Croatian Football Federation president Davor Suker is on his first visit to Thailand for mainly two reasons — to play an exhibition match and finalise a co-operation agreement with the Kingdom.
Davor Suker speaks to the Bangkok Post at the Siam Kempinski. Pornprom Satrabhaya
Suker, one of the greatest strikers of all-time, is one of the 30 former top players in the Global Legends Series (GLS), which will play a series of matches in Thailand, China, Japan and Malaysia.
The series will begin on Friday at Bangkok's SCG Stadium as part of the celebration of His Majesty the King's birthday on that day.
"I'm glad and proud to be part of Thai history and its important celebration,'' said Suker, the top striker at the 1998 World Cup in France with six goals in seven games.
"When I was in London [playing for Arsenal], I knew that the King visited England in the 1960s. The two countries have a very good relationship. I also have seen a lot of photos of the King."
The other players in the GLS include Italy's Fabio Cannavaro, Portugal's Luis Figo, Brazil's Cafu, Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko, and England's Paul Scholes and Michael Owen.
Suker, 46, met Football Association of Thailand president Worawi Makudi at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and they discussed co-operation between the two countries.
Suker, who is his country's all-time highest scorer with 45 goals, is expected to meet Worawi ahead of Friday's game to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
"In Brazil, we talked about exchanging knowledge, coaches, referees, players and everything about football, everything we can help,'' said the former Real Madrid and Arsenal star.
"We will sign an MoU, which is important for both countries."
Also, Croatia will play a friendly in Thailand, expected to be in March next year.
With a population of about five million people, Croatia is probably the most successful small country in the world of football, having reached four of the past five World Cup finals.
So what is Croatia's secret?
"We invest a lot in young players for the under-15, 17, 19 and 21 teams. At the last Euro [in 2012], 95 percent of our players were from those teams,'' he said.
"We spend a lot on young players, and you need a lot of money. Only 10 games make money and the rest we get nothing [financially]."
What do Thailand have to do to secure its first ever World Cup spot?
"You need to play well," he said. "You have to win and score a lot of goals. Are you happy with my answer?''
Then, he became more serious, saying: "You need good players and good coaches. You have to spend to create young players."
Suker's best moments of his playing career came at France 98 where he helped Croatia finish third after beating the Netherlands.
Apart from winning the golden boot as the highest scorer, Suker was also named the second-best player of the tournament behind Brazil's Ronaldo.
"We showed that football is not only for the rich. A small country can do it and anything can happen in football,'' he said. "I hope we can repeat it"
Suker said he could still remember everything from the 1998, including Croatia's 2-1 loss to hosts France in the semi-finals.
Suker gave Croatia the lead only for defender Lilian Thuram to score twice.
"It is still a bad dream for me. I now knows that Thuram scored only two [international] goals — and they were against us. I go to bed with it, I wake up with it,'' he said.
He still follows football, particularly his old clubs such as Real Madrid, Arsenal, Seville and 1860 Munich.
He arrived in Bangkok on Saturday and watched a couple of live matches on TV, including Arsenal's 1-0 win at West Bromwich.
"Arsenal need a world-class striker like the one at Chelsea [Diego Costa],'' Suker said.
As for Real Madrid, Suker said they could win everything this season.
His ultimate dream is to help people with his knowledge.
"I want to help people in football. I understand football with my experience on and off the pitch,'' Suker said.
"I hope I become a member of Fifa executive committee in the future. I am still young and can learn from Mr Worawi. I hope Mr Worawi continues as a member of Fifa executive committee."