FIFA Report: Top 5 Asian countries with highest number of professional players

All the data in this article has been extracted from FIFA’s recent report.

Asian football is slowly becoming the new ‘boom point’ of the professional football scene and with the development of the beautiful game across the continent, there are expectations and hopes that the Asian national teams will perform more strongly in the FIFA World Cup editions going forward.

The likes of Japan and South Korea performed well in the 2022 World Cup edition, but there is a need for better development for Asian countries to strongly compete with the European teams. Interestingly, more and more quality footballers are coming out of the continent – with the likes of Son Heung-min, Wataru Endo and Kaoru Mitoma among some of the notable Asian footballers impressing in the Premier League.

In a recent study by FIFA, it was discovered that there are over 20,000 professional Asian Footballers across the globe now. This not only includes home-grown talents, but also foreign players that national teams have – with Saudi Arabia, UAE and Indonesia having over 30% of immigrant professional players. Here we look into the top five Asian countries with the highest number of professional players.

5. India

Despite the underwhelming display at the recent AFC Asian Cup, India is viewed by many as a sleeping giant in football. There are major efforts being made by the All India Football Federation and major football organizers around the country to help improve the quality of Indian footballers – be it improving the grassroots program or the competitiveness of leagues like the Indian Super League.

As per the FIFA report, India currently has 1,506 professional footballers across the country. This marks the fifth-highest pro footballers among all the Asian countries, serving as an encouraging sign over how more and more footballers are being encouraged to take the sport up as a profession.

4. China PR

Having seen their men’s national team fall down to 88th place in the FIFA rankings after a disappointing AFC Asian Cup outing, where they got knocked out of the group stages, China PR is still looking to establish itself as a major force in the Asian football scene.

Despite the heavy investment in the Chinese Super League, which saw major footballers like Carlos Tevez, Oscar and Hulk play in the division, the Chinese football scene hasn’t shown any major signs of improvement in the last decade and their national team has struggled against formidable opponents. China PR actually has 1,586 professional footballers hailing from the country – with their national team squad being full of players playing in the Chinese Super League and spearheaded by ex-Espanyol forward Wu Lei.

3. Australia

Even though Australia only joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, they have since established themselves among the dominant forces in the continent and won the AFC Asian Cup title too. The Socceroos have a strong national football team that constantly qualifies for the World Cup and boasts well-known players like Matt Ryan, Harry Souttar and Riley McGee – with the latter two playing in the Championship.

Australia currently has 1,597 professional players as calculated by the FIFA study, with many of their players playing outside the country. They have a solid grassroot structure and an impressive coaching setup that has helped the Socceroos in competing for major honours on a consistent basis.

2. Iran

Iran has been one of the powerhouses of Asian Football, winning three of the first six AFC Asian Cup editions and competing for every edition since 1968. They have also qualified for four FIFA World Cup editions in the 21st century and came up just short in the recent Asian Cup. The country has pushed football as a viable profession to their masses and encouraged kids to make their country proud at the international stage.

As a result, Iran currently has 1,800 professional footballers – the second-highest for any nation in Asia. This includes well-known players like AS Roma star Sardar Azmoun and FC Porto forward Mehdi Taremi – who keep making their country proud by impressing in Europe.

1. Japan

Japan are the highest-ranked AFC team in the FIFA rankings and arguably boast the best plan in terms of how they aim to reach the levels of major European teams in the future. The JFA (Japan Football Association) formed the ‘Pledge of 2050’ in 2005, which laid out a plan for the Japanese national football team to win the FIFA World Cup by 2050. Well, it seems they are hard at work to make that a reality as Japan currently has 2,126 professional footballers – the most in Asia.

The special thing is that a number of their footballers are playing in highly competitive European Leagues – including the likes of Wataru Endo, Karou Mitoma and Takehiro Tomiyasu in England, and Real Sociedad winger Takefusa Kubo in La Liga. Despite not being able to win the Asian Cup 2023, Japan’s impressive performance at the 2022 World Cup – where they defeated Spain and Germany – showed early signs that their ‘Pledge of 2050’ could become a reality.

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