Manchester United of the English Premier League (EPL) and SCG Muang Thong United of the Thai Premier League (TPL) are the favourite teams for Thai football fans this year, but neither league commands a mass following, according to a survey conducted by National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted May 6-9, and sampled 2,500 people of various occupations and education levels throughout the country.
English Premier League
A huge majority of the respondents - 77.40% - said they are not followers of the top English football league.
Of the followers, 70.62% said they "occasionally" monitor the results of the EPL matches. The remaining 29.38% said they do so "regularly".
When asked to name their favourite EPL teams now that the 2017 season is near to a conclusion, Manchester United came first with 34.16%, followed by Liverpool (27.25%), Chelsea (8.67%) and Arsenal (3.54%). Manchester City and Leicester City were each followed by 3.01%.
Thai Premier League
The TPL fared marginally better, but a large majority of the respondents - 71.76% - said they are not followers of the top Thai football league, with the remaining 28.24% describing themselves as active followers.
Of the TPL followers, 82.86% said they track the TPL results "occasionally". Only 17.14% said they do so "regularly".
Asked to name their favourite TPL teams, SCG Muang Thong came first with 33.29%, followed by Buriram United at 25.07%, Chonburi FC at 3.68%, Bangkok Glass at 2.69%, Nakhon Ratchasima at 2.27%, Chiangrai United at 2.27% and Port FC at 1.84%.
