Football Khmer

[Janne Desir]

Thefirst domestic football national championship in Cambodia was first established in 1982 during the People's Republic of Kampuchea years. The competing clubs were primarily based on the Soviet model of official amateur teams formed by ministries, the police, army and other state owned enterprises.[2]

In the 2000s, the Cambodian League or C-League was brought about and was rebranded as the Metfone Cambodian League or Metfone C-League at the start of the 2005 season, courtesy of corporate sponsorship of the league's name. Over the course of the following years, the standard of professionalism would change with clubs being formed and clubs being sponsored by corporate entities. In 2018, it was announced that all clubs participating in the league would be required to have access to their own stadium before the start of the 2019 season. This was an attempt by the Football Federation of Cambodia to help further modernize football in Cambodia. In past seasons, many of the league's clubs have shared the Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium or the Old Stadium.[3] Since its inception as an official professional league in 2005, a total of 36 clubs have competed. 6 clubs have been crowned champions, with Phnom Penh Crown winning the title a record 8 times.[4]

In October 2021, Satoshi Saito, the former international marketer for FC Barcelona of La Liga, was announced as the CEO of the Cambodian Football League Company (CFLC) which would take over the Metfone C-League's administrative and financial duties and establish the league as Cambodian Premier League starting with the 2022 season.[5]

Boeung Ket won the 2020 league season by head-to-head record against 2019 league season champion, Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng, despite remaining unbeaten the whole season, setting up a record in the Cambodian League.[7]

The Cambodia national association football team is the men's national football team that represents Cambodia in association football. It is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). The team was founded in 1954 and is administered by the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC).[6]

Like most Asian countries at the time, Cambodia did not seek to participate in the FIFA World Cup qualification nor even AFC Asian Cup qualification, as the country was still trying to consolidate its early football development. However, when Lon Nol decided to topple the Cambodian Kingdom and replaced by a Republic, Cambodia finally decided to participate in the 1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification. The Cambodians managed to qualify for the 1972 AFC Asian Cup in its first qualification attempt, a major success up to date. Cambodia managed to win over Hong Kong, which sent the country to Thailand.[9]

After decades of war, in which witnessed both Khmer Rouge's genocide and the later Vietnamese invasion which toppled the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia returned to international football in 1993. Cambodia's first tournament as a new team was the 1996 AFF Championship, in which Cambodia was defeated in all four matches. In this tournament, although Cambodia was the weakest among all teams participating in the tournament, Cambodia demonstrated high spirit of football. However, in successive tournaments, Cambodia was not successful and they could not manage to play with high spirits as it used to be. Despite this, Cambodia still gave birth to what would one of Cambodia's football talents in its young history, Hok Sochetra.[12][13]

Also during this time, Cambodia sent its national team to the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, the first time Cambodia had ever done so. However, Cambodia had been unsuccessful by large, and often got eliminated in the bottom of their group. The country also withdrew from participating in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. Likewise, Cambodia also only participated in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification, before withdrew from 2004 and 2007 qualification attempts. The country later suffered AFF Championship drought, failing to qualify for three consecutive tournaments.[14]

Cambodia's football has witnessed resurgence after decades being under shadows. The resurgence of Cambodia had begun with the arrival of South Korean Lee Tae-hoon, who had introduced a significant development of football in the country, with the change of its tactics, as well as youth development and promotion of Cambodian youngsters to the national team, has given hopes of change. At this team, the team has a lot of young talents, notably Chan Vathanaka, the first ever Cambodian to play professional football outside Cambodia, and the fanbase increased as for the achievement. Cambodia once again demonstrated a full spirit of football, despite during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage, they didn't win and also missed out the 2012 and 2014 AFC Challenge Cups, thus missing out in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.[16]

From 2010 to 2022, the home kit was a blue and black shirt with black shorts and blue socks; while the original away kit was all white with a series of horizontal red stripes on the shirt. FBT sponsored this version of the kit.[21]

