Located at NIST International School in the Thai capital, CFC IDC BKK began offering the scholarship programme in 2016, which provides talented young players with free year-round training at the centre, overseen by Chelsea Foundation-trained coaches.

The programme enjoyed a notable success last year when one of its scholars, Nittikarn Muangkul (better known by his nickname ‘Garfield’), was selected to join Thailand’s Under-13 national team.

Sirasit Subsin (‘Guy’), Wongsakorn Buasumlee (‘Latte’) and Siwat Seedad (‘Pew’) have now added to the success story by progressing through the programme’s player development pathway and graduating to higher levels in their promising football careers.

Guy has been accepted into Assumption Thonburi, the country’s top football school, on a full scholarship, Latte now plays for Thailand’s Under-12 national team and Pew has earned a spot in the men’s team at Thai League club Samut Prakhan FC.

Guy, who initially trained with CFC IDC BKK’s Under-9 to Under-11 groups before receiving scholarships in 2017/18 and 2018/19, felt the Chelsea Foundation training programme had done a great deal for his development as a player.

‘It has helped me to become much bolder in my thinking about the game and also improved me as a player so I am much more confident of playing in any position now,’ he said.

Latte, who joined the scholarship programme in 2018/19, noticed how different it was to other training programmes in the country.

‘The Chelsea Foundation coaches teach you how to set up and play the ball forward in a meaningful manner in order to create chances,’ he explained.

‘It’s different from Thai coach who always want the players to follow what they say and are more concerned with sending a long pass forward than focussing on other styles of play.’

Pew also enjoyed the coaching methodology of the Chelsea Foundation.

‘It has worked to my benefit as it has helped me become more agile and focused when I play football,’ said the young goalkeeper.

‘It is easy to understand what the coaches are teaching us and I feel less pressured in games, as they are different from others coaches who shout their orders to players and cause you to lose concentration.

‘The coaches here guide you with their teaching techniques so that you feel comfortable when you play.’

Over 300 players tried out last year for the CFC IDC BKK scholarship last year, which offers free training to scholars two to three times per week and the opportunity to play for the centre in the Chelsea FC Youth Development League (YDL) at NIST International School every weekend.

Trials for the 2019/20 scholarship programme will take place on Saturday, 24 August at NIST International School. For more information, please email: [email protected] or visit the centre’s Facebook page.