Southeast Asian Football: The Long Game

When one thinks of great football (soccer) nations, countries like Brazil, England and Germany quickly come to mind. And turning to Asia, South Korea and Japan are perennial challengers at the all the big tournaments and veritable football powerhouses. Southeast Asian countries, on the other hand, are not known for their prowess at the beautiful game, which is why it came as a shock when the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) announced last month that they would bid for the 2034 World Cup.

For those thinking that 20 years is a long time to plan ahead for a World Cup, it is. The formal bidding for the tournament won’t even start until 2026 and most other hopeful hosts won’t begin the planning stages for some years. But ASEAN states aren’t France or Argentina when it comes to football, and considering the amount of work ahead of the AFF, 20 years might actually be necessary for a successful World Cup bid.

When looking at successful bids, the first thing that comes to mind is infrastructure. Not only does a country need modern stadiums to host the games, but it needs the facilities to house and entertain the millions of fans that come along with a month-long World Cup. This immediately rules out less developed countries like Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Cambodia. In the past, only Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have hosted the ASEAN Football Championships and therefore one of these would be the most likely choice for World Cup host. Would one of these countries be able to host the competition on its own? Certainly not Singapore. While the island nation may have the highest GDP per capita out of the candidates and the best infrastructure, Singapore is simply too small to hold an event of this size. However, there is the possibility of it pairing with one of its neighbors to host in 2034. Singapore, which was part of Malaysia until 1965, sits at the tip of the Malay Penninsula and still shares close cultural ties with its northern neighbor. Partnering with Indonesia is also a possibility.

The AFF have successfully used the group-host format in the past. The 2007 Asian Cup was hosted by Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. However, the constant travel imposed by the four-country setup offered headaches for athletes, journalists and fans alike. Despite these challenges, for a region without a strong past of competing in, let alone hosting, international athletic competitions, two or more countries hosting the World Cup appears to be the ideal option. Unfortunately, a multi-country setup might actually create more hurdles for a successful AFF World Cup bid. Traditionally, FIFA, the world football governing body, has been wary of multi-country bids, even to the point that they refused to consider a co-hosted tournament for the 2010 World Cup. Should there be a co-host bid from ASEAN for 2034, FIFA would have to be convinced that the hassles that come with a mutli-country format are worth the reward.

Another possible challenge to a successful AFF World Cup bid is the weather. Anyone who’s had the pleasure of being anywhere between Hanoi and Jakarta in the summer, when the World Cup is traditionally hosted, knows how oppressive the heat and humidity can be. Moreover, summer is the rainy season in this part of the world. Playing world-class football for 90 minutes in such weather might not only be unenjoyable for the players, it could put competitors’ health in serious danger. This issue was raised with 2022 hosts Qatar and led to many in FIFA to call for the tournament to be rescheduled for the winter. But Qatar, with billions in oil money, has been able to quiet critics with plans of brand-new stadiums outfitted with state-of-the-art cooling technology. Prospective hosts in ASEAN, while not impoverished, don’t have the capital that Qatar is able to use for the tournament’s preparations. Without the necessary funds, any prospective hosts might not have the ability to build such advanced stadiums in order to placate FIFA’s concerns.

Despite what might seem like a host of challenges to a 2034 World Cup, the AFF still has a chance at launching a successful bid. Despite a perceived lack of football talent in ASEAN, some of the game’s most passionate fans call Southeast Asia their home and there is no better way to reward such footballing fervor than a World Cup. What’s more, FIFA has a tradition of placing the World Cup in developing regions. The 2002 World Cup was jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea at a time when East Asian players were rarely heard of outside their home countries. Eleven years later, those two countries have highly-ranked national teams and have dozens of players plying their trade at the top clubs in Europe. The 2010 tournament in South Africa and 2022 in Qatar are also good examples. If FIFA wants to show the world that it’s serious about developing the game everywhere, Southeast Asia is the next stop. And regardless whether or not ASEAN’s bid wins, the road to 2034 might just be the most rewarding prize of all.