All Whites' Oceania/Asia Confederation Conundrum

Marto

AFC is too big. It needs to be split in half. 

East Asia and OFC should be combined. If that happened only Japan, S. Korea and Australia would be hands down better then us. N. Korea can be decent on their day but I’d rate us the fourth best side in that situation.

The dream! Would surely make some of the AFC comps (Champions League for example) a bit more meaningful too.

You'd imagine a lot of politics and money in the way behind the scenes. But then again you'd reckon some East Asian football associations would be a bit fed up with the gulf states.

Footy_Fella

Marto

AFC is too big. It needs to be split in half. 

East Asia and OFC should be combined. If that happened only Japan, S. Korea and Australia would be hands down better then us. N. Korea can be decent on their day but I’d rate us the fourth best side in that situation.

The dream! Would surely make some of the AFC comps (Champions League for example) a bit more meaningful too.

You'd imagine a lot of politics and money in the way behind the scenes. But then again you'd reckon some East Asian football associations would be a bit fed up with the gulf states.

It really is the oddest of FIFAs confederations. Jordan, Syria etc have nothing in common whatsoever with Korea or Japan. EUFA bar Türkiye and Israel (both of whom should be in Asia anyway) have a common history and culture, Africa, the Americas and OFC are similar if not quite the same but Asia is completely different.

Marto

Footy_Fella

Marto

AFC is too big. It needs to be split in half. 

East Asia and OFC should be combined. If that happened only Japan, S. Korea and Australia would be hands down better then us. N. Korea can be decent on their day but I’d rate us the fourth best side in that situation.

The dream! Would surely make some of the AFC comps (Champions League for example) a bit more meaningful too.

You'd imagine a lot of politics and money in the way behind the scenes. But then again you'd reckon some East Asian football associations would be a bit fed up with the gulf states.

It really is the oddest of FIFAs confederations. Jordan, Syria etc have nothing in common whatsoever with Korea or Japan. EUFA bar Türkiye and Israel (both of whom should be in Asia anyway) have a common history and culture, Africa, the Americas and OFC are similar if not quite the same but Asia is completely different.

Israel and Türkiye (and the Caucasuses) will never leave UEFA - no one will - it's the financial and competitive dreamland, hence why even Kazakhstan left AFC in 2003 to join UEFA. Not to mention Israel will never be allowed to join AFC. Not even Russia are convinced on leaving UEFA and they'd be the least detrimentally affected by a move to AFC.

CAF would be just as culturally disparate as AFC; Morocco would have just as much cultural alignment with South Africa as Syria would with Japan. It's geographical not cultural.

As for this whole OFC-AFC debate, the question that always comes to my mind is 'Who actually benefits from making the change?' Besides us, I reckon it would detriment everyone else and be a massive amount of work for FIFA with arguable end utility. 

- Other OFC teams' chances of qualification will go down and their costs will go up. 
- There would be a power-tussle for the World Cup qualification spots (how many go west vs east)
- Travel would be more difficult in the east. (Travelling to ME is easier than to the Islands given Qatar/Dubai/Abu Dhabi's centralised hubs; not to mention Australia, Japan are having players come via Europe so it's a stopover anyway)
- East Asian teams have no fundamental need/desire to have us and especially not Vanuatu/Samoa/Tonga etc.

If there was going to be a confederational realignment you'd surely also include the African football confederation. Have an (east) Asian & Pacific confederation, Middle East & North African confederation, and have the 50 country behemoth that is the African football confederation be shrunk down a bit. 

 I don't want NZ to leave OFC. 

I would like either of -

1. Top qualifier from OFC qualifying, which will be the AWs basically eternally, join last round of AFC qualifying. However is zero motivation for AFC to allow that to happen - unless OFC's 1 spot at World Cups was now thrown into the AFC mix. However then why would the OFC Confed want to lose their guaranteed spot. 

2. My preferred idea, of a combined East AFC/OFC Nations League running somewhere in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle. AWs in Division 1 with Aussie, Japan & Sth Korea. 6 games H/A, with a final. Relegation straight to Division 2 for the bottom team.

