Southeast Asia, a football-crazy region that is shunned by the World Cup

Football is the breath of life for more than 400 million people living in 11 countries in the Southeast Asian region. This popular sport is played in every corner of the city, watched by children to the elderly. However, ASEAN has never had a single representation in the biggest tournament, the World Cup.

Referring to the Nielsen World Football Report 2022, the five largest countries in ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, have recorded more than 50 percent of their populations identifying themselves as football fans. Specifically, Vietnam has 75 percent; Indonesia 69 percent, with a report from TGM Research indicating that this figure reaches 78 percent; Thailand 68 percent; the Philippines at 62 percent; while Malaysia stands at 53 percent.

According to Ipsos, a marketing research agency, 36 percent of the Singaporean population regularly follows football. Singapore has 14 percent of its population identifying as very passionate about football.

Other countries, such as Cambodia, Laos, Brunei Darussalam, Timor Leste, and Myanmar, do not have official data. However, considering the enthusiasm of each national team and local teams competing at the international level, football followers in these five countries potentially exceed 50 percent of the total population.

Using data from the World Bank 2024-2025, the population in the ASEAN region reaches 699.77 million people. By calculating the average percentage, approximately 61 percent of the ASEAN population are football enthusiasts, resulting in around 427 million football lovers in the region.

By following the assumption from the Nielsen Global Sports Report (June 2025) that 51 percent of the world's population currently enjoys football, it is estimated that there are around 4 billion people who are passionate about the round ball.

This means that approximately 10 percent of football fans are located in Southeast Asia. For a region that has yet to have a representative on the highest stage, the World Cup, that percentage is truly beyond comprehension for those who have strong national teams in other parts of the world.

"We have the best supporters. In both home and away matches, we always receive full support," said Jay Idzes, the central defender and captain of the Indonesian national team.

As the ambition to qualify for the World Cup becomes increasingly irresistible, countries in ASEAN tend to adopt similar policies. The naturalization of diaspora and foreign players who have participated in domestic competitions.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and East Timor have implemented that policy. The naturalization focusing on the diaspora of the All-Indonesian Football Association has managed to achieve the farthest journey in the World Cup qualifiers, including the closest distance to the biggest tournament, by reaching the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

This situation has prompted regional rivals to imitate similar actions. Malaysia, for instance, brought in seven naturalized players last June. However, it turned out that these players did not have Malaysian ancestry. FIFA subsequently penalized the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the players involved in the identity fraud.

The best purely local ASEAN national team in the pre-World Cup event is still held by Thailand. The "War Elephants" have experienced reaching the final stage in the 2002 and 2018 editions. That round has already contested direct tickets to the main round of the World Cup.

Vietnam was once at that stage in the qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Unfortunately, Vietnam could only achieve one victory, thus shattering their dreams of reaching the World Cup.

"I hope Saudi Arabia does not need to pursue naturalization. Focusing on development is more important," said Saudi Coach Herve Reynard, highlighting the naturalized players of Indonesia.

The hope for improved development has been well implemented by Saudi amidst the presence of star players in the Saudi League. One country that demonstrates that grassroots development should be prioritized over shortcut programs is Uzbekistan and Jordan.

The two countries have qualified for the 2026 World Cup for the first time. They did not seek naturalized players at all to qualify for next year's biggest football stage.

Fabio Cannavaro, the captain of Italy when they won the World Cup in 2006, will return to the World Cup as the coach of Uzbekistan. He will be recorded as the first tactician of the "White Wolves" at the World Cup.

Cannavaro stated that his decision to accept the offer from Uzbekistan is a commitment to a sustainable national team program from the grassroots level. In order to form a competitive team, Cannavaro is focused on scouting players in the domestic competition, rather than seeking data on the Uzbek diaspora as a former Soviet Union state.

"We've asked coaches at all clubs to send us daily, weekly, and monthly player performance data. This allows us to monitor each player's progress," Cannavaro said, as reported by The Times of Central Asia.

In addition, the issue of professionalism remains a hindrance to ASEAN football. Without a professional attitude, ASEAN football is still reminiscent of Europe before the 1970s. Although the financial turnover is substantial, the reality is that many parties suffer losses and tarnish the principle of professionalism, one of which is the salary arrears that loom over clubs in domestic competitions.

"Many people want to gain attention even though they do not possess the necessary capabilities. I urge those who are unqualified to stop managing the clubs (football). Because the world observes how clubs are managed, how they pay salaries, or take care of the players' welfare," said Malaysia's Minister of Youth and Sports, Hannah Yeoh, in response to several Malaysian clubs facing financial issues.

Given the current situation, the World Cup still seems unlikely to favor ASEAN teams… (REUTERS)