khmer sources

On red clay, on the sand in Sihanoukville and often perilously in front of oncoming traffic, Cambodians are forever footballing. Like the rest of the world most Cambodian young people love the game. Not only in urban areas, but also in the countryside, Cambodian boys know how to play the game, and they know the stars. One day, if this popularity keeps up, could there be Cambodian Ronaldos and Beckhams scoring penalty goals at Old Trafford?

At Khnarng Puos village on the Té River in Kratie, young and old men are running backwards and forwards aiming a ball into their rivals’ goal. These men don’t own football boots, so they’re barefoot, dust belching up from behind them as they run to follow the ball. And this isn’t a rolled green football field, this is the bottom of a dried-up river 10m deep—a makeshift stadium, with supporters in tiers on the banks. The puddles of remaining water and mud don’t seem to bother anyone.
Ruos Thouen, 31, one of the players who initiated the game in the village says his team started playing three years ago. Bowing down, he pulls the kramar he’s wearing up to wipe the sweat from his face. Ruos says the reason why he introduced the game to the village was because during the dry season, after harvesting, they were not very busy. It was also considered that if young people played football they wouldn’t commit crime. However, he admits to a bit of harmless gambling.

"We have bets on the game, for instance, one goal wins 3,000 or 7,000 riel, [this] attracts everyone to the game," Ruos explains.
He says that since the game was introduced to the village young people were not "wandering around looking for vices."

"Instead, every evening they gather at the football field, which is usually set up in a rice field near the village. But this year we play at the bottom of the river because the water has dried up and it’s cooler there."
He confesses that initially no one knew how to play the game. "We could not even hit the ball when it passed us. But now we are much better. We can dribble, receive and stop the ball well and some of us even know how to do headers. We never learnt how to play the game; we just watched the TV and then tried."

Nhim Sopheap, 18, is a student at Kosamak High School in Kratie and considered the best player in the village. He says he doesn’t belong to the school’s football team though, but he has listened to the school’s sport coach during physical education classes. Nhim says he doesn’t watch football on the TV that often because there are only a few in the village, and they’re far from his own house. When he does get the opportunity, he watches David Beckham, Ronaldo or Zidane playing the game. "I like to watch them very much," he says, "and I want to become a footballer like them too."

Sen Sambou, 30, a Phnom Penh sales and marketing manager says he has loved football since he was young, but he never had the chance to become a footballer. He says he is part of a team now and plays at the Old Stadium in the capital every Sunday.
"Our games are just good weekly exercise for the sake of our health," Sen explains. "Playing football is also a good way to help reduce stress. When we sweat after running and kicking the ball, it makes our bodies healthy and strong and our brains brilliant, too."

According to a Cambodian Football Federation (CFF) report, it has 24 member clubs; 20 in Phnom Penh and 4 in the provinces. Cambodian Football Federation information official Nhim Vanny says the Federation has plans to expand the number of clubs in Siem Reap, Battambang, Kampot and Kompong Cham next year. Nhim says the existing 24 clubs consist of small teams of varying ages from 22 years of age and under.

"I hope those in the oldest age bracket will become a fully-fledged national team in 2006, meeting international standards, while the younger teams will continue to develop their game," Nhim says. He continues that besides the 24 teams of the Federation, there are two other football clubs, one belonging to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the other, a private group, made up of teams from private companies, NGOs and some foreign agencies. Nhim says Cambodia will host football matches for under-17s within the framework of the five ASEAN nations.

President of the Cambodian Football Federation Khek Ravy says the Federation has received financial support of nearly $400,000 from FIFA to build a training field, a club room and an office. As well, the Federation receives an annual amount of $250,000 from the Association.
Khek says there are two ways to raise the profile of Cambodian football. "Firstly, there should be participation from the government, especially the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia; and secondly, the government should provide counterpart finance to support the sport."