Leicester City stars pay their respects in Thailand for club owner's funeral

The players arrive at a Buddhist temple to participate in the funeral rituals of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (Picture: AP)

Leicester City players have touched down in Bangkok to pay their respects to the club's late founder who died in a helicopter crash.

Manager Claude Puel led footballers including Jamie Vardy and captain Wes Morgan at the prayer ceremony at a Bangkok temple for Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

The Leicester players travelled to Thailand on the 12-hour flight on Saturday after beating Cardiff 1-0 in their first game after his death.

They joined Buddhist prayers today for Mr Vichai and will do so again tomorrow before arriving back in the UK the following day.

An elaborate funeral began yesterday for the Thai billionaire and Leicester City owner who died in a crash (AP)

Nusara Suknamai, Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer and his partner, Izabela Roza Lechowicz, also died in the crash at the King Power Stadium.

The players arrived led by manager Claude Puel (REUTERS)

Ms Nusara's funeral took place in Bangkok on Saturday.

Leicester City players at their game against Cardiff yesterday (Reuters)

Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed when his helicopter crashed Oct. 27 in a parking lot next to the English Premier League club's stadium.

Mourners at his funeral at a temple in Bangkok (AFP/Getty Images)

His funeral began Saturday, with other ceremonies scheduled through Nov. 9.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha was killed in a helicopter crash (AFP/Getty Images)

Vichai oversaw one of the greatest underdog successes in sports when his 5,000-1 outsiders won the English Premier League title in 2016.

The business world remembers Vichai as the retail entrepreneur who grew Thailand's massive King Power duty-free chain. Today the King Power empire is worth 3.8 billion pounds ($4.88 billion), according to Forbes, with Vichai having been the fifth-richest person in Thailand.

Additional reporting by agencies