Our FIFA Future
Our FIFA Future
Fred Woodcock has been brave enough to talk up Asia a few days before we probably get our ticket to the Confed Cup (and a World Cup play off) via Oceania.
I, for one, agree with him.
Check out his blog - http://www.stuff.co.nz//blogs/handofgod/2008/09/04/future-brighter-in-asia/
I wrote a reply but I guess it has to be approved or it was deleted. It was perhaps a tad long.
Anyway, if Oceania does stick around, the Oceania team needs to be involved in Asian playoffs sooner, preferably at the stage we're at now, the Asian top 10. Its not good enough that Oceania basically get a free pass to a home and away play off to get to the World Cup.
[edit] not very constructive, sorry. I'll just say NZ putting in a decent showing against Asia's #5 (or even beating them) would, you would hope, put NZ in a better position to send themselves toward Asia.aussienixfan2008-09-04 17:53:35
Anyway, if Oceania does stick around, the Oceania team needs to be involved in Asian playoffs sooner, preferably at the stage we're at now, the Asian top 10. Its not good enough that Oceania basically get a free pass to a home and away play off to get to the World Cup.
[edit] not very constructive, sorry. I'll just say NZ putting in a decent showing against Asia's #5 (or even beating them) would, you would hope, put NZ in a better position to send themselves toward Asia.aussienixfan2008-09-04 17:53:35
I agree with Fred that more games against stronger opposition can only have a long term benefit for NZ Football. Suggestions of playing in Oceania first, then joining Asia for a final qualification round mirror the All Whites 1982 World Cup route exactly. Why was this disposed of in the first place?
My only concern here is that the other Oceania nations will get left behind, if as expected, New Zealand consistently win the Oceania section.
There's another thread here somewhere which also suggests splitting Asia into two federations -West Asia, and East Asia & Oceania. More practical for cash strapped nations that can't afford travel. Also, more Oceania sides would get exposed to a higher level of football.
As an aside, the Asian Champions League is already split West-East until at least the quarter-finals.
My only concern here is that the other Oceania nations will get left behind, if as expected, New Zealand consistently win the Oceania section.
There's another thread here somewhere which also suggests splitting Asia into two federations -West Asia, and East Asia & Oceania. More practical for cash strapped nations that can't afford travel. Also, more Oceania sides would get exposed to a higher level of football.
As an aside, the Asian Champions League is already split West-East until at least the quarter-finals.
Can we even afford to join asia though?
I suspect not
ah but Tegal, can we afford not to join asia?
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
LOL bankrupted soccer australia, Asia is paying the Bills. No Asia no Clive Palmer (Australian 4 richest man) to back the Gold Coast, no Asia no government money, no Asia no Socceroos matches in Australian making about 6 million per match, no Asia no Asian Cup, No Asia no Asian Champions leagues spots, No Asia no 10 bids for 3 A-League teams, no Asia no Austrade warm and fuzzy stories, no Asia no big sponsors.
Right now there are three serious bids for a second Sydney Team, a Wollongong bid, a Canberra bid, three Melbourne bids for a second team, A Darwin bid, A Tassie bid.........why because the backers in some cases cities want the Asian connection.
Asia pays all the Bills as without Asian no one would put the kind of money into football they have.
The sooner NZ join Asias, the sooner football takes off the money the connections are mind blowing
Yes, but Australia is a much more attractive proposition for AFC to help along (bigger population, markets -> bigger revenue) than NZ.
The problem is it's very difficult for us to join AFC primarily because of financial reasons, along with some political/administrative ones (i.e. FIFA). The other side of the coin is that we have next to nothing to offer AFC to get them to help us out financially and pressure FIFA to get us in. This leaves us in a vicious cycle - staying put makes more sense financially, but is a ruinous move football-wise in the long run. And if our football doesn't improve, AFC will stay disinterested since our commercial attractiveness to Asian countries won't change any time soon.
