The Thai National Team Targets Gold at the 2025 SEA Games, While Indonesia Only Achieves Silver

When the host country Thailand sets high targets in several sports, Indonesia chooses to lower its expectations for the 2025 SEA Games. In men's football, for instance, Thailand aims for the gold medal to reclaim dominance in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Indonesia, as the defending champion, has set a target of silver.

At the 33rd edition of the SEA Games, scheduled for December 9-20, 2025, Thailand aims to achieve a total of 241 gold medals. This figure is expected to secure the overall champion title for Thailand. The contingent from the Land of the White Elephant also targets to become the overall champion in eight sports disciplines.

According to Thai media outlet The Nation, the target was announced during the final 2025 SEA Games Meet the Press session at Rajamangala National Stadium on Tuesday (11/18/2025). The event was led by the Governor of the Sports Agency of Thailand (SAT), Gongsak Yodmani.

"The medal targets were gathered from all 50 sports federations during nine press sessions. Eight of the branches announced a combined target of an additional 33 gold medals," said the President of the Thailand Sports Journalists Association, Paitoon Chutimakornku, stating that the medal targets were collected from all 50 national sports branches during the nine press sessions.

One of the sports federations aiming to secure gold medals to become the overall champion in its sport is the Football Association of Thailand with four gold medals. The target of four gold medals is expected to be achieved from men's and women's football as well as men's and women's futsal.

The head coach of the Thailand men's national football team, Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul, is determined to reclaim the title for the first time since the 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia. At that time, Thailand successfully defeated the host Malaysia with a score of 1-0 in the final match.

In the last two editions of the SEA Games, Thailand was forced to return home as runners-up. After losing to host Vietnam in the 2021 final, Thailand also failed to win the title after being defeated by Indonesia in the final of the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games. Thailand's title dreams were dashed after a 5-2 defeat to Indonesia.

Based on the evaluation results from the Ministry of Youth and Sports team, yesterday if I am not mistaken, PSSI proposed a bronze target for the women's football team. Meanwhile, for the men's team, if I am not mistaken, the target is silver.

Meanwhile, Thailand aims to secure one of the gold medals from men's football, while Indonesia is only targeting silver. The Indonesian men's national football team is not burdened with the responsibility of defending the gold medal won in Cambodia 2023.

The women's national team, which will make its debut at the SEA Games Thailand 2025 after missing the last two editions, is targeted to win a bronze medal. The women's national team last participated in the 2019 Philippines SEA Games and was eliminated in the group stage. Thailand and Vietnam, which are in the same group as Indonesia, advanced to the semifinals. Vietnam emerged as the champion.

"According to the evaluation results from the Ministry of Youth and Sports team, yesterday if I am not mistaken, PSSI proposed a bronze medal target for the women's football team," said Minister of Youth and Sports Erick Thohir, who is also the Chairman of PSSI, at a press conference at the Ministry of Youth and Sports building in Jakarta, Friday (21/11/2025).

"Then, if I'm not mistaken, the men's team's target is silver. That's what we were told," he added.

Thailand's total medal target of 241 is three times that of Indonesia's medal target. Erick announced that the Indonesian contingent is aimed at achieving 80-85 gold medals from the 48 sports being participated in.

A total of four gold medals are projected to be produced from the sports of archery, athletics, and weightlifting. In addition, three gold medals are expected from swimming and one gold medal from taekwondo.

Thailand maintains the prestige that hosts always possess when organizing multi-sport events such as the SEA Games. Although it often sidelines sportsmanship, the host frequently seeks to present itself as the overall champion. Being the best country when appearing in front of its own public is akin to a necessity.

Thailand is once again hosting the SEA Games after 18 years. The last time it hosted the SEA Games was in Nakhon Ratchasima in 2007, where the Land of the White Elephant emerged as the overall champion. They collected 183 gold medals, 123 silver medals, and 103 bronze medals.

Thailand last became the overall champion at the SEA Games during the 2013 edition in Myanmar. In the last two editions, Thailand has been outperformed by Vietnam, which has dominated the competition. Thailand could only finish below Vietnam in the final medal tally.

In addition to football and futsal, Thailand is targeting many gold medals from martial arts, such as muay thai, jiu-jitsu, and boxing. The manager of the Thai muay thai team, GP Boonsong Nualyong, expressed his confidence that the team has a great chance of winning up to 10 gold medals. A similar target has been set for jiu-jitsu.

In the boxing sport, the Secretary General of the Thailand Boxing Association, Chaiwat Chotima, is confident that his athletes are ready to compete for at least 9 gold medals, just like in the previous SEA Games. Thailand's main competitors in this sport are Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.