Two Thai Hammers enjoyed the trip of a lifetime to east London, courtesy of West Ham United’s Airline Partner EVA Air.
Old friends Ekapol Wanaprasertsak and Pongpan Saivanich were flown from Bangkok to London, before being taken to Rush Green, where they were given a guided tour by former Irons striker Marlon Harewood and met men’s first-team players Aaron Cresswell, Ben Johnson and Tomáš Souček.
The West Ham-loving duo, who met while studying at Johnson & Wales University in the United States nearly two decades ago, then joined Harewood at London Stadium for the UEFA Europa League round of 16 second-leg win over SC Freiburg – confirming their love for a Club both have supported from afar for many years.
Now living near to one another in the Thai capital, Bangkok, Ekapol and Pongpan meet up regularly to watch their team on television, often joined by their fellow members of the West Ham Thailand supporters’ club.
“We were in university in Rhode Island studying for Masters degrees in business in around 2007 and not many people were there from Thailand, let alone people from Thailand who wanted to watch football!” explained Pongpan.
“At the time, all my friends were Manchester United or Liverpool fans and when I took a look, it was not me, but when I saw West Ham games, I felt into it. Now, I never watch any games except West Ham! Football is really popular among the Thai people and, in the past ten years, I’ve watched nearly every game.”
For Ekapol, his Claret and Blue love story dates back even longer, some 25 years.
“Back to the 1999 season, I saw Paolo Di Canio and I just loved his charisma and his skill, and also at that time there were all the Academy players who got promoted – Rio, Joe, Frank Junior and Michael Carrick – and I loved the way the Club promoted them,” he recalled.
“I loved the last year in Upton Park, when we had Dimi Payet, which was amazing, and the season of the Greatest Escape with Carlos Tevez. Mark Noble is one of my favourites too, in terms of what he has done for the team and for the Club. Of the current players, my favourite one in Jarrod Bowen.”
“This is my first time ever in the UK ever, so I’ve been watching on TV for 25 years, with games kicking-off at midnight, and the European games at 2am, but then EVA Air made this special trip for me and Pongpan and it’s special for us to come the stadium to a game!”
Incredibly, while Ekapol and Pongpan had never been to London Stadium before, Ekapol managed to secure tickets for the UEFA Europa Conference League final win over Fiorentina in Prague in June last year.
He explained: “We had followed the team for 24 or 25 years and me and Pongpan said: ‘If we get to the final, if we have a ticket or not, we have to be in Prague to support the team that day’. The year before, we had planned to go to the final, but we didn’t make it.
“We tried on the UEFA website and we found out they had given away tickets to the winner of a competition, a lady in France, so I sent the winner a Facebook message and asked if they wanted to sell the tickets. We talked and talked and I paid for the tickets and she sent me the tickets ten day before the final.
“We went to the stadium and we didn’t know the tickets were real until we got to the stadium and got in, but we’d already made the dream happen by going to Prague. We got there early, and were in the first ten fans to go in, but the tickets were real and we had seats behind the dugout. When we won, we cried!”
West Ham United and EVA Air have enjoyed a partnership since the summer of 2018, extending the successful relationship in 2022. Throughout, we have worked closely to develop engaging player content and fan experiences, including offers and flight giveaways.
In March this year, EVA Air hosted a matchday takeover for the Premier League win over Burnley, with activations and competitions giving supporters the chance to win return flights to Thailand or Taiwan, match tickets and merchandise.
To learn more about EVA Air’s travel destinations and award-winning services, and to buy tickets, visit www.evaair.com