Our main hope right now is that FIFA realise the futility (they probably do, in fact) of OFC, and actually do something about it, maybe along the lines proposed above of maybe doing the first two rounds of qualifiers on regional basis, and having the final round confederation-wide. But even this would cost a lot of money. No easy solutions here I'm afraid.
The problem is it's very difficult for us to join AFC primarily because of financial reasons, along with some political/administrative ones (i.e. FIFA). The other side of the coin is that we have next to nothing to offer AFC to get them to help us out financially and pressure FIFA to get us in. This leaves us in a vicious cycle - staying put makes more sense financially, but is a ruinous move football-wise in the long run. And if our football doesn't improve, AFC will stay disinterested since our commercial attractiveness to Asian countries won't change any time soon.
Our main hope right now is that FIFA realise the futility (they probably do, in fact) of OFC, and actually do something about it, maybe along the lines proposed above of maybe doing the first two rounds of qualifiers on regional basis, and having the final round confederation-wide. But even this would cost a lot of money. No easy solutions here I'm afraid.
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
LOL bankrupted soccer australia, Asia is paying the Bills. No Asia no Clive Palmer (Australian 4 richest man) to back the Gold Coast, no Asia no government money, no Asia no Socceroos matches in Australian making about 6 million per match, no Asia no Asian Cup, No Asia no Asian Champions leagues spots, No Asia no 10 bids for 3 A-League teams, no Asia no Austrade warm and fuzzy stories, no Asia no big sponsors.
Right now there are three serious bids for a second Sydney Team, a Wollongong bid, a Canberra bid, three Melbourne bids for a second team, A Darwin bid, A Tassie bid.........why because the backers in some cases cities want the Asian connection.
Asia pays all the Bills as without Asian no one would put the kind of money into football they have.
The sooner NZ join Asias, the sooner football takes off the money the connections are mind blowing
youre a f**king muppet. frank lowy is paying the bills purely because it's in his business interests to do so. being in asia is an expensive proposition - flying to a lot more matches etc etc. nz football hasn't got two pennies to rub together remember, and no rich white knight to underwrite either. we're dependant on fifa payments for qualification to tou rnaments which in asia we won't get.
your lunacy is mind blowing.
youre a f**king muppet. frank lowy is paying the bills purely because it's in his business interests to do so. being in asia is an expensive proposition - flying to a lot more matches etc etc. nz football hasn't got two pennies to rub together remember, and no rich white knight to underwrite either. we're dependant on fifa payments for qualification to tou rnaments which in asia we won't get.
your lunacy is mind blowing.
[/QUOTE]
DialSquare, to find a muppet you only need to look as far as the nearest mirror I'm afraid.
Yes Lowy is paying the bills as it suits his business (and political) interests, however it is also at a huge benefit to Australian football in general that he has. Yes flying to matches in Asia is expensive, however the potential upside is much much larger than having to fork out for some flights. Do you think that when the Soceroos play in the Middle East it is a mere sporting occasion? The last time Australia played Iraq in Dubai AusTrade organised a trade promotion around it...
There is enormous attention on football here in Asia and it opens doors that Rugby never will. Yes NZ does get occasional large pay days as per the 2009 Confederations Cup, but a couple of years after that the money is gone and NZF is broke again. You need to look beyond the short term, as Australia has figured out.
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
LOL bankrupted soccer australia, Asia is paying the Bills. No Asia no Clive Palmer (Australian 4 richest man) to back the Gold Coast, no Asia no government money, no Asia no Socceroos matches in Australian making about 6 million per match, no Asia no Asian Cup, No Asia no Asian Champions leagues spots, No Asia no 10 bids for 3 A-League teams, no Asia no Austrade warm and fuzzy stories, no Asia no big sponsors.
Right now there are three serious bids for a second Sydney Team, a Wollongong bid, a Canberra bid, three Melbourne bids for a second team, A Darwin bid, A Tassie bid.........why because the backers in some cases cities want the Asian connection.
