4.5 for Asia

["Simply Ken"]

Originally posted by vico
The argument that World Cup results can't be used to allocate the number of slots for each continent because the World Cup is only held every 4th year is not valid. The number of slots for each confederation are not decided the year the WC starts since they must be decided well before the start of the WC qualifications. Therefore the number of slots for each confederation should be finally decided very soon especially since the quals in Conmebol are about to start in August. Keeping that in mind WC 2002 should be a good measure stick which should be used to allocate the number of slots. The slots in the WC should be decided by World Cup performances only and nothing else. The FIFA ranking is not valid when it comes to compare countries from different confederations.

The only point you made was that the allocations have to be to decided in advance of the qualifiers. Otherwise, the rest of your comments were simply conclusory assertions.

I'll find my proposal and post it here as well. In the meantime, even if the radical changes I want to see don't take place, the present system needs to be at least fined tuned to allow for many more intercontinental playoffs than we have currently.

["Simply Ken"]

Here is my proposal for allocating World Cup berths.

(I) Automatic qualifiers:

18 teams gain automatic entry to the World Cup from their regions as follows

World Cup Host: 1
UEFA: 9
Conembol: 2
CAF: 2
AFC: 2
Concacaf: 2

(II) Intercontinental Qualifying:

Used to select the other 14 teams for the World Cup. These 14 teams picked from 35 participating teams from various confederations divided as follows:

Defending World Cup Champion: 1
UEFA: 9
CAF: 7
AFC: 6
Concacaf: 6
Conembol: 5
Oceania: 2

These teams arranged as follows:

(A) 7 Groups, 5 teams per group, top 2 in each group (14 overall) go to the World Cup.

(B) Each confederation shall host one of the groups, plus one group hosted by defending World Cup champions.

(D)The qualifiers to be played in a 2-3 week period at the same time slated before hand by FIFA for these games.

(E) The groups arranged/drawn using a seeding system based on FIFA rankings that divides the 35 contestants into 5 seeded categories. Each group to have a #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 seeded side.

***

Advantages of this system:

1) Lesser sides/confederations gain from the experience of playing meaningful games against teams from other, more established, confederations

2) The advantages and exposure of hosting games is spread around more evenly, benefiting more countries

3) The system is less arbitrary in picking who qualifies for the World Cup, not relying solely on quotas derived from questionable data (i.e. past performance of other teams from same confederation in the World Cup). At the same time, teams that do qualify will have proved they belong, beating out teams from other confederations.

[IASocFan]

Some serious drawbacks.
- If the defending champion qualifies through the initail competition, as it most likely would, why would you want to them to go through the secondary qualification? Either that or not include them in the intial round giving them only one chance to qualify.
- Schedule overload. UEFA, Mexico, and others are complaining about all the international competitions that are burdening the star players.
- Timing. Now the qualifying takes almost two years. For '06, it will start in Spring '04 and end in November '05 in time for the Final Draw in December '05. With your plan, you want to do a preliminary round to qualify 18 teams, evaluate and select sites for a second phase tournament, conduct a draw, allow teams to prepare for a second phase, and play second phase. FIFA may need to customise the draw to allow for the qualified teams.

More .5 slots between confederations may be the answer. UEFA could also do playoffs with multiple confederations.

["Simply Ken"]

Originally posted by IASocFan
Some serious drawbacks.
- If the defending champion qualifies through the initail competition, as it most likely would, why would you want to them to go through the secondary qualification? Either that or not include them in the intial round giving them only one chance to qualify.

Although not a central feature of my proposal, my idea is that the defending WC champions will be exempted from regional qualifiers. However, instead of qualifying automatically to the World Cup as was the case until now before the rule change, I prefer to see them play a few games before the World Cup in an arrangement that strongly favors them qualifying. That way they will get to play some meaningful games before the World Cup, as well as help teams from other confederations benefit from playing against them.

- Schedule overload. UEFA, Mexico, and others are complaining about all the international competitions that are burdening the star players.

I'm talking about 4 (extra) matches played by each team every 4 years. Besides, the overall schedule won't feature even that many more games as the format replaces some of the extra layers found in many regional qualifiers (e.g., Euro playoffs). Any team unwilling to go through the process, can watch the World Cup from their television!


- Timing. Now the qualifying takes almost two years. For '06, it will start in Spring '04 and end in November '05 in time for the Final Draw in December '05. With your plan, you want to do a preliminary round to qualify 18 teams, evaluate and select sites for a second phase tournament, conduct a draw, allow teams to prepare for a second phase, and play second phase. FIFA may need to customise the draw to allow for the qualified teams.

Again, I'm talking about 4 games played in a 2-3 week period, with the Euro playoffs disbanded as a result. Besides, this format will likely change the way qualifying is done in many regions. For instance, many confederations (e.g. AFC, CAF, etc) might opt to use their continental championships for their 2 automatic representatives.


More .5 slots between confederations may be the answer. UEFA could also do playoffs with multiple confederations.

Absent what I like to see, I agree.