So just 4 FIFA windows required. 3 for the 6 H/A games and 1 for the Final.
Would give AWs 3 actual competitive home games (Socceroos, Blue Samurai & Koreans). Then if AWs are down in Division 2 it's likes of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Nth Korea - and the buzz of trying to get promoted to Div 1. ie actually winning something worthwhile. And the other OFC teams the same down the Divions playing East Asian minnow nations, pro/rel as well

A bit tricky as in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle is Asian Cup qualifying for AFC teams plus the Asian Cup itself. But again I'm only proposing 4 windows of games. The first year of a WC cycle, the FA like to try source big name friendlies for the Socceroos - like Ecuador x2, Argentina, Mexico & England played Aussie last year. But that could get harder to organise as UEFA & CONMEBOL are looking to setup a combined Nations League playing all games in Europe from memory, ie teams outside those 2 Confeds will need to look elsewhere for matches

I reckon the most likely confederation realignment would involve West Asia buying their way in to UEFA. Sure the AFC is odd and unwieldy, but do the Middle Eastern countries just want to play each other over and over? The only way to solve that problem from their perspective is merging with UEFA, and imo that’s not as crazy as it sounds given how much money they’d potentially contribute (and we all know that’s all UEFA really care about). 

From there why not just go for a massive worldwide realignment. Four confederations - UEFA/West Asia, Africa, East Asia/Oceania, and the Americas. 

coochiee

 I don't want NZ to leave OFC. 

I would like either of -

1. Top qualifier from OFC qualifying, which will be the AWs basically eternally, join last round of AFC qualifying. However is zero motivation for AFC to allow that to happen - unless OFC's 1 spot at World Cups was now thrown into the AFC mix. However then why would the OFC Confed want to lose their guaranteed spot. 

2. My preferred idea, of a combined East AFC/OFC Nations League running somewhere in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle. AWs in Division 1 with Aussie, Japan & Sth Korea. 6 games H/A, with a final. Relegation straight to Division 2 for the bottom team.

So just 4 FIFA windows required. 3 for the 6 H/A games and 1 for the Final.
Would give AWs 3 actual competitive home games (Socceroos, Blue Samurai & Koreans). Then if AWs are down in Division 2 it's likes of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Nth Korea - and the buzz of trying to get promoted to Div 1. ie actually winning something worthwhile. And the other OFC teams the same down the Divions playing East Asian minnow nations, pro/rel as well

A bit tricky as in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle is Asian Cup qualifying for AFC teams plus the Asian Cup itself. But again I'm only proposing 4 windows of games. The first year of a WC cycle, the FA like to try source big name friendlies for the Socceroos - like Ecuador x2, Argentina, Mexico & England played Aussie last year. But that could get harder to organise as UEFA & CONMEBOL are looking to setup a combined Nations League playing all games in Europe from memory, ie teams outside those 2 Confeds will need to look elsewhere for matches

Problem is that Nations League matches inevitably turn into friendlies in drag after enough years. Except you don't get to choose who, when and where you play.

lthomas20

coochiee

 I don't want NZ to leave OFC. 

I would like either of -

1. Top qualifier from OFC qualifying, which will be the AWs basically eternally, join last round of AFC qualifying. However is zero motivation for AFC to allow that to happen - unless OFC's 1 spot at World Cups was now thrown into the AFC mix. However then why would the OFC Confed want to lose their guaranteed spot. 

2. My preferred idea, of a combined East AFC/OFC Nations League running somewhere in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle. AWs in Division 1 with Aussie, Japan & Sth Korea. 6 games H/A, with a final. Relegation straight to Division 2 for the bottom team.

So just 4 FIFA windows required. 3 for the 6 H/A games and 1 for the Final.
Would give AWs 3 actual competitive home games (Socceroos, Blue Samurai & Koreans). Then if AWs are down in Division 2 it's likes of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Nth Korea - and the buzz of trying to get promoted to Div 1. ie actually winning something worthwhile. And the other OFC teams the same down the Divions playing East Asian minnow nations, pro/rel as well

A bit tricky as in the first 1-2 years of a WC cycle is Asian Cup qualifying for AFC teams plus the Asian Cup itself. But again I'm only proposing 4 windows of games. The first year of a WC cycle, the FA like to try source big name friendlies for the Socceroos - like Ecuador x2, Argentina, Mexico & England played Aussie last year. But that could get harder to organise as UEFA & CONMEBOL are looking to setup a combined Nations League playing all games in Europe from memory, ie teams outside those 2 Confeds will need to look elsewhere for matches

Problem is that Nations League matches inevitably turn into friendlies in drag after enough years. Except you don't get to choose who, when and where you play.