Asia pays all the Bills as without Asian no one would put the kind of money into football they have.
The sooner NZ join Asias, the sooner football takes off the money the connections are mind blowing
youre a f**king muppet. frank lowy is paying the bills purely because it's in his business interests to do so. being in asia is an expensive proposition - flying to a lot more matches etc etc. nz football hasn't got two pennies to rub together remember, and no rich white knight to underwrite either. we're dependant on fifa payments for qualification to tou rnaments which in asia we won't get.
your lunacy is mind blowing.
"youre a f**king muppet." We can do without that kind of trash talk. its obviously a legitimate debate. it is not black and white, so im afraid no view, even yours, warrants that rubbish.
What they need to do is fully sort out the federations, put kazakstan and turkey back in asia.
French guinea and that what not out of concocaf and back in south america.
and make a south asia-pacific federation
with all of the oceania football countries, australia, indonesia malayasia cambodia etc and india, sri lanka.
i Just think this would be much better, like have 1 direct spot for the world cup,because the team who wins the group is not going to be not chumps and 1 play off spot. All of the stronger sides in the main draw already and then the lesser nations e.g new caledonia east timor singapore play off in a preliminary group with 2 of them to go up into the main draw
What do you guys think?
and make a south asia-pacific federation
with all of the oceania football countries, australia, indonesia malayasia cambodia etc and india, sri lanka.
i Just think this would be much better, like have 1 direct spot for the world cup,because the team who wins the group is not going to be not chumps and 1 play off spot. All of the stronger sides in the main draw already and then the lesser nations e.g new caledonia east timor singapore play off in a preliminary group with 2 of them to go up into the main draw
What do you guys think?
Ive gotten so fed up i even drew a map. FIFA confederation zones are a joke
What they need to do is fully sort out the federations, put kazakstan and turkey back in asia.
French guinea and that what not out of concocaf and back in south america.
and make a south asia-pacific federation
with all of the oceania football countries, australia, indonesia malayasia cambodia etc and india, sri lanka.
i Just think this would be much better, like have 1 direct spot for the world cup,because the team who wins the group is not going to be not chumps and 1 play off spot. All of the stronger sides in the main draw already and then the lesser nations e.g new caledonia east timor singapore play off in a preliminary group with 2 of them to go up into the main draw
What do you guys think?
and make a south asia-pacific federation
with all of the oceania football countries, australia, indonesia malayasia cambodia etc and india, sri lanka.
i Just think this would be much better, like have 1 direct spot for the world cup,because the team who wins the group is not going to be not chumps and 1 play off spot. All of the stronger sides in the main draw already and then the lesser nations e.g new caledonia east timor singapore play off in a preliminary group with 2 of them to go up into the main draw
What do you guys think?
Ive gotten so fed up i even drew a map. FIFA confederation zones are a joke
Good point about Kazakhstan in particular. It is next to China FFS! Might as well put NZ in CONCACAF...
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
LOL bankrupted soccer australia, Asia is paying the Bills. No Asia no Clive Palmer (Australian 4 richest man) to back the Gold Coast, no Asia no government money, no Asia no Socceroos matches in Australian making about 6 million per match, no Asia no Asian Cup, No Asia no Asian Champions leagues spots, No Asia no 10 bids for 3 A-League teams, no Asia no Austrade warm and fuzzy stories, no Asia no big sponsors.
Right now there are three serious bids for a second Sydney Team, a Wollongong bid, a Canberra bid, three Melbourne bids for a second team, A Darwin bid, A Tassie bid.........why because the backers in some cases cities want the Asian connection.
Asia pays all the Bills as without Asian no one would put the kind of money into football they have.
The sooner NZ join Asias, the sooner football takes off the money the connections are mind blowing
youre a f**king muppet. frank lowy is paying the bills purely because it's in his business interests to do so. being in asia is an expensive proposition - flying to a lot more matches etc etc. nz football hasn't got two pennies to rub together remember, and no rich white knight to underwrite either. we're dependant on fifa payments for qualification to tou rnaments which in asia we won't get.
your lunacy is mind blowing.
