WPFC to O-League and OFC in general

hope they get drawn manchester united, that would be awesome, 10-0..

Hey, this is just the beginning.  Its like the 70s all over again.

To take on them they'd need to beat the African or Asian champs and hope to be drawn against them in the semis, or beat the Americas champs and take them on in the final.

Hope they get beat 10-0???

I am pretty sure that if any team in Australasia played Man U they could get rolled 10-0. Comparing the very best club side on the planet to a team from this part of the world is just scary.

The Phoenix and all the A-League teams would get absolutely smashed by Man U if they cared so lets not smack Waitak before it happens.

A little piece of gossip I heard was that Waitak will be in one group of the O-league and the Phoenix in the other with Auckland City's spot going to the Phoenix (as quoted to me: "for the good of the game"). Never was a guarantee NZ would have two spots and that was the angle Tai was on. Auckland City might be ruing even further Colin's reign.Marama2008-05-26 12:25:13

I still think the Phoenix should be playing in Asia.

I will just say though that you will hear the explosions in Sandringham here in Wellington if that does come to pass.

Interesting point passed to me yesterday that I had not remotely considered.  Specifically with Regard to the Phoenix playing in either qualifying path.

The Tahitian and New Caledonian clubs play in the French cup, which can lead directly to a UEFA Cup spot.  Even though both of these nations play in Oceania.

Not that I wish to stir this all up again, but an interesting observation and precedent for either Asian or Oceania paths.

Is that down in writing of the French cup and UEFA Cup regulations?

Because Cardiff plays in the English FA cup but it was not until they were potential finalist that it became an issue in the UEFA regulations.

It's possible that these OFC clubs can play in the French cup but not able to play in the UEFA Cup because it is not down in the regulations to do so because they are not UEFA countries. i.e. they could be in the similar boat as we are.

If any of those clubs has made to the French Cup final and there was a change in the regulation then it still fall short.

However, the French Cup is a knockout tournament and being in the UEFA Cup is not being in the Champion League and therefore is not able to have access to the CWC.

Since it is the question of being in the ACL or O-league and hence to the CWC and not some 2nd tier competition it has no real bearing to the other champion participants So it is really another dead end. Sorry HN . . ...but you have to give that the heave-ho.

At the moment we have only the A-league and not even a knockout tournament as yet but FFA is working on a template with the state sides etc. Since there is no OFC path allowable, only the AFC path which is declared closed. We are still in limbo

The best thing is for the OFC to create a Oceania wide knockout tournament allow to Oceania clubs of all levels access (if they can foot the traveling cost) and to give the winner access to the O-League. By allowing Phoenix participate to that competition in order justify OFC champion access.

Because A-league is an AFC competition, the A-league champion/participant cannot have right of access to an O-league which is an OFC champions competition. hence the Phoenix cannot have free access to the O-league until they have played in an OFC competition and won it.AllWhitebelievr2008-07-29 16:52:32

No, the point here is that teams playing in national competitions of nations aligned to Oceania cal qualify for a European competition.  Therefore there is no logical impediment to the Phoenix entering the ACL (although based on last night I wouldn't back them to compete in the NZFC, but that is another story) and qualifying through Asia.

Hopefully it is a point Tony P and Co are aware of.

Well the second tier competition is about lifting the competition quality and expansion for the many european clubs for better financial gain. UEFA is not too worried about outside teams getting a bit exposure. They believe that expansion and more european interclub competition is great money spinner for all as most clubs have a steady financial backing.

However, AFC is about consolidation of club quality and building interclub competition. With competition being graded as a less quality than UEFA and COMEBOL competition, they are not willing to allow outside clubs in, even at the second tier competition. They have a different mindset. This mindset is going to be more problematic that Tony P and Co will expect.

Their best argument is that the distance of travel is not that much more difference to get to NZ and that being the A-league participant of the ACL will serve to improve the other AFC elite clubs and increase the validity of the competition.

There is a guarded response of the AFC is partly because they don't want OFC nations being part of AFC in the future and the big picture that FIFA may have plans for. Having OFC as part of AFC means that AFC will break into east and west sections. This is a real problem because it mean rearranging AFC into two separate confederations and so actually reduce the overall quality of each of the two new AFC confederation.

They are worried about it being a type of "domino effect" and therefore the resistance to allow Phoenix to have access to ACL.

The big picture of all this is something that they have personal concerns about. So we are up against this fear of theirs.

Personally I don't blame them for having such a mindset. But Asia is such a big regional confederation that is hard to organise. I do believe that if AFC is joined with OFC and then split into two equal size confederation, it will serve to improve rather than not. The AFC eastside nations that ends up with the OFC may protest the most.