BANGKOK: Chairman of the AFC Futsal Championship 2008 Local Organising Committee Adisak Benjasiriwan has expressed confidence that the 10th edition which will be held from May 11-18 in the Thai capital would be the most successful yet.

Talking to www.the-afc.com, Adisak said: “Futsal is a very popular sport in Thailand, thanks to the performance of our national team and also regular hosting of top-class tournaments.”

“We organise under-17, youth and university-level matches apart from the Thailand Futsal League. The ASEAN futsal teams compete here almost on a yearly basis,” he said explaining the game’s popularity.

“I am confident that the AFC Futsal Championship will be of great interest for fans as it is also a qualifier for the FIFA Futsal World Cup,” he added.

“All the matches in this championship will be thrilling and to attract fans we will carry out promotional activities before the start of the event.”

He said the Thai team would play friendly matches to prepare for the event.

The hosts have been slotted in Group A alongside last year’s semi-finalists Kyrgyzstan, Iraq and Indonesia.

“All the teams are improving and it is difficult to make any predictions at this stage. Kyrgyzstan proved last year they are better than us while Iraq are very skillful and have better individual ability. We played against Indonesia a number of times but I think this is a tough group and I hope we can make it to the quarter-finals.”