Sorry to disappoint you but Frank only pays a few bills with SFC.
I have posted before the amount of government funding football is currently receiving and from the commonwealth government over 40 million over four years, various state governments also in the 10 of millions. As I said Clive Palmer Australia's 4 richest guy buying the Gold Coast and he stated because of business links with China, as with the NT bid another very rich guy and because of Asia.
Austarde follow the matches around the connections and influence at International matches and Asian Champion League matches is worth MEGA bucks. Just into TV rating when Australia played China in China close to 300 million people watched it in China.
As an example when the Mariners play in the ACL the state government has organised a trade fair with an Asian flair.
Actually being able to meet Iran off the record at government level ... is massive..... business in the middle east / Japan / China / South Korea and India I realise cricket is without doubt number 1, but have you seen the growth in football have a look at
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/scottmcintyre/indian-football-establishing-foothold-132902/
In closing the only reason football has so much money now is because of Asia, ........ the media / government / business, did not change their mind on football because of Frank Lowy, its was first making the world cup, .......... everyone tho well its a flash in the pan they can never substain it they do not have the backers. Asia provided the backers football needs ......... Asia pays the bills not directly but because people with real big money and governments are now behind football ........ because ...........of the potential of Asian connections and influence.
Midfielder2008-09-09 00:31:17
Hasn't it almost bankrupted soccer australia?
LOL bankrupted soccer australia, Asia is paying the Bills. No Asia no Clive Palmer (Australian 4 richest man) to back the Gold Coast, no Asia no government money, no Asia no Socceroos matches in Australian making about 6 million per match, no Asia no Asian Cup, No Asia no Asian Champions leagues spots, No Asia no 10 bids for 3 A-League teams, no Asia no Austrade warm and fuzzy stories, no Asia no big sponsors.
Right now there are three serious bids for a second Sydney Team, a Wollongong bid, a Canberra bid, three Melbourne bids for a second team, A Darwin bid, A Tassie bid.........why because the backers in some cases cities want the Asian connection.
Asia pays all the Bills as without Asian no one would put the kind of money into football they have.
The sooner NZ join Asias, the sooner football takes off the money the connections are mind blowing
youre a f**king muppet. frank lowy is paying the bills purely because it's in his business interests to do so. being in asia is an expensive proposition - flying to a lot more matches etc etc. nz football hasn't got two pennies to rub together remember, and no rich white knight to underwrite either. we're dependant on fifa payments for qualification to tou rnaments which in asia we won't get.
your lunacy is mind blowing.
Sorry to disappoint you but Frank only pays a few bills with SFC.
I have posted before the amount of government funding football is currently receiving and from the commonwealth government over 40 million over four years, various state governments also in the 10 of millions. As I said Clive Palmer Australia's 4 richest guy buying the Gold Coast and he stated because of business links with China, as with the NT bid another very rich guy and because of Asia.
Austarde follow the matches around the connections and influence at International matches and Asian Champion League matches is worth MEGA bucks. Just into TV rating when Australia played China in China close to 300 million people watched it in China.
As an example when the Mariners play in the ACL the state government has organised a trade fair with an Asian flair.
Actually being able to meet Iran off the record at government level ... is massive..... business in the middle east / Japan / China / South Korea and India I realise cricket is without doubt number 1, but have you seen the growth in football have a look at
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/scottmcintyre/indian-football-establishing-foothold-132902/
In closing the only reason football has so much money now is because of Asia, ........ the media / government / business, did not change their mind on football because of Frank Lowy, its was first making the world cup, .......... everyone tho well its a flash in the pan they can never substain it they do not have the backers. Asia provided the backers football needs ......... Asia pays the bills not directly but because people with real big money and governments are now behind football ........ because ...........of the potential of Asian connections and influence.