As far as your normal Euro footy fan is concerned, they were dressed up friendlies from day one and are treated as such by all concerned (friendly).

Yeah I get that UEFA Nations League games ain't treated that seriously, but I'm not talking about Europe. A East Asia/OFC combined one. Unless the tectonic plates make a major move we can never join UEFA.

But realistically it seems there is currently zero motivation for AFC to setup a Nations League format. Even though the other 4 main Confeds (UEFA, CAF, CONMEBOL & CONCACAF) all now have their own version.

Infantino's dream (pre Covid) was Nations Leagues comps in all Confeds, with the winners and some of the runners ups then, progressing to a 4 yearly Global Nations League toureny of 8 teams. Basically a tourney to replace the old Confederations Cup. Was going to come with an obscene amount of mystery Saudi cash. If that idea is ever rekindled then yes AFC will for sure look at a Nations League format, maybe split East and West. Maybe with OFC tacked onto East AFC, if FIFA's cash cow says they have to.

The mega-merge is gonna happen.

IMG_4634.jpeg 401.69 KB

It's CONMEBOL for starters.

And nah the USMNT and CONCACAF don't really carry much weight in the global football world. UEFA does, and that's who CONMEBOL are looking to align to.

They have opened a shared office in London, and there are plans for a combined CONMEBOL-UEFA Nations League. All an anti-Infantino power play, when Infantino was pushing a biennial World Cup, which these 2 Confeds were strongly against. The other Confeds like OFC more in favour of Infantino's idea.
https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0274-14d3e57c277d-46a46f8027da-1000--shared-conmebol-uefa-office-opened-in-london/

There’s lots of ideas, but the Copa America in the US is a big money spinner and hits up all the ex-pats who’ve been earning USD.

martinb

There’s lots of ideas, but the Copa America in the US is a big money spinner and hits up all the ex-pats who’ve been earning USD.

Yes, and this version has given all the CONMEBOL teams the valuable experience of playing and travelling around the USA with the WC only 2 years away.

But I'd imagine after this edition they will want to return the tourney to Soutth America, in 2028. Apparently Uruguay is looking to cohost with Paraguay and Argentina, in a potential pilot test towards the 2030 World Cup.

Just another reminder of why there is currently zero incentive for NZF to leave the OFC.

No organisation is going to put at risk (giving up almost guranteed WC qualification by joining AFC) such a huge potential payday. You can fund a shark load of stuff with 60% of $16.5M

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/all-whites-chase-richest-prize-in-new-zealand-sporting-history-as-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-gets-under-way/VRZCMR74HZFGDIFRU33BBFZ3TU/

New Zealand Football received US$8 million ($13 million) for their efforts in South Africa in 2010, where Ricki Herbert’s team managed draws with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. Even after the players’ share was deducted (around 40 per cent) it was a massive windfall, which funded the sport (and both the All Whites and Football Ferns international programmes) for many years.

It’s predicted to be in excess of US$10m ($16.33m), along with at least US$1m for preparation costs ahead of the tournament for qualified nations. On top of that there are the new sponsorship and commerical deals – NZF gained several new sponsors leading into 2010 - along with the priceless exposure, the opportunities to play high profile preparation matches and the gravitas.

It amounts to the biggest dividend in New Zealand sport, by a considerable distance.

