The Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases on Thursday ordered the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) to pay Siam Sport Syndicate 450 million baht in damages for unfairly terminating a contract.
The Intellectual Property and International Trade Court had ruled in 2019 that the FAT should pay Siam Sport 50 million baht but the firm felt it suffered more than that sum so it brought the case to the Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases.
Siam Sport said it had a contract with the FAT under its previous president Worawi Makudi to oversee the broadcast of competitions under the organisation from 2013-2017 and 2018-2022.
When current FAT president Somyot Poompunmuang took office in 2016, the FAT terminated the contract although Siam Sport did not do anything wrong or breach the contract, the firm said.
FAT chief Somyot Poompunmuang.
Siam Sport originally sought 1.4 billion baht in damages from the FAT.
In Thursday's ruling, the Court of Appeal for Specialized Cases said the FAT must pay Siam Sport 450 million baht plus interest within 30 days.
Friendly called off
The FAT has cancelled its plans for a Fifa Day friendly in September after the start of Thai League 1 was delayed by two weeks to Aug 13 due to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.
FAT secretary-general Patit Supaphong said the FAT was facing difficulties in finding a team to come and play a friendly on the Fifa Day in September because of the pandemic control protocols in Thailand.