How Southeast Asian football fans watch the World Cup
From Hanoi to Jakarta, people display their football fever despite having no teams from the region to support
For Southeast Asians, football is KING. According to a National Geographic study, the sport is the most popular in eight out of 11 of the region’s countries (the three exceptions being Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines).
Indeed, almost as many Southeast Asians (about 245 million) watched the 2014 World Cup as in Central and North America combined.
Of course – and sadly – there aren’t any regional teams competing in the 2018 World Cup, which means that more than 630 million potential fans don’t have someone to back. But that hasn’t dampened our collective obsession. And as we approach the semi-finals, the attention is only going to increase.
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This Week in Asia made a quick sweep from Hanoi to Jakarta to get a sense of the football fever and who the fans are supporting.
In Hanoi’s My Dinh neighbourhood, Do Trang, 19, a student at the Vietnam National University, is a big fan of Germany. “I like them, because they have handsome players.” Her friend, human resources manager Duong Hoa supports Russia. “They’re clearly better and more skilled,” referring to Russia’s 4-3 penalty win against Spain after the two teams tied 1-1.
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In Jakarta, Riko, who works as a security guard at a department store, had hoped that Mexico – one of the losing Group F teams – would make it to this week’s semi-finals. “I follow Mexico, because my favourite player Javier Hernandez (nicknamed “Chicharito”) is one of their forwards.”
Regarding the prospects of Southeast Asian countries qualifying for the World Cup in the near future, government officer Nuangruthai Raikrang is optimistic that her country, Thailand, could make it on the international stage. “If the government can lend more support for our football team, then I think we can qualify one day.”
Filipino Cris Robert Penol, 29, who is unemployed, has similar views. “Philippine athletes can play any sport, but we cannot qualify because our government does not provide good training facilities here in our country. Plus, basketball and boxing are more popular.”
Mithra Thuraisingam, a lecturer and deputy dean at the KPJ Healthcare University College, thinks that her country, Malaysia, doesn’t have the potential – at least for now. “Malaysia cannot be in the World Cup…because capable people should be chairing the FAM [Football Association of Malaysia] based on merit rather than their status.”
Whether they believe that their country will one day represent Southeast Asia in the World Cup, there is no doubt that the region is and will remain, football country.
