Eight of the 10 most populous countries are not in the World Cup

China’s case is perhaps more puzzling. In recent decades, it has become one of the most successful countries in Olympic history. But its forays into men’s football have not borne similar fruit.

“There’s no reason [in theory] why China can’t produce world-class footballers,” Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based Chinese football expert, believes.

“The main problem is that in China everything is controlled by the state and everything is top-down. You need footballing people making footballing decisions, but there’s far too much political interference.”

China has not returned to the World Cup since 2002, despite heavy investment in the game since the 2010s – which included the flooding of its professional league with various high-profile names from South American and European football in a bid to elevate the standard of play.

Like China, Indonesia has also tasted World Cup action once before – in 1938, when it competed as the Dutch East Indies, then a colony of the Netherlands.

The South East Asian side had a good run in 2026 though, reaching the final qualifying round.

But that performance is perhaps better explained by a decision to recruit European players with Indonesian heritage rather than relying on homegrown talent.

“At times there were eight or nine European-born players in Indonesia’s starting XI,” says Jerome Wirawan, News Editor at the BBC’s Indonesian service.

Pakistan and Bangladesh exited the Asian qualifiers at the group stage, with no wins in six matches. Pakistan was also banned from international football three times by Fifa between 2017 and 2025 for political infighting in its governing body.