Thailand's 12-year-old football enthusiasts Ittipolchana Kaewsawad and Preechayan Piyachatiwongs have been selected to represent the country at the Football for Friendship (F4F) programme.
The F4F programme, supported by Gazprom and Fifa, aims at developing youth football and a healthy lifestyle besides promoting tolerance, open-mindedness and respect of different cultures and nationalities between children from across the globe.
Thailand joins the programme for the first time and the two Thais will participate alongside 210 kids from other countries and regions.
Ittipolchana will join young footballers from around the world in Moscow in June.
The children will be part of 32 international teams of friendship and play against one another in the Football for Friendship International Championship.
Preechayan Piyachatiwongs.
The friendly tournament aims to bring together children from around the world and celebrate the unifying spirit of football.
Preechayan will act as a journalist and report on all the local and global activities of the F4F programme.
Ittipolchana and Preechayan will also participate in the sixth Football for Friendship International Children's Forum in Russia, which allows youngsters to meet their peers from other countries, share their experiences, and discuss with famous footballers and journalists.
The sixth season of the F4F programme will conclude with a visit by the participating children to Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on June 14 and watch the first match of the Fifa World Cup between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Ittipolchana, who had participated in football tournaments across the country, has been named the best player of the year of his school football team for six consecutive years.
He currently plays for his school team, AFA Ascot, and dreams of playing for a professional football club in the future.
Preechayan is a football enthusiast who likes to read and research about sports.
A firm believer in the power of friendship, he believes that everyone should help one another and respect each other regardless of one's ethnicity, gender, religion and status.
"The programme is a wonderful opportunity for the ambassadors to build ties of friendship among children from around the world and foster peace and harmony through football," said Parkpoom Potivetgul, an international relations officer at the Football Association of Thailand. "We wish our young ambassadors all the best and look forward to their contribution in promoting the key values of the programme in Russia as well as in Thailand."
