Southeast Asia and the World Cup, Always the Fan, Never the Player

“I know that everyone in Southeast Asia wants their country to enter the World Cup. But please, every stakeholder, from the fans to the Federation, start getting serious. Start supporting our team well. Don’t just talk.”

Editor – Southeast Asia Analyst.

With the world high on World Cup fever, Southeast Asian yet again failed to enter the largest sports tournament in the world. Despite this, millions of Southeast Asians are still tuning in to watch and support their favorite national teams. This clearly shows that Southeast Asia’s passion for football is still hot and alive. But at the same time, it begs the question, why are Southeast Asian teams so lousy in the sports despite our love for it?

Southeast Asia Analyst editor Han Kim interviewed Indonesian football content creator Andrew “Aten Nguyen” Prawira who covers Football games and history in Southeast Asia in search of answers. Below is the transcript from the interview.

How did Southeast Asians come to love football very much? 

Football was actually born in the UK 1863 and then it spread fast throughout Europe. And with European countries colonizing Southeast Asia, it became popular in the region as well. And this part is very interesting, because today, you see football in the street as a middle-income sport, or a usual sport. But back then, people who played football in the colonial era were like people who play golf today.

It was a luxurious sport. This was the case in Malaysia, Vietnam and also Indonesia. That’s why people all wanted to play football, although it was segregated back then, they wanted to look like the elites back then. Afterwards it became more accessible and Southeast Asians tended to play football more often.

Despite our love for football, why are we so terrible at it? None of us made it to the World Cup in recent history. 

Well, the problem is this, Kim. Getting into the World Cup isn’t easy. It’s true, every Southeast Asian country, except probably the Philippines, they all love football. But we have to remember, do they all have good facilities? Do they all have a good football curriculum? Because if we go to Europe or most countries that commonly go to the World Cup, mostly children already play football in a very good environment at like the age of six. They already enter academies. In Indonesia especially, they started entering academies or football school at like 14 years old. So, the development in Southeast Asia is very late.

And that’s just, that’s basically just the curriculum and facility problem. We haven’t talked about nepotism. Seriously, this is a very big problem in the football industry. There are rich elites who tell coaches to play their kids in the club to the top level. That happens not only in Indonesia but also around Southeast Asia, I can guarantee 100%.

There’s another issue also. This is a very big problem, especially in the Indonesian Football League and the Malaysian League. In the first division of our league, there are still clubs that don’t pay the player’s salary. Seriously, imagine, you play three months of football match, every week one match, and you don’t even get a penny? How can you play? So with all those issues, do you still expect we still can play? How do you expect us to enter the World Cup? 

What is it going to take for any one of Southeast Asian countries to make it to the World Cup? 

Every football stakeholders in every Southeast Asian country have to be very serious about football development. Like, please. Don’t be very isolationist. There are football federations in Southeast Asia that always discriminate against diaspora players. If you see Morocco. The reason why they could win the fourth place in the 2022 World Cup and now probably they might enter the semi-final again, it’s because they play diaspora players. Diaspora players that were born in Europe and they gain football knowledge from Europe, a region that is way better in football than anywhere else. 

Now, a lot of football federations, such as Indonesia, they’re not like that now. But there are still some federations in southeast asia that are very isolated against diaspora players. That’s why, don’t be isolated. And then start being serious. Make an organization that can tackle down football mafias that conducts match fixing.

And also, please, to every football stakeholders, please take this seriously. Take the salary problem seriously. Start auditing every club. Clubs who don’t pay their players why do we give them punishments? I mean, like I said, how can we want to go to a World Cup if our football players can’t even get the necessities? 

I know that everyone in Southeast Asia wants their country to enter the World Cup. But please, every stakeholder, from the fans to the federation, start getting serious. Start supporting our team well. Don’t just talk.

In your opinion, how long do we have to wait until we see a country from Southeast Asia enter the World Cup? Which country will be the first Southeast Asian country that will enter the World Cup?

It can happen in 2030 and it can be Indonesia but not just Indonesia. I say Indonesia because I can tell you the reasons why. First, okay, let’s start with Indonesia first, and I’ll say the other flag, all right?

Firstly Indonesia. Why? They’re very open to diaspora players. And the diaspora players are of great quality. They play in the top flight of the Italian league. They play in the top flight of the German league. We got players from there. Yeah, like Jay Idzes. He played in Sassuolo in Serie A. And then we got Kevin Diks. He played in the top flight of the German league. And they don’t just sit down on a bench while the others play. They’re not like a benchwarmer, but they literally played every single game and every week. On top of that, we haven’t mentioned players from the Dutch League like Justin Hubner and all. So that’s why I’m very confident that we can enter the 2030 World Cup. Indonesia also got a good coach right now, Mr. John Herdman. And for the past years, I can say maybe from the Shin Tae-yong era until now,we have had good youth development at least now. At least better than before.

Also considering that in the 2030 World Cup, the quota of the countries joining is rising, I think Indonesia can get the chance and that’s why i say Indonesia is one of them. And second, I’m predicting Thailand would be. Yeah, even though Thailand may have suffered a few problems lately in terms of youth development, but trust me, their football industry is one of the best. They have sent more than three local players to the Japanese league, and they tend to be successful. They’re also very open to diaspora players, where there are lots of diaspora players from the Scandinavian leagues, and even from the German league, from Bundesliga too, if I’m not mistaken. So yeah, that’s why I’m confident, at least Indonesia and Thailand, they could make it in 2030.

Andrew “Aten Nguyen” Prawira is an Indonesian football content creator.