Buriram United

Origins: "Provincial Electricity Authority", 1970–2009

The club was founded in 1970, but their first big success came in 1998 by winning the third division of the Kor Royal Cup. The club was then promoted to the Thai Division 1 League. In 2002–03 the club finished third in the second division. They then competed the Thai League 1 Relegation play-off, but lost the final match 0–1 to Thailand Tobacco Monopoly FC. A year later, they succeeded at the end of season 2003–04 with promotion to the Thai Premier League. PEA surprised everyone by becoming the league runner-up at the end of their first Premier League season. Being the runner-up entitled the club to participate in the AFC Champions League. It was the first participation in an international competition for the club. However, the club was excluded from the competition. In the following two seasons, 2006 and 2007, the PEA took place only 10 and 8 at the end of the season.

In 2008 Provincial Electricity Authority relocated to Ayutthaya and played at Ayutthaya Province Stadium, where they gained a bigger fan base. The club played under the nickname of Faifa Ayutthaya (Electric Ayutthaya) from media and its fans. Under the head coach Prapol Pongpanich, PEA eventually won their first championship in Thai League 1. The club qualified for 2009 AFC Champions League preliminary round.

In 2009, PEA was eliminated from the 2009 AFC Champions League after losing 1–4 to Singapore Armed Forces in the extra-time at Rajamangala Stadium. PEA began their title defence campaign of the Thai Premier League with poor performance. Prapon Pongpanich was sacked in the middle of the season and replaced by former Thailand national team head coach Thongsuk Sampahungsith. The club finished in ninth place out of sixteen in the final standings.

Breath of Buriram

In December 2009, it was announced that a politician based in Buriram, Newin Chidchob was to take over the club. He had already tried unsuccessfully to take over TOT SC and Royal Thai Army FC Newin relocated the club to Buriram in Isan and rebranded it to Buriram PEA Football Club. The Buriram PEA inherited most of the players from the former PEA club including the stars like Rangsan Viwatchaichok, Apichet Puttan and Theerathon Bunmathan. Pongphan Wongsuwan who was a long-time head coach of TOT S.C. was instated as a coach. Thailand national team member Suchao Nuchnum of TOT S.C. also followed his coach to the new team.

Buriram PEA finished their first season after the transition as the runner-up of the 2010 Thai Premier League. The club reached the final of the 2010 Thai League Cup but lost 0–1 to Thai Port at Supachalasai Stadium.

The Greatest in Thailand

In 2011, Buriram PEA under the coaching of Attaphol Buspakom, completed their 2011 season with the domestic treble by winning all three Thai major trophies. Buriram won 2011 Thai Premier League with 85 points, the highest record in the league history. They beat the arch-rival Muangthong United in the 2011 Thai FA Cup final and clinched their first Thai FA Cup title. Following the success in two other competitions, Buriram avenged their previous year League Cup final defeat against the same opponent, Thai Port, and won the 2010 Thai League Cup. Buriram PEA became the first Thai club to win such a treble in a season.

Buriram's stadium "The Thunder Castle", was built in 2011 – when it became the first Thailand football stadium without a treadmill on the side of the field and it was also recorded in the Guinness World Records as the FIFA standard football field with the shortest construction time of 256 days.

In 2012, At the start of the 2012 season, the club was renamed Buriram United Football Club. In the first match of the group stages of the 2012 AFC Champions League, Buriram beat the 2011 J-League champion, Kashiwa Reysol, 3–2 and became "the first Thai and South East Asian club" to earn a victory against a J-League club in ACL since starting the Champions League system in 2003. In the second match, Buriram was the visiting team against the 2011 CSL Champion, Guangzhou Evergrande. Buriram also became "the first Thai and South East Asian club" to earn a victory against a Chinese club "in China" after beating Guangzhou Evergrande 1–2 in Tianhe Stadium from Suchao Nuchnum and Frank Acheampong's goals. That match was the end of a two-year unbeaten home record for Guangzhou.

2013 & 2015 - Quadruple Season

In 2014, under Spanish head coach Alejandro Menéndez, Buriram United became the first Thai club to achieve the quadruple by winning 4 trophies in the calendar year. The campaign included the titles of Kor Royal Cup, Thai League T1, Thai FA Cup and Thai League Cup. The league season was also finished with the first invincible title for the club, the second Thai team to have achieved such a feat, after Muangthong United in 2012.

Alexandre Gama era (2014 – 2016)

In 2014, Brazilian coach Alexandre Gama was appointed to guide Buriram United and in his first season, he helped the club to retained the 2014 Thai Premier League. The following season, he guided Buriram United to, once again, winning all four of the competitions in the 2015 calendar year : 2015 Kor Royal Cup, 2015 Thai Premier League, 2015 Thai FA Cup, 2015 Thai League Cup and also the 2015 Mekong Club Championship.

Moreover, the 2015 Buriram United won the 2015 Thai Premier League with an unbeaten record. The Brazilian forward Diogo Luis Santo broke the top scoring record with 33 goals from 32 games and received Thai League T1 Top Scorer and Player of the Year Awards at the end of the year and Theerathon Bunmathan got top assists with 19 assists from 32 games in left back position. In 2016, Gama guided the club to win the 2016 Toyota Premier Cup and 2016 Kor Royal Cup before he stepped down as the club coach on 22 May 2016.

Strike back

In August 2016, Newin Chidchob admitted he was disappointed that his team's bid to defend their Thailand League title that season was over. Buriram United appointed Ranko Popović as the club manager to fill the vacant role after the dismissal of Afshin Ghotbi and former coach Bozidar Bandovic returned as the technical director of the club.

In June 2017, Ranko Popovic has resigned as coach after receiving a three-month ban by the Thai FA for slapping the face of Bangkok United physio Andy Schillinger following a heated argument after Buriram beat the capital side 2–1. Buriram United announced that they promoted Bozidar Bandovic to head coach from his position as technical director of football.

In the same year, the club won the 2017 Thai League 1 and created history by claiming 86 points - the club's highest points in a single season.

In 2018, after finishing champions in the 2017 Thai League season, Buriram secured direct qualification into the 2018 AFC Champions League. In the group stages, a home, Buriram beat Cerezo Osaka 2–0 and Jeju United 1–0 and drew 1–1 Guangzhou Evergrande. The club lost 4–3 on aggregate in the Round of 16, against Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.

In the same year, Buriram comfortably retained the 2018 Thai League 1 title with a record 87 points. Bozidar Bandovic received Thai League 1 Coach of the Year Award at the end of the season.

Masatada Ishii Era (2021 – 2023)

On 1 December 2021, Buriram United appointed Japanese head coach, Masatada Ishii. Under his firs season, Buriram United went on to win the 2021–22 Thai League 1, 2021–22 Thai FA Cup and the 2021–22 Thai League Cup, the following season, Buriram United manage to retained all their 3 trophies which including the 2022–23 Thai League 1, 2022–23 Thai FA Cup and the 2022–23 Thai League Cup becoming the first club to retained all of the possible trophies in the country.