Why Asian Nations Struggled At The 2026 World Cup

China And India Struggle On The Global Stage

The two most populous countries in the world have an abysmal World Cup qualifying record: China has qualified only once (in 2002), and India has never qualified directly (it secured a place in the 1950 edition but then withdrew).

This means that almost three billion people – approximately 35% of the global population – didn’t get to see their national team playing this summer.

Not that it particularly matters; China has long been a basketball nation in which mass participation in sports appears to be a higher priority than elite-level success in soccer.

In India, the country is obsessed with cricket and Bollywood movies, which share a symbiotic relationship that has proven to be a major obstacle in attempts to build soccer’s popularity.

No wonder, then, that ahead of this summer’s tournament, broadcasters in both countries were unwilling to pay the rights fees demanded by FIFA, resulting in last-minute agreements for significantly less money than world soccer’s governing body had anticipated.

Japan’s Glass Ceiling

As for the Asian teams that qualified, Japan made it the furthest, reaching the last 32 of the competition, a testament to the patient, strategic development of its soccer since the 1990s.

Japanese clubs often do well in international competition; indeed, the Asian Champions League has seen teams from the country lift the trophy eight times, with Urawa Red Diamonds second-top in the list of all-time winners.

Just as inevitably as Japan qualified for the World Cup, the current team hit a glass ceiling that led to its elimination from the tournament, posing some serious questions for the country.

It appears that continental dominance is no indicator of global success, which perhaps implies a deeper malaise afflicting Asian soccer – an absence of team and player quality that requires support from the continental governing body.

But Japan does have specific challenges, for instance, the teams for which its talent plays.

The country’s bitter local rivals, South Korea, can call upon players who are on the books at some of the world’s biggest clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain (Lee Kang-in) and Bayern Munich (Kim Min-jae), an option Japan currently doesn’t have.

That said, this didn’t stop South Korea from doing badly this year, as the team exited the tournament after the group stage, leading to the national team coach’s resignation and the country’s government intervening.

There had been a gilt-edged opportunity for the team to cement its position among the world’s best, which would have been helped by the massive support its star player, Son Heung-min, receives as a player at Los Angeles FC, but it wasn’t to be, and South Korea will need to think carefully about the failure to fulfil its promise.

Qatar And Saudi Arabia Fail To Deliver

Over in West Asia, conditions have been even worse, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia finishing at the bottom of their groups, despite both countries having spent heavily on soccer over the past two decades.

Four years after Qatar hosted the last World Cup, a golden generation of national team players (who won the Asian soccer championship in 2019 and 2023) is now ageing, and the country must work out how to build a new team without the focus of hosting an event like the 2022 tournament, although a successful 2036 Olympic Games bid might help.

Saudi Arabia is in a trickier position; the country is set to host the 2034 World Cup and is anxious to ensure that its national team is a worthy participant capable of, at least, progressing to the competition’s knockout phase.

The country’s football is undergoing a period of transformation, with superstar Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Al-Nassr in the country’s Pro League in recent years.

However, the extravagant nature of such spending appears to be a bubble that has now burst, especially given the obvious failure to build a talented domestic talent pool.

Officials in Riyadh therefore face a race against time if its national team is to do well in 2034.

War In The Gulf

One of Asia’s long-standing soccer powerhouses, Iran, faced a difficult tournament from the outset, ultimately drawing all three of its games and similarly failing to progress beyond the group stage.

War in the Gulf region raised doubts about whether the team would even participate in this summer’s competition, whilst its training camp was eventually moved from the U.S. to Mexico amid fears for the players’ safety.

This meant that the U.S. implemented special immigration measures for the Iranian squad’s entry into and exit from the country, which surely affected its performances.

If nothing else, this all served as a reminder of how geopolitics and conflict often impact Asian soccer.

Among other Asian nations that didn’t make it out of the group phase were Jordan and Uzbekistan, both first-time tournament qualifiers, which presumably vindicates FIFA’s decision to enlarge the tournament.

However, if future disappointment is to be avoided, something will need to change not just at the national level but also within Asian soccer’s governing association.