Chiangrai Hills, the pride of the hills...   The story of the Chiangrai Hills football club started in 2009 with a casual conversation at Insii Thai House, home of the Chao Phya Abhai Raja Siammanukulkij Foundation. On that day, two hill tribe boys said that their dream was to have their own football club, a club for them, the hill tribes. Count Gerald van der Straten Ponthoz took up the challenge, together with the other board members of the foundation, and soon the club was set up. Suradaet (who is named Tonjo in Yao) became the manager of a new and ambitious project, ready to realize his dream. Today, Chiangrai Hills has made a lot of progress already and the organization of the club has been optimized. From a bunch of hill tribe players playing football for fun, the club has evolved more and more in the direction of a semi-professional club. The players train 5 times a week, have fitness sessions and participate in various competitions. This rapid progress came thanks to the collaboration with Chiangrai United, that, since 2011, represents Chiangrai in the Premier League. A coach from Chiangrai United is dispatched full time to train the players of Chiangrai Hills. But the valuable collaboration between the two clubs will soon become even better, once the Chiangrai Hills stadium is completed. The construction of the stadium, which will have stands and sit around 3500 spectators, started in 2010 and should take around a year to complete. It is located in Maechan, about 25km north of Chiangrai. Once the team and its stadium are ready, it will be time to look at the possibilities to play in Second Division. The club, which is under the supervision of the Chao Phya bhai Raja Siammanulkulkij Foundation, as well as the construction of the Chiangrai Hills stadium, are fully and privately funded by Count Gerald van der Straten Ponthoz and Somrit Puntharat. This allows the team and the hill tribe youngsters who run it, to focus on the long term development of the project without the need of external sponsors.