Kuwait appeared at the FIFA World Cup in 1982 — eight, 12 and 40 years respectively ahead of its Gulf neighbours United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — and made quite an impression.

When France scored to make it 4-1 against the Asian champions, Sheikh Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, FA chief and senior member of the royal family entered the pitch in Valladolid, Spain to remonstrate with the referee, arguing that his players had stopped after a whistle from the crowd. Incredibly, the match official disallowed the goal.

Those were golden days. "We were the best in Asia because the government, the FA, clubs and the media — the whole community — were after one goal and wanted high standards," Bader Marafi, a longtime fan and archivist of Kuwaiti football, told DW. "Everyone worked together."

Fast forward more than four decades and there is little sign of such unity. Kuwait, which failed to even qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup, has slipped down the rankings and out of the spotlight at a time when there has never been such a focus on sports in the region.

Noisy neighbours

In recent years, spending from oil or gas-rich Gulf nations and their sovereign wealth funds has changed the face of international sport.

The United Arab Emirates-owned Manchester City became champions of England and Europe, Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup and clubs in Saudi Arabia signed some of the biggest names in football while the country's Public Investment Fund has become the main player in professional golf.

Kuwait, the fourth biggest oil producer in the region, with around 7% of the world's reserves, has been absent from both the spending and the conversation.

This is despite a sovereign investment fund that is, according to the Sovereign Wealth Funds data platform, worth $769 billion (€704 billion), second only to the Abu Dhabi fund and bigger than both its Saudi and Qatari equivalents. Kuwait, which also has a strong banking system and little debt, has no F1 Grand Prix, no major international tournaments to prepare for and no major European football clubs connected to its state.

"Kuwait has lagged behind in many fields, including sports, after it used to be proactive," Ahmed Al-Sarraf, a prominent columnist and media personality in the country, told DW. "Also, Kuwait, conservative in its decisions, is not known for its ambitions to be an international hub in any field."

Kuwaiti challenges

That conservatism did not, according to Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School, come out of nowhere but is a result of events in August 1990. "The general consensus about Kuwait is that there is a cautiousness and conservative approach to decision-making due to the Iraqi invasion in the early '90s," he said.

Once a proactive supporter of Arab unity following its independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, Kuwait has become more inward-looking. "The country has stepped back from the spotlight and is less conspicuous," added Chadwick.

Kuwait's relatively powerful parliament, which governments have to negotiate and deal with, can make it more difficult for major projects to get the green light especially compared to governments in Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi. "The rulers of such countries have no restrictions whatsoever on what and where to spend and how much," said Al-Sarraf.

"The decisions to spend billions on buying sports clubs and paying athletes and football players hundreds of millions of dollars is a complex issue," he added. "It normally requires parliament's approval, which is not always easy."

This has also made it more difficult for the country to diversify its economy, which is around 90% reliant on oil revenues, a factor that has contributed to the investments made by other countries in the region.

"People in Kuwait are not jealous about what is happening elsewhere but angry at the position we are in now," said longtime fan Marafi. "There are elections almost every year and there are always clashes between the government and parliament and football has been dragged into the political fights."

Government interference in the running of the Kuwaiti Football Association resulted in FIFA banning the country in 2015, a punishment that lasted two years during which Kuwait could not enter any international tournament.

"That ban affected everything," said Radojko Avramovic, national team coach of Kuwait in 2002 and again in 2018. "It's not just the national team but youth development lost all continuity and that has made a big gap compared to other countries."

Solving this problem should be the priority rather than spending billions on international sports, Marafi believes. "Our league is very weak and the standard of Kuwaiti players has fallen," he said. "There is no talent, no facilities and no good stadiums. The spectator experience is poor."

He wants government and the federation to work together more. "It is a strange thing, many people involved in Kuwait football go and see games in Barcelona, Madrid, Manchester or London and they are so happy with the experience but they never think of trying to do the same here," he said.

Avramovic is clear about what needs to happen. "They have to improve facilities, especially in youth development. Many clubs have just one training pitch for all their teams," he said, adding that it's different elsewhere in the region. "When you go to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, you can see how many football fields each club has, both indoors and outdoors."

In Kuwait, it will take time and money just to get domestic football back just to where it was. "Strategically, Kuwait is now at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to its rivals," said Chadwick. "It would take huge levels of investment to achieve any sort of parity."