All-girl band BNK48 to cheer on Thais in King's Cup

BNK48 excite fans at the Japan Expo Thailand 2018 at the CentralWorld shopping centre on Jan 27, 2018. The all-girl band will cheer the national team defending the King's Cup this month. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

All-girl pop phenomenon BNK48 will deploy 16 members to Rajamangala National Stadium to lead cheers for the national team defending the King's Cup this month.

The popular 30-member band pledged their support to the War Elephants on Wednesday.

Defending champions Thailand will meet Gabon in their first match at the 46th King's Cup tournament on March 22. Slovakia will face the United Arab Emirates in the other match on the same day.

Thailand will play either Slovakia or the UAE on March 25 in the four-team competition.

"We're all for the War Elephants. We will be there in force," the band wrote on their Facebook page on Sunday.

Patis Suppapong, the spokesman for the Football Association of Thailand, on Wednesday welcomed the support.

"The FAT welcomes the girls from BNK48 to be supporters of the War Elephants at all events," he said on the association's website.

The King's Cup tournament will be the first ever for BNK48 as cheerleaders, and there are plans for the girls to support Thai football teams in future matches.

BNK48 is the sister group of AKB48, a Japanese all-girl band formed in 2005 with more than 100 members. They follow the same format, with members of the band taking turns to perform in shows. The Thai version of the act was unveiled in February last year with 30 members, and gained stardom nine months later with their song Koisuru Fortune Cookie.

The song was released in November and scored almost 77 million views as of Sunday.

AKB48 is now an extended international family including MNL48 in Manila and JKT48 in Jakarta.

"Koisuru Fortune Cookie" by BNK48 (YouTube video)