Iran to join UEFA???

[Ale Nesta]

Guys ive just heard that Iran are in the stages of applying for UEFA membership in the coming months, what do you think about this and do you think Iran will fare well against the strong european teams, Arnt Iran like Turkey in terms of ability of players etc.

I personally dont mind it if Iran join as long as they dont beat Italy im ok, hehehe.

Also isnt greenland also applying as well.

cheers

[Borruma]

Why stop at Turkey when you can include Iran, but wait.. why stop there why can't Iraq, Saudi Arabia or even China join UEFA. I'm sure a world cup qualifier between Iraq and England (or Iran and Israel) would be a hoot...

Kazakhstan was far enough. Why do these AFC countries want to be UEFA members anyway, Iran realistically has an outside chance to qualify for the world cup out of UEFA but in Asia they are favorites.

Why?

[Bosanac]

probably because it would improve the development of their soccer...not only does their NT get to play against much better nations, but they get into the Uefa Cup, Champions League, etc.., and that would be great for their development.

[persiantiger]

Huh? Am i missing something? Nesta I think it's just a rumor... Geographically more than 4% of Iran is in Europe's soil whereas Turkey only has 2% but I don't think it will work out with Israel being there they left AFC because of Iran I think you don't want to have these 2 lovely nations in the same place again now do you? (I do! The iran-israely soccer rivalry was the best in asia back in the 70's)

If it happens which it won't! It would be good for us because Iran is pretty much like Turkey and look at how turkey has improved here is a thread I found about iran vs turkey http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8669 i dunno if that applies here or not! In this asian cup Iran has proved that they are above asia in terms of talent as you can see from the posts on the asian forum everyone not only iranians but all the rest of the asians believe that Im sure that being in europe and playing quality sides all the time will only improve our game.

[Forza AZ]

Huh? Am i missing something? Nesta I think it's just a rumor... Geographically more than 4% of Iran is in Europe's soil whereas Turkey only has 2% but I don't think it will work out with Israel being there they left AFC because of Iran I think you don't want to have these 2 lovely nations in the same place again now do you? (I do! The iran-israely soccer rivalry was the best in asia back in the 70's)
Iran on European soil????????? Since when?

Iran just should stay in AFC, where they belong. Kakazhstan and Turkey are partly in Europe, so they have the right to play in UEFA. Iran doesn't.

Israel is off course an exception, because they can't play in Asia, because the politics.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

I don t see why more and more asian teams are joining uefa. First of all none of these teams are in Europe, the latest joining being Kazakhstan, and second of all, why would they apply to a group that is much tougher and that will make qualifying for big competitions and winning trophies much harder. Its all a little confusing to me.

As for Greenland, arent they run by Denmark?

[RuffRyder]

Israel is off course an exception, because they can't play in Asia, because the politics.

So they should get everything because they are Israel. We hate playing Arabs too. So I think we should be able to to get in uefa on that merit.

[RuffRyder]

why would they apply to a group that is much tougher and that will make qualifying for big competitions and winning trophies much harder. Its all a little confusing to me.



It is not about the how tough it is. AFC is a corrupt organization. They favor certain teams and leave others to die. Iran is just tired of it.

Also IMO, Iran could be the next Turkey, Iranian players playing Europe will do nothing but excel the game. Football is the most popular sport in Iran and most widely played. As you know, many of our players have excelled in Germany and I think many more can.

[Ale Nesta]

yeah ive also heard about Iran always being discriminated against by afc. I think they hate playing arabs as u guys mentioned. seriously i think Iran could become a powerhouse in Europe and become really good at football overall.

I think someone said that the north of iran is on european soil, i dunno.

neverthless good luck to Iran on her membership of UEFA.

[Forza AZ]

So they should get everything because they are Israel. We hate playing Arabs too. So I think we should be able to to get in uefa on that merit.
Israel should play somewhere. They can't play in Asia or Africa, so there's only 1 option: UEFA.

[juventino3]

Why would Iran want to join UEFA? You guys will qualify for the World Cup about as frequently as Scotland out of that region.

[Justin O]

Why would Iran want to join UEFA? You guys will qualify for the World Cup about as frequently as Scotland out of that region.

See post number 3.

[vico]

Huh? Am i missing something? Nesta I think it's just a rumor... Geographically more than 4% of Iran is in Europe's soil whereas Turkey only has 2% but I don't think it will work out with Israel being there they left AFC because of Iran I think you don't want to have these 2 lovely nations in the same place again now do you? (I do! The iran-israely soccer rivalry was the best in asia back in the 70's)

if 4% of iran's territory is in europe how can only 2% of turkey's soil be european? take a look at a map... it seems impossible that iran has more european territories than turkey. if 1 % of iran lies in euope than the whole of turkey must be european.

[RuffRyder]

Israel should play somewhere. They can't play in Asia or Africa, so there's only 1 option: UEFA.
So Israel always get what they want?

Again I say, we do not like play Arab teams either.

[RuffRyder]

Why would Iran want to join UEFA? You guys will qualify for the World Cup about as frequently as Scotland out of that region.
Better than being screwed by the AFC Mafia all the time.

[RuffRyder]

if 4% of iran's territory is in europe how can only 2% of turkey's soil be european? take a look at a map... it seems impossible that iran has more european territories than turkey. if 1 % of iran lies in euope than the whole of turkey must be european.
Israel does not have any land in Europe.

[juventino3]

See post number 3.

Well on the other side of the spectrum... How much has Israel improved?

[RuffRyder]

Well on the other side of the spectrum... How much has Israel improved?
Football is the number sport in Iran. I do not know about Israel, but I rather compare Iran to my other homeland Turkey. Look at how much Turkey improved?

[Fevernova99]

Better than being screwed by the AFC Mafia all the time.

Can you cite some examples...

[RuffRyder]

Can you cite some examples...
Iran-Bahrain WCQ 2002. Watch the game.
Iran-China Asia Cup 2004 Seminfinal. Go to Asia Cup 2004 part of Bigsoccer and read the posts.

Go to Iranian websites Iransportspresss.com, Irankicks.com, persianfootball.com.

read the forums there.