THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Myanmar fans hope for fleeting glimpse of Foxes

Myanmar fans hope for fleeting glimpse of Foxes

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar football fans gathered Sunday at Yangon's airport in anticipation of a whirlwind visit by newly-crowned English Premier League champions Leicester City.

The Foxes, who have spent a week soaking up the the adulation of a growing Thai fanbase, are expected in Yangon on Sunday afternoon and will take a brief tour of the city's stunning Shwedagon pagoda.
Leicester are owned by Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a duty-free magnate and devout Buddhist renowned for his deeply superstitious approach to club affairs.
During Leicester's odds-defying title-winning season Vichai repeatedly flew Thai monks to the British city to bless the team and stadium.
The golden Shwedagon, which towers over Myanmar's skyline, contains relics from the Buddha and devotees believe prayers at the site bring good fortune. 
The club have won new fans across Asia since their 5,000-1 outsider title win, even winning over some supporters from traditional regional favourites Manchester United.
"There are over 100 fans at the aiport to welcome the Leicester City players and the numbers will increase," Chan Myae Ko Ko Lwin, who is organising a fans' welcoming party, told AFP before the team's arrival.
"All football fans like Leicester because they tried very hard and gave the best they had."
Myanmar was once a regional soccer powerhouse but football struggled for a time, like all other sports, under military rule.
The domestic league was however rebooted under General Than Shwe, who was head of state from 1992-2011. He is believed to have ordered mega-rich businessmen who made fortunes under the junta to stump up millions of dollars for new teams.
Those teams now play in an increasingly competitive Myanmar National League.
The football federation is led by a media-friendly army "crony" called Zaw Zaw, who forged a mining, banking and hotel empire under the former junta. 
In Thailand Leicester held several promotional events, capped by an open-top bus parade -- complete with the Premier League trophy -- through central Bangkok on Thursday that drew thousands of curious bystanders.
- AFP
 
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