It sounds to me that your friend would be what a lot of people here in the US would consider a “loner”. Perhaps because sexuality—in whatever form it takes on—is so ubiquitous here in the “West” that most people tend to view his situation in a sexual context (i.e.: “is he gay”? “Is he impotent”?, and so on.)
Watching soccer and the behind the scenes stories are his passion in life and somehow the rest of the world rarely intrudes. He is aware of major events but other day to day things go right over his head.