The sport that brings the world together

Location: Asia

For 31 Days, The World Comes Together… To Stand Apart. Excellent words by Visa, don’t you think? This year’s World Cup has garnered so much hype that makes even the most ignorant of audiences scream “Goal!” Football… Soccer… Whatever you call it, ‘the sport that brings the world together’ definitely lives up to its name with Asian member associations surprisingly making up more than half of its pool.

FIFA or the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, based in Zurich, was founded in 1904. Now with 208 member associations stretching from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, its mission to constantly improve the sport now involves reaching out and touching the world, using football as a symbol of hope and integration. By protecting its standards, encouraging competition and promoting solidarity in the world game, FIFA and football are ‘building a better future.’

Of the 46 Asian member associations, Australia, Japan, the Korean Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran and the Peoples Republic of China have made it to the top ranks of its regional zone since the Cup’s kick off last June 11.

In spite of all this, the love for the sport seems to be downplayed across the region, as with anything not basketball. Or anything not American, for that matter. So it is nice to know that there is, in fact, a governing body focused on the region that regulates the game, drafts new laws to improve the sport and implements them, boosts football among the youth, and conducts major competitions, which is the Asian Football Confederation or AFC, making up one of the six Confederations of FIFA. The AFC, originally formed in 1954 in Manila, Philippines now has 46 member associations and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For the first time, the world came to Asia in 1985 as China hosted the FIFA U-17 World Championship and in 2002, the FIFA World Cup was successfully co-hosted by Korea and Japan. Hopefully more following and more funding finds its way to this understated sport, especially in the region so maybe in a year or so, we can cheer for more of our Asian counterparts as they make it to the finals.