# 2018 King's Cup

The 2018 Annual King's Cup Football Tournament, commonly referred to as 2018 King's Cup, was the 46th King's Cup, the annual international men's football tournament organised by Football Association of Thailand. It was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 22 to 25 March 2018.
As hosts, Thailand participated automatically in the tournament; they were joined by the African team Gabon, the Asian team United Arab Emirates and the European team Slovakia.

## Participating teams

The following teams have participated for the tournament.
| Country | Association | Confederation | FIFA Ranking | Previous best performance |
| Thailand (host) | FA Thailand | AFC | 129 | Champions (fifteen titles; last title: 2017) |
| Gabon | Gabon FF | CAF | 95 | Debut |
| Slovakia | Slovak FA | UEFA | 28 | Champions (2004) |
| United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates FA | AFC | 78 | Fourth place (2016) |
* $^1$ FIFA Ranking as of 15 February 2018.

## Background
### 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying

| Gabon | Gabon | Gabon | Slovakia | Slovakia | Slovakia | Thailand | Thailand | Thailand | United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates |
| Opponent | Home | Away | Opponent | Home | Away | Opponent | Home | Away | Opponent | Home | Away |
| Ivory Coast | L 0–3 | W 2–1 | England | L 0–1 | L 1–2 | Australia | D 2–2 | L 1–2 | Australia | L 0–1 | L 0–2 |
| Mali | W 3–1 | D 0–0 | Lithuania | W 4–0 | W 2–1 | Iraq | L 1–2 | L 0–4 | Iraq | W 2–0 | L 0–1 |
| Morocco | D 0–0 | L 0–3 | Malta | W 3–0 | W 3–1 | Japan | L 0–2 | L 0–4 | Japan | L 0–2 | W 2–1 |
| — | — | — | Scotland | W 3–0 | L 0–1 | Saudi Arabia | L 0–3 | L 0–1 | Saudi Arabia | W 2–1 | L 0–3 |
| — | — | — | Slovenia | W 1–0 | L 0–1 | United Arab Emirates | D 1–1 | L 1–3 | Thailand | W 3–1 | D 1–1 |

### Previous King's Cup

| Slovakia | Slovakia | Slovakia | Thailand | Thailand | Thailand | United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates |
| 2004 King's Cup | 2004 King's Cup | 2004 King's Cup | 2017 King's Cup | 2017 King's Cup | 2017 King's Cup | 2016 King's Cup | 2016 King's Cup | 2016 King's Cup |
| Round | Opponent | Result | Round | Opponent | Result | Round | Opponent | Result |
| SF | Hungary | W 1–0 | SF | North Korea | W 3–0 | SF | Jordan | L 1–3 |
| F | Thailand | W 1–1 (5–4 pen.) | F | Belarus | W 1–1 (4–5 pen.) | TPO | Syria | L 0–1 |
| Winners (1) | Winners (1) | Winners (1) | Winners (15) | Winners (15) | Winners (15) | Fourth place | Fourth place | Fourth place |

## Venue

* Bangkok
* Rajamangala Stadium
* Capacity: 49,772

## Matches

All times are local, Indochina Time (UTC+7)

### Match rules

* 90 minutes.
* Penalty shoot-out after a draw in 90 minutes.
* Maximum of three substitutions.

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| Slovakia | 2 |
| Slovakia | 2 | 25 March – Bangkok | 25 March – Bangkok |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 25 March – Bangkok | 25 March – Bangkok |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | Slovakia | 3 |
| 22 March – Bangkok | 22 March – Bangkok | | Slovakia | 3 |
| 22 March – Bangkok | 22 March – Bangkok | Thailand | 2 |
| Thailand (pen.) | 0 (4) | Thailand | 2 |
| Gabon | 0 (2) | | |
| Gabon | 0 (2) | Third place play-off | Third place play-off |
| | | 25 March – Bangkok | 25 March – Bangkok |
| | | United Arab Emirates | 0 |
| | | Gabon | 1 |

### Final
## Winners

* The 46th Annual King's Cup Football Tournament champions
* Slovakia 2nd title

## Final ranking

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
| 1 | Slovakia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | Champions |
| 2 | Thailand (H) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 | Runners-up |
| 3 | Gabon | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 4 | Third place |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0 | Fourth place |

## Broadcasting rights

| Territory | Channel | Ref |
| Slovakia | TV JOJ | |
| Thailand | Thairath TV | |