Tension building in the AFC it seems. Japan considering a breakaway confederation amidst all the oil money corruption, and may have a few key players on their side.

https://football-tribe.com/japan/2025/10/17/341154/

Interesting. Though apparently one of the issues Japan sees that is mentioned in the article is the long distances teams need to travel within the confederation during the window, so for that reason it may not be likely that they'd be wanting NZ to join their new club either

imanixsupporter

Interesting. Though apparently one of the issues Japan sees that is mentioned in the article is the long distances teams need to travel within the confederation during the window, so for that reason it may not be likely that they'd be wanting NZ to join their new club either

NZ is about the same distance from Japan as is Lebanon (western most nation in Asia?), BUT
NZ is 4 hr time zone difference with Japan vs 6 hrs for Lebanon/Jordan/Syria (though don't know how many games are being played in those locations atm!).
Tokyo-Auck (direct flight) probably slightly easier on the body than Tokyo-Amman (which might be via Dubai, Doha, Istanbul or even Vienna).
All hypothetical, of course! 

Antz

imanixsupporter

Interesting. Though apparently one of the issues Japan sees that is mentioned in the article is the long distances teams need to travel within the confederation during the window, so for that reason it may not be likely that they'd be wanting NZ to join their new club either

NZ is about the same distance from Japan as is Lebanon (western most nation in Asia?), BUT
NZ is 4 hr time zone difference with Japan vs 6 hrs for Lebanon/Jordan/Syria (though don't know how many games are being played in those locations atm!).
Tokyo-Auck (direct flight) probably slightly easier on the body than Tokyo-Amman (which might be via Dubai, Doha, Istanbul or even Vienna).
All hypothetical, of course! 

 
Another factor is that their team is all essentially European-based, so going direct to the Middle East would be much shorter from/to the city where they live, either as a first or second game in a window, as opposed to two flights over 20-odd hours to NZ.

Of course, NZ-Japan would be a fairly easy trip - multiple flights direct a week. Adding in SEA countries having to get to the smaller islands would be where the travel would get big and awkward. If New Zealand leaves OFC, everyone else leaves OFC too - which is the main anchor stopping. Though, they are mainly local-based teams without Euro players, so maybe balances out.

All well and good for us to be closer time zones wise to Japan than some West Asian countries but we are 4 hours further in the wrong direction for those coming from or heading back to Europe. 

Australia is in AFC and it currently has little effect travel wise on SE Asian heavyweights Japan, China & Sth Korea.

This 4 year WC cycle Japan & China have each travelled once to Oz, Sth Korea not all.

The issue could be yes be having the smaller OFC teams (with their limited travel connections, far flung spread) in early stage AFC WC/Asian Cup qualifying.

Like the Blue Samurai wouldn't be keen at all to have say Tahiti & the Solomons both in their pool early stage qualifying.

So for those early stages (1st year of the cycle) you have seperate geographic qualifying ie OFC groups and SE Asian groups.  

Top 8 teams - 2.5 OFC & 6.5 SEA - go into the final stage of qualifying (2nd & 3rd years of the WC cycle). The 0.5 spot from OFC plays the 0.5 spot from SEA to find the final 8th team.

4 or 5 teams from the final stage qualify for the World Cup, or whatever allocation FIFA decides.

All the OFC & SEA smaller nations who are knocked out at 1st stage qualifying can have their own little Nations Cup type tourney 2nd & 3rd years.


What you would end up with is something a little bit like CONCACAF and it's qualifying pathways. 4-5 dominant teams, who would nearly always qualify.

For Mexico, Canada, USA, Panama & Costa Rica - think Sth Korea, Japan, Australia, NZ and say one of China/Nth Korea/Thailand/Indonesia.

Plus with CONCACAF you actually have 3 member countries in Sth America in Guyana, Suriname & French Guiana. So similar in a way to having OFC members in a predominantly SE Asian qualifying region.

This adds to the rumbling coming from some ASEAN countries in particular Indonesia. They are very unhappy about the bias FIFA is showing to the rich Arab nations. They realise that ASEAN countries have no chance of qualifing for the WC. It will be very interesting to see where this goes. An Oceania ASEAN merger would work with 1.5 automatic WC slots. Kind of works, geography is ok with 22 nations. NZ would be opposed, we are on the pigs back in Oceania

So all the money is in the West Asian nations and the solution the East Asian nations are supposedly proposing is to leave? Colour me skeptical. Also, FIFA will call that bluff any day of the week.

Fitzy

So all the money is in the West Asian nations and the solution the East Asian nations are supposedly proposing is to leave? Colour me skeptical. Also, FIFA will call that bluff any day of the week.

