There are more countries in CONCACAF that need help. 2 spots for that region effectively eliminate any chance the smaller nations have of qualifying.
With 2.5 spots for AFC, UAE would still have had a good chance to qualify. They had the 2nd best record despite having probably the toughest qualifying group. But I'd rather see AFC over-represented at the Olympics than at the World Cup so I'm not going to bitch too much about them having 3.5 spots for this tournament.
Yeh, but as Boca alludes to, the Olympics is a half-baked football tournament anyway, so stacking it some half-baked teams isn't so much of an issue.
But the Olympics are the biggest sporting event on the planet, and it would be nice if your country had a better chance of qualifying (Canada very unlikely).
Big surprise last night as Canada beat the USA 2-nil. So there is a good chance now that Mexico will play the USA in the semifinals (which would mean one of them will fail to qualify for London 2012).
But when you think of it if you remove a spot from Asia who does it go to? None of the other continents deserve another spot (Maybe Concacaf or Conembol) can make a case for .5 more spots.
Based on historical achievements, UEFA deserves about 10-12 more spots before AFC deserves a 4th spot, but okay...
Based on historical achievements at the Olympics CAF deserves the additional spot as much as CONMEBOL and more than UEFA. 1992 - 3rd (UEFA 1st, CONMEBOL 8th) 1996 - 1st (CONMEBOL 2nd, UEFA 4th) 2000 - 1st (UEFA 2nd, CONMEBOL 3rd) 2004 - 5th (CONMEBOL 1st, UEFA 3rd) 2008 - 2nd (CONMEBOL 1st, UEFA 4th)
They already have one more spot than CONMEBOL. 1.5 actually. You're argument is also majorly flawed since you only look at the top finisher in each confederation. Makes more sense to look at the bottom one.
Even three spots for Asia is a stretch given past performance. Obviously the confederation allocations are based on FIFA politics and "affirmative action" rather than the relative accomplishments of teams from each confederation.
I agree. It should be 2.5 for us. If we divide the spots evenly between confederations (and leave one spot for the host) each confederation should get 2.5. OFC shouldn't get the 2.5 allocated on this basis based on numbers and strength. Conmebol should maintain theirs based on strength. Send their extra spots to Europe. This would make Europe 4 OFC 1 CONCACAF 2.5 CONMEBOL 2.5 AFC 2.5 CAF 2.5 Host 1 With only 16 spots available this is a fair way to divide them up IMO.
Going by the numbers sent home after the group stage, the last 11 tournaments (1968 was just a random starting point) saw this many fail from each continent. Asia/Oceania 26 Africa 22 Concacaf 19 UEFA 15 CONMEBOL 6 Typically each continent should have had about 17 "failures". Easiest would be to suggest half a spot should be taken from both Asia and Africa and given to CONMEBOL.
Europe having more slots than other confederations is baseless. In 1996 2 European teams finished last in their group (14th and 16th), in 2000 2 European teams finished bottom of their group (13th and 14th), in 2004 3 European teams finished bottom of their group (occupying bottom spots in the competition 14th, 15th, 16th), they modestly improved in 2008 with only one European team finishing last in their group (15th). If form is anything to go by Europe deserve less spots than AFC or CONCACAF.
Taking results from a different era skew the stats in favour of Europe. 8 of those 15 UEFA failures are in the last 4 tournaments. Meanwhile last Olympics all 4 CAF nations made it out of the group.
As I said, it was a random set of results. No reason for starting at 1968 other than it seemed a long time ago. A large set of results tells rather more than picking one tournament. Three of the four African sides failed in 2004, for example, and it'd be a stretch to say that the 2008 tournament in isolation is an indicator of current and future strength. Europe actually gains nothing from my suggestion anyway. The nature of the UEFA Qualifying tournament (the U21 championship) being played at the same time as EURO qualification, invariably means the best young players in each country are not able to take part as they are part of the full national team squads at the time. That probably plays no small part in the slightly surprising "top 4" UEFA sends. The expansion of the EURO to 16 teams - coincidentally four tournaments ago - being played just a month or so away (if not nearer) from the Olympics also means the best young players are unlikely to be playing in the Olympics. Whereas a Ghana Olympics team could well be Ghana's best U23 players, an Italian Olympics team would effectively be Italy "B" team, only including U23 players. It's hardly a case for saying Europe deserves more spots, as UEFA nations are clearly half-arsed about it, but as I said, I'm not suggesting they gain. Even if you want to limit the scope to less than eleven tournaments, the only real change would be taking a whole place from Asia/Oceania rather than half a place from both Asia and Africa.
New Zealand should have to go to a playoff with a team from another region, for such a limited international field as the Olympics.