code: public static function getCountries()
  	{
  		$return = array();
  		$countries = array();
  		$arrAux = array();
  
  		static::loadLanguageFile('countries');
  		include __DIR__ . '/../../config/countries.php';
  
  		foreach ($countries as $strKey=>$strName)
  		{
  			$arrAux[$strKey] = isset($GLOBALS['TL_LANG']['CNT'][$strKey]) ? Utf8::toAscii($GLOBALS['TL_LANG']['CNT'][$strKey]) : $strName;
  		}
  
  		asort($arrAux);
  
  		foreach (array_keys($arrAux) as $strKey)
  		{
  			$return[$strKey] = $GLOBALS['TL_LANG']['CNT'][$strKey] ?? $countries[$strKey];
  		}
  
  		// HOOK: add custom logic
  		if (isset($GLOBALS['TL_HOOKS']['getCountries']) && \is_array($GLOBALS['TL_HOOKS']['getCountries']))
  		{
  			foreach ($GLOBALS['TL_HOOKS']['getCountries'] as $callback)
  			{
  				static::importStatic($callback[0])->{$callback[1]}($return, $countries);
  			}
  		}
  
  		return $return;
  	}
docs: Return the countries as array
  
  @return array An array of country names