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It is an interesting question. There's precedence for the PR FA to remain independent from the USSF, I think. And I can see where they might want to keep their qualification through the Caribbean, though they're really, really unlikely to ever get to the World Cup. I can also see where the Islanders would prefer to keep that route to the CCL instead of trying to win the Open Cup. Lots of interesting (to a very, very few of us) ramifications.
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If Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. state? What precedence would there be for keeping a separate Football Association?
They are separate governmental regions that have their own FA (and in may cases, their own governmental systems all administered by the larger UK system), much like Puerto Rico would be in this scenario. Technically the UK uses a unitary state form of government while the U.S. uses a federal state system, but for this case I think that's a pretty fine hair for FIFA to split. If you want to argue that Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland should be treated as exceptions due to the fact that the 3 regions, along with England, are the birthplace of organized soccer then that debate could be had,. but that's not the question that was asked. Even so you could look at China and Hong Kong having separate FA's, or some of the smaller Caribbean islands like Bonaire that are now officially part of the Netherlands but have their own football associations. I believe there are some French islands in the same situation.
Well, Scotland may soon no longer be part of the UK system as they are trying to break away from the UK.
This is the example I was trying to think of. PR has it's own Olympic committee and is somewhat noteworthy in international Volleyball, Basketball and track, there would be calls to keep them separate in all sports.
Sarcasm is hard. You sure you didn't mean to reply to the guy who compared Puerto Rico as the 51st state to Scotland because "They are separate governmental regions that have their own FA"? What does that even mean? Puerto Rico has its own FA right now... because it's not a US state. Scotland is not a part of England. It is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. If Scotland changed its current status to become a region or county of England, would they still have their own FA?
But it is a U.S. protectorate. And the scenario we're working with is what would happen should Puerto Rico become a state, would they keep their own FA. I provided examples of other semi-autonomous regions (or whatever works as a general description for regions inside countries that have a separate governmental system from the federal level) that have their own FA's, including at least one (China/Hong Kong) that included a region that had an FA being joined to a country with an existing FA.
I'd argue they're exceptions because it's specifically written into the FIFA statutes that the four British Associations are recognized as separate members, which isn't the case for anyone else. Otherwise the statutes just say that non-independent regions can apply for membership if the association in the parent country approves, but doesn't really set forth any criteria by which the Executive Committee decides on the application, or what happens in the case of a change in status of an existing member as would be the case with Puerto Rico. I think the closest analogy to Puerto Rico would be the French overseas departments such as Guadeloupe. Allegedly they would be eligible to apply for FIFA membership if the FFF approved, so it's at least plausible that PR could become a state and still maintain their own team.
I wonder if the Native American tribes could do the same? They are Nations with different sets of laws?
I meant precedence for a U.S. state to have its own FA. Does any U.S. state have an FA? Or an Olympic committee for that matter? No, they do not. It would be an unprecedented thing in the U.S. Could it happen? Sure. But it would still be unprecedented. FIFA doesn't care. The U.S. could have 50 FAs if the USSF gave permission to each state.
Yes, they do. But they often have problems traveling. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/us/16iroquoisweb.html
Re: Puerto Rico -- while its interesting to discuss, it's very likely irrelevant. The vote was structured in a way to make easy to interpret as a majority vote, but it wasn't. From all the reading I've done, it's probably not going to happen. So the Islander's path to the CCL is safe.