Teerasak Poeiphimai: Thai Striker Poised to Rival Dinh Bac

Teerasak Poeiphimai's journey from grassroots school football to the Thai national team has been remarkable. At 23, he embodies the future of the Land of Temples' football scene, promising to go head-to-head with Dinh Bac in the coming years.

Teerasak Poeiphimai is currently the top scorer for the Thai national team at the 2026 ASEAN Cup with 4 goals, including a brace against Singapore in the first leg of the semifinals. The 23-year-old striker also led Thailand's scoring charts in 2025 with 4 goals.

A Player Forged in School Football

Notably, Teerasak's rise is not a success story born from a top-tier youth academy system, but rather from school football.

Hailing from Nakhon Ratchasima, he was born into a struggling farming family. His parents worked hard to make ends meet. From a young age, Teerasak dreamed of becoming a professional footballer to earn money and help his parents.

During his elementary school years, Teerasak mainly played football with friends during lunch breaks. Later, he played futsal for Phimai Witthaya School and participated in provincial tournaments.

The turning point came when he finished 9th grade. Through a recommendation from a friend's parent, Teerasak went to Bangkok to try out for a sports scholarship program at Surasakmontri School.

There, he continued playing futsal and initially played as a defender. However, coach Sakol Kliangprasert spotted his attacking potential and decided to try him as a striker.

That decision quickly paid off. In the 7-a-side 7-Color Sports Championship, Teerasak scored about 8-9 goals in his first season, helping his team win the title. A year later, he netted 13 goals and won the Golden Boot.

According to Ball Thai, not only did school football give Teerasak a stage to showcase his talent, but grassroots football also helped him sharpen his skills effectively. Regularly playing against older, highly competitive players gave Teerasak valuable experience in surviving and adapting on the pitch. That's why it's no surprise that when facing peers his own age, Teerasak often performs exceptionally well.

Before finishing high school, he was sent to Prime Bangkok FC in 2020. There, he balanced playing and studying, while also having his first professional season in Thai League 3.

A New Hope for Thai Football

At that time, Prime Bangkok chairman Jatuphon Pramonbal expressed his belief that the young man could become a future striker for the Thai national team. According to him, Teerasak possessed all the necessary qualities and only needed to accumulate more experience.

In the 2020 season, Teerasak started 13 matches and scored 9 goals before the league was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For a player emerging from school football rather than a professional academy system, that was a remarkable start.

In 2021, at just 19 years old, the striker was first called up to the Thailand U23 squad for the AFC U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in Mongolia.

Wearing the colors of Thailand's youth teams, Teerasak showed his scoring touch by becoming the top scorer at the 2022 ASEAN U23 Championship. However, he has yet to win a title with Thailand's youth sides, having finished runner-up three times with two SEA Games silver medals (2021 and 2023) and a second-place finish at the 2022 ASEAN U23 Championship.

Also in 2021, Teerasak joined CLB Port and played in Thai League 1, the highest level of football in the Land of Temples. To date, he has scored 39 goals in 88 appearances in Thai League 1.

His talent quickly earned him a call-up to the senior Thai national team. Since making his debut for Thailand in 2022 under coach Mano Polking, Teerasak has scored 11 goals in 30 appearances for the "War Elephants".

Teerasak's strengths lie in his agility, technical ability, off-the-ball movement, box penetration, and finishing. Additionally, his height of 1m81 makes him particularly effective in aerial duels. "Many football experts note that Teerasak's playing style has similarities to Teerasil Dangda. However, whether he can reach the legendary level and status of his senior remains to be seen," wrote Sport Trueid about Teerasak in 2022.

With his latest brace against Singapore, Teerasak continues to prove that he is the future of Thai football, and what chairman Jatuphon Pramonbal of Prime Bangkok predicted years ago is gradually becoming reality.