Again you go off on a massive tangent.
Yes there are fantastic secondary opportunities that make being in Asia a fantastic opportunity. Nobody ever said that wasn't the case.
The fact is though that to be in Asia costs a sh*tload of money. Someone has to pay it. Frank Lowy, or the Government, or someone. The money doesn't flow back immediately.
New Zealand's Government are never, in a million years, going to bankroll NZF. So where does the money come from? You talk like you can just click your fingers because you're in Asia and come up with a bucket load of cash. Absolute fiction.
It would undoubtedly be in our best footballing interests. But I don't see where we will get the money from unless FIFA rejig the funding to give us a hand.
DialSquare
Actually your question should be how great is the time lag between Asia costing extra money and people geting on board. The time lag from government about two years, from business a tad over two years.
However when did it start costing money, never ......... because the Australian V Asian teams have draw huge crowds and provided the National team with home crowd averages of over 55, 000 when before the crowd averages where less than 4, 000. Also before Asia Football had to pay for the use of stadiums ......... now state governments pay the Socceroos and in many cases more than the gate money to play in their cities ............ why do you think ...... give you one guess and it starts with the letter A
Also given the Allwhites have to play someone somewhere it is only a marginal cost increase or decrease to play an Asian team......... not sure where all these costs you talk of come from.
Midfielder2008-09-09 10:40:09
Honestly I dispair. You just can't hold onto a thread of logic can you?
More games + more often = cash. Travelling to the islands once every couple of years is cheap in comparison to playing regularly all over Asia.
What were the crowds like when the Aussie age group teams played all around Asia? Who paid for that?
New Zealand isn't blessed with a government that's likely to tip in a shed load of money. Nor with a rich big wig with ties in the Governments to encourage such behaviour.
You don't seem to be able to grasp that being in the AFC is a massive cost for the FFA, but they are lucky enough to be able to count on Frank Lowy's buddies to prop them up. NZF doesn't have that luxury. Isn't likely to in the near future.
So for us moving to Asia would be a brilliant football decision but a very risky business decision.
Honestly I dispair. You just can't hold onto a thread of logic can you?
More games + more often = cash. Travelling to the islands once every couple of years is cheap in comparison to playing regularly all over Asia.
What were the crowds like when the Aussie age group teams played all around Asia? Who paid for that?
New Zealand isn't blessed with a government that's likely to tip in a shed load of money. Nor with a rich big wig with ties in the Governments to encourage such behaviour.
You don't seem to be able to grasp that being in the AFC is a massive cost for the FFA, but they are lucky enough to be able to count on Frank Lowy's buddies to prop them up. NZF doesn't have that luxury. Isn't likely to in the near future.
So for us moving to Asia would be a brilliant football decision but a very risky business decision.
How can you talk about a business decision when you consider costs but not income? A lower cost proposition with no income is not necessarily safer than a higher cost proposition with a certain income level attached.
Actually the only way to draw a definitive conclusion on this would be to have the likes of PriceWaterhouseCoopers do a detailed study, but I'd be amazed if the additional cost of flying to Asia was not easily offset by TV rights alone.
By the way Frank Lowy's buddies are not 'proping up' the FFA, the fact is that being in Asia is making commercial sense for them, hence I don't see your logic when you talk about a risky business decision without considering both sides of the ledger.
Its the much much higher amount of games that we would be playing that results in the big increase in cost though. a few games a year vs island nations that we dont even need to fly our euro based players over,to be able to beat to al of a sudden many more games against quality opposition that we will then have to spend more money getting our players over for etc etc. More games,more cost per game.
As for income,your having a laugh if you think the NZ public will turnout in the 10s of thousands for a game against an asian country most probably never knew played football.
The government ae NEVER going to bankroll NZF,i think thats a given,they only support sports that no one plays...that have a chance of WINNING their respective world cup. Never going to be football im afraid.
