Chainat Hornbill Football Club is a professional football club founded in 2009 by Anucha Nakasai, a former Thai politician. The club was placed in the best management class as a result, and it has developed rapidly since its first season. In the 2009 Northern Regional Division 2 Regional League the club came third, playing 20 matches and winning 12, drawing 3 and losing 5 for a total of 39 points. Their top scorer was Sanogo Abou, with 15 goals.[citation needed] In 2012, the club was promoted to the top league, Thai League 1, for the first time.[2]
Dennis Amato era
In 2016, club chairman, Anucha Nakasai announced the appointment of Dennis Amato as the new head coach of the club.[3] In October 2017, the club came first winning the 2017 Thai League 2 with 67 points and was promoted to the 2018 Thai League 1.[4]
After Chainat Hornbill's promotion to the top tier of Thai football, Amato briefly left the club to take up a role as a director of football at Ang Thong.[5] The club announced the appointment of Drago Mamić as the new head coach of the club but Mamić left the club for personal reasons.[6]
However, Amato return to Chainat again, but was faced with many problems, including a squad with a limited number of players, and strict financial constraints.[7]
In 2018, after a win against defending FA Cup champions Chiangrai United, the Hornbills defeated the defending Thai League 1 champions Buriram United 1–0 at the Chang Arena, which was the first time that Buriram United had failed to win a league game on their own home ground since the return of Bozidar Bandovic as coach.[8] In the 2018 season, the club became well known as "giant-killing." (Thai: จอมล้มยักษ์).[9] Under Amato's management, the Hornbills play a style of football based on maintaining possession, and trying to win the ball back after losing it, instead of regrouping into a defensive position.[10][11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^King, Ian; Schöggl, Hans & Stokkermans, Karel (20 March 2014). "Thailand – List of Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 October 2014. Select link to season required from chronological list.