It's because of the blatant Saudi and Qatari corruption if you missed that

It does now seem a strong rumour that the Japan FA is not happy.
Presumably they are speaking to Sth Korea, China, Australia, Indonesia etc etc

Is plenty of money around East Asia and strong trading links over the region.
Some may say more sustainable long term wealth, than the fossil fuel dependent Middle East region bloc.

Likely matters little but AFC are actually headquartered in Malaysia

Would Infantino & FIFA, be happy if AFC moved to split in two?

Definitely a watch this space for NZ and OFC as a whole.

https://derechadiario.com.ar/us/argentina/commotion-in-asia-japan-is-considering-breaking-away-from-the-afc-and-creating-its-own-confederation

Stir in Asia: Japan is considering breaking away from the AFC and creating its own confederation

The Japanese Football Association (JFA) is considering taking a historic step: leaving the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) due to growing discontent with the organization's management and what they consider excessive benefits for Gulf powers, especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

According to various sources, the Japanese leadership feels harmed by several recent decisions, including the unilateral change in the format of the AFC Elite Champions League, made after Shandong Taishan from China withdrew, and the designation of Qatar and Saudi Arabia as hosts for the fourth round of the Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

These episodes have fueled discontent within the JFA, which is now analyzing an institutional separation project.

According to the Iraqi outlet UTV, there is already a "serious movement" in Japan to establish a new independent federation, which would divide the continent into two confederations:

an East Asian Federation, led by Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia, among other Eastern teams, and

another led by the Gulf countries.

The Asia federation is made up of 5 sub-federations.   A sensible reorganisation woud see the 3 Western most federations  (CAFA,SAFF,WAFF) go one way, and the two Eastern most federations (ASEAN, EAFF) joining forces with Oceania. (with Australia moving back into Oceania)

These 3 sub-federations in the lets call it APAC Federation each have between 10-12 teams and lends itself to a sensible looking two phase qualification format with groups of 5-6.  Regional for Round 1, Federation wide for round 2

Round 1
Top two from each group qualify for Round 2
EAFF 1
Japan
Korea DPR
Hong Kong
Mongolia
Guam

EAFF 2
Korea Republic
China
Chinese Taipei
Macau
Northern Mariana

ASEAN 1
Thailand
Indonesia
Philpines
Cambodia
Brunei
Timor-Leste

ASEAN 2
Vietnam
Malasyia
Singapore
Myanmar
Laos

Oceania 1
Australia
New Caledonia
Fiji
Papaua New Guinea
American Samoa
Tonga

Oceania 2
New Zealand
Solomon Is
Tahiti
Vanuatu
Cook Island
Samoa


Round 2
Top X qualify for various tournaments, playoff if an odd number required.
Group A
Japan
China
Indonesia
Vietnam
New Zealand
New Caledonia

Group B
Korea Republic
Korea DPR
Thailand
Malaysia
Australia
Solomon Islands

With the exception of the final Oceania qualifiers, all these games in the final round are in big cities with potentially 50,000+ seat stadiums

Whilst I'm a big fan of Oceania joining an Asian confed, NZF will not go for it, especially if Aussie were back in the mix. NZF have an easy $10m bonus every four years for qualifying for the WC, we are never giving that up easily.

It's almost like we have to make a choice between regular WC qualifying or regular quality matches.

Yipe something like the above is pretty reasonable.

Though I'd get rid of American Samoa, Tonga, Cook Island and Samoa very early on. 

Similar to OFC age group qualifying currently, they can have their own little pre mini tourney. Then the winner of that tourney plays the next lowest FIFA ranked OFC team (currently PNG at 170th) over 2 legs (or at a neutral venue). 
The winner of that playoff joins OFC WC qualifying proper.

Football Australia won't like the Socceroos having to play 6 low profile games H&A over 3 FIFA windows against say New Caledonia, Fiji & PNG but they may just have to wear it. They do currently play some AFC minnows in 1st stage AFC WC qualifying.

How the 4 yearly Asian Cup would fit into a AFC split who knows. 

theprof

Whilst I'm a big fan of Oceania joining an Asian confed, NZF will not go for it, especially if Aussie were back in the mix. NZF have an easy $10m bonus every four years for qualifying for the WC, we are never giving that up easily.