I think clearly,given time,asia is the more attractive proposition,and the one that makes more sense. Its getting our foot in the door thats the problem,we just dont have the money to move to asia in the short term,...NZF will go bust in my opinion...
One scenario does come to mind however...if we make the world cup and do reasonably well...we could possibly get our foot in the door from the big roll on we will get from making the tournament (if that makes sense). For me,it would be absolutely huge if we qualify,and it is almost necessary for us to do so
Does anyone know to what extent FIFA funds team expenses during World Cup qualifying?
I don't believe it does. I think there are financial incentives for doing well, and developmental money they put into poorer nations, but qualifying expenses are borne by national associations as far as I'm aware.
Basically, you pay if you wanna play system.el grapadura2008-09-10 11:07:56
Basically, you pay if you wanna play system.el grapadura2008-09-10 11:07:56
From a football perspective, the ideal situation would be to make Oceania a part of Asia with a separate prequalifying tournament (like they already have) which provides a team for the second round of Asian WC qualifying. New Zealand would not be part of the Oceania subgroup, and would enter straight into the second round of Asian qualifying as well.
Does anyone know to what extent FIFA funds team expenses during World Cup qualifying?
I believe you get a lump sum payment for qualification as you do with other FIFA tournaments. How you use that money is up to you.
That's what I thought in the above post, but didn't phrase it that well. But if you don't qualify, there's no money (other than the developmental projects FIFA has), so the costs of qualifying end up being covered by the national associations.
The costs of competing in Asia seem to be a lot greater than we might have realised. Australia are budgeting $10m just on the socceroos, they spent $1m chartering a plane for the Uzbek game alone. They can rely on excellent home gates to make money and when that fails they go to Frank Lowy. We're not so lucky...
james dean2008-09-11 22:45:31
The costs of competing in Asia seem to be a lot greater than we might have realised. Australia are budgeting $10m just on the socceroos, they spent $1m chartering a plane for the Uzbek game alone. They can rely on excellent home gates to make money and when that fails they go to Frank Lowy. We're not so lucky...
Nahhh,all you have to do is make up a bunch of figures like Midfielder and its all so easy!!
But yes,thats what ive been trying to say 
,you're correct...or at least i agree with you
,you're correct...or at least i agree with you 
Honestly I dispair. You just can't hold onto a thread of logic can you?
More games + more often = cash. Travelling to the islands once every couple of years is cheap in comparison to playing regularly all over Asia.
What were the crowds like when the Aussie age group teams played all around Asia? Who paid for that?
New Zealand isn't blessed with a government that's likely to tip in a shed load of money. Nor with a rich big wig with ties in the Governments to encourage such behaviour.
You don't seem to be able to grasp that being in the AFC is a massive cost for the FFA, but they are lucky enough to be able to count on Frank Lowy's buddies to prop them up. NZF doesn't have that luxury. Isn't likely to in the near future.
So for us moving to Asia would be a brilliant football decision but a very risky business decision.
Owen Glenn's in town. Give him a tap on the shoulder, he's given up on his last down-on-their luck charity case.
seriously though, I think there has to be some specifics. We hashed this all out in a thread a while ago, and somebody brought up the example of the Americas cup. Rather than a study, they were able to point to a whole whack of superyacht building contracts as an immediate benefit.
just get 3-4 more players into the EPL and ask them to contribute the interest from their lollipop fund- that ought to do it.
Yeah no doubt itll be of benefit in the long term. Its getting our foot in the door thats the huge problem.
Government willing to fund a bunch of rich people sailing a yacht,but not fund NZF during the early years of transition into asia. Is why qualifying for the world cup and the money and hype surrounding that will help us achieve this
Yeah no doubt itll be of benefit in the long term. Its getting our foot in the door thats the huge problem.
'Government willing to fund a bunch of rich people sailing a yacht,but not fund NZF during the early years of transition into asia. Is why qualifying for the world cup and the money and hype surrounding that will help us achieve this
some good results from the 'Nix and beating China and or Belgium at the Olympics would have helped too...
pity Chris James didn't play there.
