 2008 season, Khon Kaen was not performing as well as the previous season as they could only finish the season in 8th place, nevertheless, the club proved themselves, being one of the favourites for promotion in the 2009 season, however, they lost the promotion spot to Sisaket in the last week of the season.
In 2010, the club was finally promoted to the Thai Premier League after finishing runners-up in the league table which was the first time for the club to participate in the top flight of Thai football.
However, their brief TPL tenure ended disappointingly as they finished bottom of the table. Any thoughts of yo-yoing straight back never emerged in 2012 with the T-Rex finishing in the bottom half of the first division.
In 2014, the Club got 17th of 2014 and relegated to 2015 Thai Division 2 League North Eastern Region into North-Eastern zone.[2][3]
In 2022, Khon Kaen competed in the Thai League 3 for the 2022–23 season. It is their 17th season in the professional league. The club started the season with a 3–0 away win over Nakhon Ratchasima United[4] and they ended the season with a 1–0 home win over Nakhon Ratchasima United.[5] The club has finished 4th place in the league of the Northeastern region. In addition, in the 2022–23 Thai FA Cup Khon Kaen was defeated 2–3 by Phrae United in the third round, causing them to be eliminated[6] and in the 2022–23 Thai League Cup Khon Kaen was defeated 0–1 by Khon Kaen Mordindang in the second qualification round, causing them to be eliminated too.[7]
Stadium and locations
| Coordinates | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16°24′46″N 102°49′38″E / 16.412905°N 102.827164°E | Khonkaen | Khon Kaen Province Stadium (Khon Kaen PAO. Stadium) | 10,000 | 2007–2015 |
| 16°28′36″N 102°49′03″E / 16.476767°N 102.817386°E | Khon Kaen | 50th Anniversary Stadium of Khon Kaen University | 8,000 | 2016 |
| 16°24′46″N 102°49′38″E / 16.412905°N 102.827164°E | Khonkaen | Khon Kaen Province Stadium (Khon Kaen PAO. Stadium) | 10,000 | 2017 |
Season by season record
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | T3 Cup | Top goalscorer | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | Name | Goals | ||||
| 2006 | Pro League | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 35 | 11th | — | — | |||||
| 2007 | DIV1 A | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 25 | 25 | 29 | 4th | — | — | |||
| 2008 | DIV1 | 30 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 32 | 34 | 41 | 8th | — | — |  Issarapong Lilakorn | 11 | |
| 2009 | DIV1 | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 49 | 36 | 55 | 4th | R4 | — | Sarawut Vichien | 12 | |
| 2010 | DIV1 | 30 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 51 | 35 | 54 | 2nd | R3 | R2 | Surachat Singnhon | 10 | |
| 2011 | TPL | 34 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 33 | 68 | 27 | 18th | R3 | R3 |  Khampheng Sayavutthi | 4 | |
| 2012 | DIV1 | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 35 | 49 | 42 | 11th | R3 | R2 |  Matías Recio | 7 | |
| 2013 | DIV1 | 34 | 8 | 12 | 14 | 40 | 54 | 36 | 16th | R3 | R3 | Matías Recio | 20 | |
| 2014 | DIV1 | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 23 | 45 | 28 | 17th | R3 | R1 |  Junki Yokono | 8 | |
| 2015 | DIV 2 Northeast | 34 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 54 | 26 | 61 | 6th | R2 | QR1 | |||
| 2016 | DIV 2 Northeast | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 40 | 26 | 44 | 4th | R1 | R2 | Thanapol Srithong | 10 | |
| 2017 | T3 Upper | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 53 | 18 | 59 | 1st | R2 | QR1 | Thotsaphon Yotchan, Darko Tasevski | 11 | |
| 2018 | T2 | 28 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 52 | 30 | 49 | 4th | QF | R1 |  Marc Landry Babo | 16 | |
| 2019 | T2 | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 40 | 48 | 49 | 8th | R1 | R2 | Seiya Sugishita | 12 | |
| 2020–21 | T2 | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 34 | 38 | 41 | 10th | R1 | — | Seiya Sugishita | 12 | |
| 2021–22 | T2 | 34 | 5 | 9 | 20 | 32 | 60 | 24 | 17th | R1 | QRP | Chakrit Rawanprakone | 7 | |
| 2022–23 | T3 Northeast | 24 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 36 | 21 | 41 | 4th | R3 | QR2 |  Judivan | 12 | |
| 2023–24 | T3 Northeast | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 29 | 19 | 43 | 5th | QR | QR1 | QR2 | Alberto Moreira Gouvea | 8 |
| Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Promoted | Relegated |
Players
First Team squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | MF | THA | Kittichai Yomkhot |
| 18 | GK | THA | Thanandorn Pasri |
| 19 | DF | THA | Ratthaphon Phoopharot |
| 20 | FW | THA | Punyachotc Namjatturat |
| 21 | DF | THA | Thanaphat Suwannatha |
| 26 | FW | THA | Worawaran Pholuea |
| 27 | MF | THA | Christmas Khunchaiwong |
| 30 | GK | THA | Bunditvicha Nongngok |
| 31 | DF | THA | Nutdanai Ketpaen |
| 33 | MF | THA | Kitsada Hemvipat |
| 37 | FW | BRA | Alberto Moreira Gouvea |
| 88 | FW | BRA | Dourado Jose Magson Bezerra |
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
|---|
Note: The official club website lists the supporters as player #12.
Coaching staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Apisak Asayut |
| Assistant head coach | Pattanapong Sripramoj |
| Assistant head coach | Nirut Surasieng |
| First-team coach | Chakkrit Boonkham |
| Goalkeeper coach | Sthiti Phaengma |
| Fitness coach | Wattana Nuttat |
| Physiotherapist | Dr. Acira Hiruntrakul |
| Physiotherapist | Sittisak Sriwijarn |
| Team Officer | Veerasil Wongveerachai Noppadol Intako Kraisorn Supsin Nuengruthai Praikhet |
Honours
Domestic leagues
- Thai League 3
- Runners-up (1): 2017
- Thai League 3 Upper Region
- Champions (1): 2017
- Thai Division 1 League
- Runners-up (1): 2010