Thailand's pre-Olympic team left for Qatar last night to take part in the AFC U23 Championship.
Thailand are in Group B alongside Saudi Arabia, Japan and North Korea. They will open their campaign against Saudi Arabia on Jan 13, then take on Japan three days later before meeting North Korea in the final group match on Jan 19.
Group A consists of hosts Qatar, Syria, Iran and China.
The top three teams from the tournament will qualify as AFC representatives for the Olympic Games in Rio this summer.
The players had their final training session at Rajamangala National Stadium yesterday morning before their flight to Doha.
"We had our last training session today to review all the tactics for one last time before heading off to Doha," said coach Kiatisak Senamuang, who has been boosted by the return to full fitness of key defenders Tristan Do and Tanaboon Ketsarat.
Kiatisak hopes to have at least two warm-up matches, possibly against local sides, for his team.
"Our only problem now is that we haven't had enough warm-up matches to test our team. So hopefully we can arrange some games before the Saudi Arabia opener."
The tournament kicks off on Jan 12 with two Group A matches -- Syria v Iran and Qatar v China.