Teqal & DialSquare
Midfielder2008-09-12 01:29:24
I see your point on costs ........ we have the same problem ....... governement backing has helped a lot. I see you have also said you could not get the crowds. As an aside we did not think our crowds would increase as they have from 4 to 55 thousand.
The crowds have been big income earner with the Soccerooo games averaging 55, 000 plus cities paying for games. As the article by Jamesdean says FFA calls these the rainmakers with 55, 000 tickets at an average of $ 100.00 per ticket plus around 7 million from state governments to play in their capital city. These games pay the bills and make up a high percentage of FFA funding and football growing influence.
While I accept you concerns pertaining to costs ........... from a football stance its going to be difficult to grow in NZ football playing the coconut pickers (sorry for the term) but this means you will have a two meaninful games H & A every four years against a team the existing media will not respect.
Its a hard call, but someone needs to go out and rattle the tin get some seed funding in and have a go. Saying its all to hard is the easy call as I see it.
Having said the above and having worked in the Northland for four and a half years in the mid 80's I think I understand how difficult a task it is ......... but as I said stand still and at the rate football is growing in and around Asia including Australia you could get left a long way behind.
In closing I do wish you the best of luck and hope somthing comes along to help.
fifa confederations are a joke, turkey israel kazakstan back into asia.
and they need to make a south asia-pacific group with a automatic spot to go forward
the current format of confederations you have asian teams playing in europe,oceanian teams playin in asia and south american teams playing in north america
soo stupid, a bit of common sense please?
the current format of confederations you have asian teams playing in europe,oceanian teams playin in asia and south american teams playing in north america
soo stupid, a bit of common sense please?
fifa confederations are a joke, turkey israel kazakstan back into asia.
and they need to make a south asia-pacific group with a automatic spot to go forward
the current format of confederations you have asian teams playing in europe,oceanian teams playin in asia and south american teams playing in north america
soo stupid, a bit of common sense please?
the current format of confederations you have asian teams playing in europe,oceanian teams playin in asia and south american teams playing in north america
soo stupid, a bit of common sense please?
Turkey is geographically and culturally both European and Asian. They have the right to compete in either conference. They choose to be in Europe for football purposes. Can't blame them.
Israel can't compete in Asia due to anti-semitism. Fix the Middle East problem, then they can play back in Asia. There's football stadium violence, then there's Israel vs Iran, World Cup Qualifier.
Kazakhstan, meh, can't disagree with you.
So there's very good reasons for two of those Asian teams in UEFA.
As for Oceania - the OFC is a joke and Australia is an important market to develop. If that means putting them in Asia, so be it. Frankly, OFC entirely should be in Asia but that's just IMHO.
As for South American teams - those are too small to compete in CONMEBOL. They'd be far more competitive playing amongst other Carribean nations. So for the sake of their development, we have Guyana playing a tightly fought contest with Barbados rather than being routed by Brazil a la Australia vs American Samoa.
Sorry mate, but common sense has already been applied to those confederations.
turkey geographically a very small part is in europe,but culturally not at all.You ask any european close to turkey and they will say they dont want turkey to play in Euro,culturally Turkey has nothing in common with Europe
relating to the too small to compete in CONMEBOL thing works for luxembourg in europe...
relating to the too small to compete in CONMEBOL thing works for luxembourg in europe...
Turkey's been part of the geopolitical landscape in Europe for centuries. The only cultural difference they have with the rest of Europe is in their religion, otherwise they're not much different from Greeks, Bulgarians, etc. Have absolutely no problem with them being in UEFA, despite what happened in EURO 2008.
As for CONMEBOL, a similar situation applies. I'm not even sure if any of the countries in question (Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana) were independent at the time of formation of CONMEBOL in 1916, and their geo-political and cultural ties are moch more closely linked to the Caribbean than the South American continent. The reality now is that the current set-up suits everyone - the South Americans have no interest in getting these small nations into CONMEBOL as they have nothing to gain from it, and the small nations get to play at the level that's more suitable to them (there's other things here as well, but this is the basic version).