It's almost like we have to make a choice between regular WC qualifying or regular quality matches.

Yes that's probably true, there would be a number of financial negatives for NZF.

Both the AWs and Ferns (all the strong womens AFC teams are in East Asia) would find it more difficult to qualify for every WC. Same the mens U23 (Olympics), and various U20 & U17 WCs.

But it might fall out of NZF's hands. 

Especially if the other OFC nations like the idea. Their chances of getting to a mens/womens World Cup would still be very slim, but maybe springboarding off a East Asia/OFC merger is a Nations League concept with lots of regular competitive games outside the small OFC pond. Extra commercial opportunities, playing regularly in SE Asia etc etc.


Maybe age group WC qualifying would still be seperate. ie OFC would still get 2 spots at U17/U20 WCs. Like Samoa's biggest footballing moment in their history is being at this U17 girls WC.

theprof

Whilst I'm a big fan of Oceania joining an Asian confed, NZF will not go for it, especially if Aussie were back in the mix. NZF have an easy $10m bonus every four years for qualifying for the WC, we are never giving that up easily.

It's almost like we have to make a choice between regular WC qualifying or regular quality matches.

If Japan made an East AFC, unfortunately NZF may not have an option to say no. FIFA would use it as a way to merge OFC into AFC and unfortunately solve a lot of their problems.

Politics would come into it, especially if Infantino seeks re-election in 2027 for another term as FIFA boss. 

The OFC voting bloc (10 votes?) are likely useful to him, especially if an alternative candidate is put up that UEFA & CONMEBOL favour - as could happen.

I doubt Infantino would do something that upsets the OFC member nations. 
But depending on how any possible South East Asia-OFC merger could be structured, the Island nations may favour it, even if NZF doesn't.

All hypothetical stuff, but the stories of Japanese & Indonesian unhappiness with the West Asia bloc, make it topical again. 

Japan is a big and powerful football nation with lots of influence in the region. If they get the likes of Korea on board then this could happen. 
If I had a choice of the easy NZ WC entry plus $10 million through Oceania or play a proper WC qualifying tournament with lots of big games home and away against big teams I would grab the second option.
At the moment the AWs play friendlies and only three serious games at the WC every four years. Playing in a bigger Confed wont give us $10 mill but it will bring in big TV money, more sponsorship and hugely greater exposure for the AWs. Oceania us a dog. I hope this rumour turns out to have substence

austin111

Japan is a big and powerful football nation with lots of influence in the region. If they get the likes of Korea on board then this could happen. 
If I had a choice of the easy NZ WC entry plus $10 million through Oceania or play a proper WC qualifying tournament with lots of big games home and away against big teams I would grab the second option.
At the moment the AWs play friendlies and only three serious games at the WC every four years. Playing in a bigger Confed wont give us $10 mill but it will bring in big TV money, more sponsorship and hugely greater exposure for the AWs. Oceania us a dog. I hope this rumour turns out to have substence

From a fan's perspective, more meaningful games home and away is obviously the winner, more packed out home games reduces the financial burden for NZF, but the big carrot of a WC and the millions that brings may sting NZF's budget too much.

Agree. But playing only three serious AW games every four years is a slim diet for fans. Basically they will never play a serious game in NZ ever again

Double edged sword with this one.

On the one hand NZF will let go of the golden goose of what is seemingly be a very straightforward world cup qualifying path for the foreseeable future, as well as the financial windfall that comes with it.

On the other hand there are potentially more meaningful matches against better opponents on a regular basis. 

A lot of people on here seem to be concentrating on the senior national sides as well, but arguably the age grade sides would probably the the biggest winners if something came of this. Annual world cup qualification for U16/17s going forward, and tougher qualification routes for U20s and even the OlyWhites. Not good news if you like qualifying for world cups by beating fiji 8-0, but in the long run it would prove beneficial by pitting our youngsters against quality opposition on a very regular basis.

It would also mean that should NZ sides win the A-League or the Australian Cup, then we'd theoretically be allowed to qualify for continental competition - Good news. 

The news would probably not be as good for the new Oceania Pro League though, as I don't see the winners getting a free pass to the Club World Cup should the confederation borders ultimately change.

