Fifa president Gianni Infantino is impressed with the progress of the Thai league and national teams in the football world, an assistant government spokesman said on Thursday.
Infantino, who is visiting Thailand for the local association's centenary, told Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House on Thursday of his impressions of the Thai Premier League and the performances of the national team in Southeast Asia and on the global stage, Col Athisit Chainuwat said.
He said he hoped that Thailand would use its development to render support for football in other countries in the region.
The men's national team are the sole representative from Southeast Asia in the final round of regional qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The War Elephants will begin their campaign in Group B against Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in September.
The women's team played in the World Cup Final in Canada in June last year. They returned with one win after defeating Ivory Coast.
Speaking in the King Power Pullman hotel, the Fifa boss hailed Leicester City's "fairytale" rise to the top of the Premier League as an example of football's ability to delight with "beautiful stories".
"That's why we all love football, it's the magic of football. And fairytales like the fairytale of Leicester are exactly showing us that football is unpredictable," he told reporters.
"Football brings us every year, everywhere in the world, these kind of beautiful stories," he said.
The hotel and the football club are owned by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.
Leicester are one win away from securing the league title, defying 5000-1 odds.
Infantino is in the country to celebrate the century mark of the establishment of the Football Association of Thailand. He was elected the new Fifa president in February, succeeding Sepp Blatter, who resigned after a corruption scandal plagued football's governing body.