Unlike a number of other sports which can lay claim to offering some of the brightest spots for Thai fans in the year 2016, football can only derive credit for delivering the expected and falling as predicted.
The War Elephants, who continue to be the dominant force in Southeast Asia, created history by becoming the winningest nation in the AFF Suzuki Cup, claiming their fifth trophy as expected earlier this month.
However, this only happened after they had failed in proving the football clairvoyants wrong and lost four out of five matches in the first half of their campaign to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Here is a look at how the country fared in football in 2016:
Unfortunately, the auspicious beginning the Thais had been hoping for did not materialise.
Thailand's first shot at glory and fame ended in despair when the national team failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro through the AFC U23 Championship in Doha.
The Thai pre-Olympic team could only pick up two points from draws against Saudi Arabia (1-1) and North Korea (2-2) and got slaughtered 4-0 by Japan in the opening stage.
They could not reach the knockout stages and fell way short of the top-three target to earn a ticket to Rio set by national coach Kiatisak Senamuang.
The three teams who qualified for the Rio Olympics were Japan, South Korea and Iraq.
This all happened at a time when the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) was facing an uncertain future after its long-time chief Worawi Makudi was suspended from all football-related activities by Fifa for breaching its ethics code.
Former national police chief Somyot Poompunmuang, who was relatively unknown in football circles but was backed by then-Thai League champions Buriram United and the King Power Group, took over the reins of the FAT in February with a landslide election victory.
The transition was as smooth as one can expect after a bruising election campaign.
It didn't help the country's repute much when Fifa's anti-corruption court found Worawi guilty of forgery and falsification of documents and refusing to co-operate with investigators in October.
Worawi, a former Fifa executive committee member, was fined 10,000 Swiss francs (approximately 350,000 baht) and was banned from all national and international football activities for five years with immediate effect.
The case centred on his 2013 campaign to win re-election as president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT).
On the playing field, a minor upturn started with a victory in the Nations Cup, the Southeast Asian U21 championship, in which Thailand edged hosts Malaysia 2-1 to lift the trophy in June.
The senior team returned to action in the same month when the King's Cup tournament took place in Bangkok.
The prestigious event, which also featured the national squads of Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates, ended in an encouraging success for Thailand, who beat Jordan 2-0 in the title showdown.
The national team's most important assignment this year was the final stage of the Asian qualifiers for Russia 2018.
Having reached the 12-team phase, which offers three places to Asian sides in the World Cup finals and possibly another depending on the outcome a play-off against a Concacaf team, for the second time in their history, Thailand suffered setbacks one after the other in the first half of the tournament.
Drawn in Group B with Saudi Arabia, Japan, the UAE, Iraq and Australia, the Thais were expected to impress if not progress in the home-and-away matches of the group hostilities.
They instead lost 1-0 to Saudi Arabia, went down to Japan 2-0, were beaten 3-1 by the UAE and suffered a 4-0 rout at the hands of Iraq before finding their rhythm in the home game against pre-tournament favourites Australia, holding them to a 2-2 draw in Bangkok with Teerasil Dangda scoring both goals.
The remaining five matches will be played next year with the War Elephants taking on Asian football giants Saudi Arabiaat home on March 23 and Japan away on March 28 in their first two games.
"We hope to pick at least seven or eight points from our remaining five matches," said Kiatisak.
"We have to win at least two out of three home matches and our target is to at least draw both away games."
Then came the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, an event where Kiatisak's men felt at ease and delivered what was expected of them.
Thailand, as the defending champions, were drawn in Group A along with Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines and marched into the semi-finals after winning all their three first-round matches in Manila.
They scored a convincing 6-0 aggregate victory over Myanmar in the semi-finals to set up a title showdown with Indonesia, who upset Vietnam in the other last-four battle while making their first appearance in an international event after serving a year-long ban imposed by Fifa.
Indonesia denied Thailand the honour of becoming the first team ever to win six Suzuki Cup matches in a row as they claimed a 2-1 victory in the home leg of the final in Bogor.
However, three days later the War Elephants turned the tide as novice striker Sirod Chatthong produced a brace to ensure a 3-2 aggregate win and help Thailand earn kudos for being the most successful nation in the tournament with five Southeast Asian titles.
"We did not give up. We wanted to fight to the end for the Thai fans. This title is a New Year gift for the Thai people," Kiatisak said after his team's triumph in Bangkok.
"We dedicate this success to His Majesty the King and King Rama IX, who passed away in October."
The War Elephants' victory in the Suzuki Cup unexpectedly led to a few unpleasant developments.
In the first place, Thailand are expecting a reprimand and fine from the AFF after their fans set flares alight in the dying moments of the Bangkok leg and some of these were hurled onto the field as well.
The hesitancy showed by FAT president Somyot in handing a contract extension to national team coach Kiatisak also led to a bitter media campaign favouring the latter.
Both Somyot and Kiatisak have denied the existence of any conflicts between them and the two are set to discuss the national coach's contract, which is due to expire in February, early next month.
Meanwhile, Thailand made their fifth straight appearance in the Fifa Futsal World Cup, which was staged in Colombia this year.
The national futsal squad made it to the second round from Group B which also comprised Russia, Cuba and Egypt. Thailand failed to reproduce their first-round form and lost 13-8 to Azerbaijan, crashing out of the tournament in the last-16 stage.
On the domestic scene, the Thai League was called off with three matches left to mourn the passing away of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Oct 13.
SCG Muang Thong United, who led the Thai League table with 80 points, were declared the winners with Bangkok United finishing second with 75. Bangkok Glass took third place ahead of defending champions Buriram United.
BBCU (13 points), Chainat Hornbills (30) and Army United (30) were relegated but Chainat and Army have appealed the decision as they felt they had fair chances of overtaking Samut Prakan (31), Navy FC (31), Si Sa Ket (33) and Pattaya United (34). A decision in this regard is expected soon.
FAT president Somyot Poompunmuang, left, and national coach Kiatisak Senamuang.
Thai League champions SCG Muang Thong United.