As for Kazakhstan, they decided to move to UEFA a few years back - if countries like Azerbeijan, Georgia, Armenia, etc play in Europe, then I have no problems with Kazakhs being in there too. Makes things a bit inconvenient for travel, but getting to Iceland ain't that easy too, so tough luck.
As for Israel, Robb's right, that's purely a political situation (israel used to be in AFC, they were Asian champions at one point in the 1960s), but given the likelihood of them playing national teams of countries that deny Israel's right to existence in Asia, they've moved to Europe, where I guess they'll probably stay even if by some miracle the situation in the Middle East gets resolved.
As for CONMEBOL, a similar situation applies. I'm not even sure if any of the countries in question (Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana) were independent at the time of formation of CONMEBOL in 1916, and their geo-political and cultural ties are moch more closely linked to the Caribbean than the South American continent. The reality now is that the current set-up suits everyone - the South Americans have no interest in getting these small nations into CONMEBOL as they have nothing to gain from it, and the small nations get to play at the level that's more suitable to them (there's other things here as well, but this is the basic version).
As for Kazakhstan, they decided to move to UEFA a few years back - if countries like Azerbeijan, Georgia, Armenia, etc play in Europe, then I have no problems with Kazakhs being in there too. Makes things a bit inconvenient for travel, but getting to Iceland ain't that easy too, so tough luck.
As for Israel, Robb's right, that's purely a political situation (israel used to be in AFC, they were Asian champions at one point in the 1960s), but given the likelihood of them playing national teams of countries that deny Israel's right to existence in Asia, they've moved to Europe, where I guess they'll probably stay even if by some miracle the situation in the Middle East gets resolved.
Just a little proof of what being in Asia can do .........revenue wise.
The link details QLD gov signing a new deal with FFA for matches in Brisbane.
A NEW five-year deal has locked in five Socceroos matches for Queensland - and ramped up Australia's bold bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) boss Ben Buckley announced the deal with the Queensland government that sealed at least four Socceroos matches for Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium and another for either Townsville or the Gold Coast.
But Buckley also hinted that showcasing Queensland's venues to a predicted television audience of millions would help Australia's chances of hosting the 2018 World Cup.
.......... much more on the link if you wish to read more
The responce from NSW gov today ........ hmmmmm interesting
ANZ Stadium will bid to bring an extra Socceroos World Cup qualifier to Olympic Park as part of a high-stakes campaign to revive the ground's flagging fortunes.
Sydney's flagship stadium is reeling from a disastrous year in which it has come under fire for hosting poorly attended rugby league games, and has now been snubbed by the NRL for two of its biggest matches.
Highlighting its predicament was the news yesterday that Queensland will host five Socceroos games over the next five years, emphasising the ferociously competitive marketplace ANZ is in even for showpiece events.
turkey geographically a very small part is in europe,but culturally not at all.You ask any european close to turkey and they will say they dont want turkey to play in Euro,culturally Turkey has nothing in common with Europe
Culturally, no Asian country has much in common at all with their neighbours. Australia is culturally removed from its nearest neighbour (Indonesia) and Japan is culturally removed from Korea. North Africa is culturally different to sub-Saharan Africa. The United States is culturally distinct from Mexico and politically removed from Cuba.
And on your geographic point that "only a very small part (or Turkey) is in Europe", then perhaps Russia should join the AFC.
Russia was in AFC at one time.
But of course UEFA is the better option with them being a strong confederation as well as having more world cup spots.
But of course UEFA is the better option with them being a strong confederation as well as having more world cup spots.
Russia was in AFC at one time.
Not true, Russia/USSR have always been members of UEFA.
Will our sudden leap in FIFA ranking help our cause into Asia? 
Clutching at straws I suppose...