Lots to ponder. 

If the potential federation was essentially ASEAN, EAFF and OFC (and maybe SAFF), the only nations that I would expect to be routinely better than us would be Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Depending on how many automatic qualification spots, it would still be an achievable pathway for us.

Exactly, stay in Oceania, keep qualifying for more finals. Finish the qualifiers vs Oceania sides then 4 or 5 games against much higher opposition before the world cup with more games. We could play sides just as good and better than Japan, Australia and South Korea for those thirsting for big games.

Friar Tuck

If the potential federation was essentially ASEAN, EAFF and OFC (and maybe SAFF), the only nations that I would expect to be routinely better than us would be Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Depending on how many automatic qualification spots, it would still be an achievable pathway for us.

But apart from Australia, none of those nations are likely to play in Aotearoa. And even if they do, they will just be friendlies, without any tension.

Aside from the 3 hosts, NZ will be the only country at next year's WC that hasn't played tense, high stakes qualifiers. Though to be fair New Caledonia kept it tight much longer than we expected at Eden Park.

But that's the whole crux of the trying to join some version of AFC, argument. People miss the high stakes matches we had against Bahrain and Peru. When the ROF was packed, fans rode every moment, and for a week in the lead up, football dominated the sports news.

Hmmmm its a pity this new danfangled automatic qualifying scenario didnt happen 2 or 3 WC cycles ago. If NZF had the cushion of three world cups worth of windfalls sitting pretty in the kitty, they might they be in a position to assess Japan spitting the dummy objectively. Unfortunately ain't gonna happen as things currently stand. 

It would be a NZ football fans wet dream. A worthwhile confederation cup to compete in. Regular and meaningful home and away games full of jeapody and tension. Our professional domestic franchises able to compete beyond just the A League. Competitive outings that strengthen our youth sides as YH pointed out. 

If the hypothetical new confederation got 4 slots we should be backing ourselves to usurp the likes of China and Vietnam. If it only got 3 and a play off I still think it'd be worth a shake. We've got a potential golden generation that needs to be battle hardened by more meaningful fixtures. We might not get it in the first cycle but after a bit of getting used to the new lay of the land who is to say we couldn't catch our Trans Tasman rivals or South Korea out on an off day?

Rock Hopper

Hmmmm its a pity this new danfangled automatic qualifying scenario didnt happen 2 or 3 WC cycles ago. If NZF had the cushion of three world cups worth of windfalls sitting pretty in the kitty, they might they be in a position to assess Japan spitting the dummy objectively. Unfortunately ain't gonna happen as things currently stand. 

It would be a NZ football fans wet dream. A worthwhile confederation cup to compete in. Regular and meaningful home and away games full of jeapody and tension. Our professional domestic franchises able to compete beyond just the A League. Competitive outings that strengthen our youth sides as YH pointed out. 

If the hypothetical new confederation got 4 slots we should be backing ourselves to usurp the likes of China and Vietnam. If it only got 3 and a play off I still think it'd be worth a shake. We've got a potential golden generation that needs to be battle hardened by more meaningful fixtures. We might not get it in the first cycle but after a bit of getting used to the new lay of the land who is to say we couldn't catch our Trans Tasman rivals or South Korea out on an off day?

I agree, hypothetically if Japan spits the dummy and offers a legitimate merger that includes East Asia, Australia and OFC, FIFA will snap their hand off and take it. There would be nothing NZF and OFC could do if Australia, South Korea and China got on board too.

I think this is the best bit of news I've heard out of Asia in a long time. 

For those with short memories, remember it was the Bahraini leader of AFC at the time who banned kiwi sides from playing Asian football. I'm sure Japanese, Chinese and Korean clubs would far prefer playing in AKL, WLG, or CHC over Baghdad or Islamabad.

If this were to happen I genuinely think we'd make more money going down this route then banking FIFA slush funds every 4 years. Our standard of football in the men's and women's game would also climb dramatically.

The current WC qualification format means we make it easily to the WC at all levels but often get pasted. Going through this route and qualifying should mean that sides do well at the WC, hopefully getting out of the group stage comfortably.

Anyone in NZ against this proposed move is mad, pure and simple, even within NZF.