Chainat FC

Foundation

Chainat Hornbill Football Club is a professional football club founded in 2009 by Anucha Nakasai, a former Thai politician. The club was placed in the best management class as a result, and it has developed rapidly since its first season. In the 2009 Northern Regional Division 2 Regional League the club came third, playing 20 matches and winning 12, drawing 3 and losing 5 for a total of 39 points. Their top scorer was Sanogo Abou, with 15 goals.^[] In 2012, the club was promoted to the top league, Thai League 1, for the first time.

Dennis Amato era

In 2016, club chairman, Anucha Nakasai announced the appointment of Dennis Amato as the new head coach of the club. In October 2017, the club came first winning the 2017 Thai League 2 with 67 points and was promoted to the 2018 Thai League 1.

After Chainat Hornbill's promotion to the top tier of Thai football, Amato briefly left the club to take up a role as a director of football at Ang Thong. The club announced the appointment of Drago Mamić as the new head coach of the club but Mamić left the club for personal reasons. However, Amato return to Chainat again, but was faced with many problems, including a squad with a limited number of players, and strict financial constraints.

A Thai League Survival Campaign: Giant-killing

In 2018, after a win against defending FA Cup champions Chiangrai United, the Hornbills defeated the defending Thai League 1 champions Buriram United 1-0 at the Chang Arena, which was the first time that Buriram United had failed to win a league game on their own home ground since the return of Bozidar Bandovic as coach. In the 2018 season, the club became well-known as "giant-killing." (Thai: จอมล้มยักษ์). Under Amato's management, the Hornbills play a style of football based on maintaining possession, and trying to win the ball back after losing it, instead of regrouping into a defensive position.

In 2019, the Hornbills beat many Thai League 1 giants. In a home game at Khao Plong Stadium they beat Muangthong United 3-0, won against Bangkok United with a score of 21, and beat Buriram United 2-1.^[]