On May 27, 2022, the team announced its new kit collection. The Khmer sportswear company, Varaman established in February 2022 sponsored them with designs by HCD football agency Clan United. The designs are based upon the flag of Cambodia, with the blue and red tones from the flag featured along with a pattern made from pixelated images of Angkor Wat. The 2022 home shirt uses a 3 toned blue digital camouflage design. The away shirt is all white fabric, with a zoomed in section of the pattern decorated in faint blue and red tones whilst being separated by patterns and shapes. To match each set, the goalkeeper kits are red and blue for home and away respectively. The repeated element is "slightly off-coloured" from the base fabric. The training kits are blue, red, and white with a graffiti styled pattern on each.[22]

Cambodia's home stadium is the Morodok Techo National Stadium with a capacity of 75,000, and associated facilities, was anticipated to be used to facilitate international friendly matches and regional qualifiers which was opened in August 2021 while their former home ground, the National Olympic Stadium will be second in line to host international matches.[23][24][25]

Cambodia were initially into a bit of football, being a French colony and all, they formed their FA (FKFA) in 1933 and joined FIFA in 1953. Due to the civil war things were to stagnate and then disappear altogether for a while, particularly during Khmer Rouge rule. Yes there was never a Democratic Kampuchea national team.

A national championship was established in 1982 under state run communist lines. This was to morph into the semi-pro C-League in 2005. Its last season was 2021 when it was known as the MetFone C-League featuring 13 clubs.

In 2022 things were completely revamped when the Cambodian Premier League was launched. The change involved reducing the top-tier to 8 clubs, whilst expanding the league with a second tier featuring 12 clubs. Other advances being the introduction of licenses, as well as an overall more professional vibe to things.

Since then I have been to watch everything from regional cup qualifiers to international games in the brand spanking new stadium built by China. I have also become involved in the game as a journalist, part-owner of the CPL 2 side Next Step FC (who YPT sponsor) and even one stint in the dugout as a professional manager. We might have lost, but I definitely ticked one off of my bucket list.

I have also been lucky enough to know and interview some of the top players and coaches within Cambodia, not to mention even dabbling in a bit of agency work, namely helping to facilitate the transfer of Timor-Leste star Mouzinho to Cambodia.

The stadiums of Cambodia are a real mixed bag of tricks, depending greatly on the size and indeed wealth of the clubs. At the international level there are two stadiums, namely the Olympic Stadium and the Morodok Stadium.

From a club level the best stadium is without the Prince Stadium which has about a 7000 seat capacity, with most top clubs having grounds that fit 4-5000, although many do not have floodlights, which can make watching football in Cambodia quite a hot day out.

Going down the pyramid grounds can literally be school fields, muddy pitches in the middle of nowhere with portapotties, or my favourite ground, that of Electricitie De Cambodge Football Club (EDFC), who literally play at a power plant.

The first match I ever watched was Visakha FC vs Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng FC. Visakha took advantage of being at home by going 2-0 up in the first half. Stay Rieng pulled one back early on in the second half, before Viaskha knocked a further 2 in to win by a resounding 4-1 margin. At this point I was very briefly a Viskha fan, but as I now know Conor Nestor of Svay Rieng, they would be my favourite top-tier team, with Next Step FC obviously being my main club.

The standard of play was much higher than I expected. Obviously you cannot come here and expect world class, but there are not only a number of top-class foreigners, including ex-EPL stars, but also a whole heap of local talent that really bodes well for the future of Cambodian football.

Should yo go to watch football in Cambodia? Quite simply, yes you should even if you are just visiting, but particularly if you are an expat. After what is better than picking a team, watching them on a Saturday and then going down the pub!

The sports industry in Cambodia is growing rapidly, with football being the most popular sport. Other popular sports include volleyball, badminton, and martial arts. The government is investing in sports infrastructure and facilities to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles. The country is also home to a number of international sporting events, such as the Southeast Asian Games.

4. Khmer Volleyball: This is a traditional form of volleyball that is still popular in Cambodia today. It is a team sport that involves two teams of six players trying to score points by hitting a ball over a net.

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