By Les Tan/Red Sports. Research by Erwin Wong/Red Sports
Brazil have gone to the World Cup 19 times in a row while Singapore have yet to make their appearance. (19-0 will probably be the score too if we met in a competitive game.) (Image © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Since we cannot be at the World Cup, us Singaporeans can amuse (or console) ourselves with population and GDP comparisons. They make for an interesting read.
We once articulated the dream of going to the World Cup. It was called Goal 2010. We wanted to be at this World Cup (yes, the one starting in three days).
That dream fell apart.
Singapore is currently ranked 127th in the world, according to FIFA, the world body for the game. In Asia, we are currently ranked 20th.
The immediate dream now is to be in Asia’s top 10.
To achieve 10th, we have to overhaul Vietnam (19th), Yemen (18th), Thailand (17th), North Korea (16th), Jordan (15th), United Arab Emirates (14th), Syria (13th), Kuwait (12th), Qatar (11th) and Uzbekistan (10th).
As far as population size goes, only New Zealand (4.2 million), Uruguay (3.5 million) and Slovenia (2 million) have smaller population sizes than our 4.7 million. The only problem is, based on current form, our population can take on the football world only if it is played with video consoles. (FIFA Online 2, anyone?)
When it comes to GDP per head, we top the table among the table of World Cup countries.
Some countries, though, do a better job of getting money for football than we do.
Japan is understood to spend $264 million annually on the game while the Football Association of Singapore, by comparison, is operating on a budget of S$9.7 million a year.
Japan is one of four Asian nations at the World Cup.
It seems to take a lot of money to get 11 men to put a leather ball into the back of the net.
For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/
World Cup Country Stats
Source: CIA Factbook. Population - July 2010 estimate. GDP - Purchasing Power Parity US$ estimate| Country | # of appearances | Population (mn) | GDP ($ bn) | GDP per head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore | 0 | 4.7 | 236 | 50042 |
| USA | 9 | 310.2 | 14260 | 45965 |
| Switzerland | 9 | 7.6 | 317 | 41582 |
| Netherlands | 9 | 16.8 | 655 | 39021 |
| Australia | 3 | 21.5 | 824 | 38311 |
| Denmark | 4 | 5.5 | 199 | 36007 |
| England | 13 | 61.3 | 2149 | 35066 |
| Germany | 17 | 82.3 | 2811 | 34163 |
| Spain | 13 | 40.5 | 1368 | 33737 |
| France | 13 | 64.1 | 2110 | 32939 |
| Japan | 4 | 126.8 | 4137 | 32625 |
| Greece | 2 | 10.7 | 341 | 31721 |
| Italy | 17 | 58.1 | 1760 | 30297 |
| South Korea | 8 | 48.6 | 1356 | 27881 |
| Slovenia | 2 | 2 | 56 | 27876 |
| New Zealand | 2 | 4.2 | 115 | 27021 |
| Portugal | 5 | 10.7 | 233 | 21740 |
| Slovakia | 9 | 5.5 | 116 | 21151 |
| Chile | 8 | 16.7 | 244 | 14552 |
| Argentina | 15 | 41.3 | 558 | 13497 |
| Mexico | 14 | 112.5 | 1482 | 13177 |
| Uruguay | 11 | 3.5 | 45 | 12682 |
| Serbia | 11 | 7.3 | 78 | 10669 |
| South Africa | 3 | 49.1 | 495 | 10082 |
| Brazil | 19 | 201.1 | 2025 | 10069 |
| Algeria | 3 | 34.6 | 240 | 6928 |
| Paraguay | 8 | 6.4 | 28 | 4434 |
| Honduras | 2 | 8 | 33 | 4152 |
| Nigeria | 4 | 152.2 | 357 | 2347 |
| Cameroon | 6 | 19.3 | 43 | 2216 |
| North Korea | 2 | 22.8 | 40 | 1758 |
| Ivory Coast | 2 | 21.1 | 36 | 1701 |
| Ghana | 2 | 24.3 | 37 | 1502 |
For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/
Everything also got ranking… and in the other post it was all about the struggle in sports rather than the results right?
Putting my sense of humour back on… Singapore should probably put out classifieds for more imports, maybe like that we can top the US for most rojak national team also lah.