On balance, I think CAF deserves the half spot which UEFA ought to lose, because it has much more strength in depth than CONCACAF, and so many plausible qualifiers. This would leave Africa with 5.5 spots. The main drawback with the "three groups of six" approach, IMO, would be having to squeeze so many games into a period of just over two years from 2011-2013, not forgetting two African Cups of Nations (and qualifiers), an Olympic Games (and qualifiers), and a Confederations Cup. The only way it could work is at least one set of qualifiers "doubled up" for more than one tournament, as has sometimes happened in the past.
It's too late for me to edit my past post #41, so, by way of correction, Slovakia were actually ranked 29th rather than 25th within Europe at the time of the 2010 qualifying draw (and were fourth seeds, with Slovenia as fifth seeds).
That's a good idea! How about 64 teams participating in the world cup. There will be one more knock-out stage after group qualification games.
UEFA lose half a spot in favour of Africa? Are you on crack or didn't you watch this last WC? UEFA>>>>CAF, it's Africa that should lose spots because they're the worst confederation (not counting Oceania).
Are you afraid that Spain might not participate in World Cup in near future? Don't worry! Spain will regularly participate in World Cup. Half spot should not be given to Africa. Either Asia or South America would be more reasonable. May be Asia is better because South America has already got too much berths.
I think Africa should get 5 spots due to the size, but the above logic regarding competition is nonsense. If you go with qualifying how in the world can you say the CAF format is more competitive than AFC? In CAF you separate the seeds into groups so maybe one or two of the final groups may have two really good teams. In AFC they use the CAF format then adds a second round with 10 top performing teams and place them into another two groups for further games. So in CAF the top 12 teams is likely to play a fellow top 12 team just once in the last round. Where as in AFC the top 10 teams will play one top 10 team in the 3rd round and probably 2-3 more top 10 teams in the final round.
I don't feel that any confed already with half a berth (CONCACAF vs CONMEBOL/AFC vs OFC) should gain or lose one, because the purpose of having those playoff rounds is to ensure the better team move on. Like for example saying that CONMEBOL should gain CONCACAF's .5 spot or vice versa to gain a full one is STUPID because A) If that really is the case then CONMEBOL's 5th place should beat CONCACAF's 4th, and it's the exact same anyways, and B) If CONCACAF's 4th wins it then think about what if the CONMEBOL 5th was just given the auto-in when they would actually have lost to the CONCACAF better 4th place team (or vice versa, I know CONCACAF set out to take CONMEBOL's half spot earlier this year). Same goes for AFC/OFC. ALSO Why should New Zealand have to play AFC's entire last qualifying round when they proved they were better then Bahrain and became the only undefeated team all tournament anyways. All of the .5 spots out there right now shouldn't change PERIOD. Secondly, that host 6th spot Africa got should get moved to CONMEBOL because they host this time. The 6/10 is a little ridiculous but it would be for a South American world cup only, which is meant to be an advantage for the home continent. CAF stunk it up anyways. Finally: Dear FIFA, NEVER EVER TAKE AWAY SPOTS FROM UEFA AGAIN. Basically it's the the way it is other than the host spot should be moved to the host continent of 2014, South America
Fail! Why should we need more weak teams. CONCACAF only has Mexico who performs (US only performs if they don't lose the 1st game). Asia's 5th teams can't even beat Trinidad/Tobago or New Zealand. Why more Asian teams? As for OFC, then basically it's saying the World Cup would have 2 automatic spots: The Host (Brazil in 2014) and New Zealand (playing a bunch of islands).
That's a lie, more than 45% of the European teams advanced to the next round. It was also an average performance. 13/32=40.625% Second round: 6/16=37.5% Quarterfinals: 3/8=37.5% Semifinals: 3/4=75% Final: 2/2=100% So in two rounds UEFA was slightly underrepresented, but also in two rounds heavily overrepresented. Of course it still looks quite bad, because we expect UEFA to overperform every world cup.
Hey dude, less thatn 50% of European teams advanced to Round 16. That means they don't deserve 13 berths in every WC. Less 50% is really crappy result! Although European team has won the WC still it is a traditional powerhouse. Overall, European teams played poor football.
5th Asian team failed to beat New Zealand. However it was Bahrain. If it were Saudi Arabia or Iran, they could have beaten New Zealand. Trust me. We don't need that much berths to Europe and Africa. Also, with regard to CONCACAF, 4 spots is not too much not too little. It is rather fair enough.
Really... so highly respected... At the time of the draw, in the UEFA NT coefficient table, Slovakia were 24th, Slovenia 36th. Switzerland/Greece/Latvia still possible and so on. By the way, Israel were second seeds.
Africa only got 6 spots, thanks to South Africa being hosts. So they will really have 5 spots. The breakdown for 2014 should be in my opinion South America 5 plus hosts makes 6 spots same as what Africa got, but I believe the federation that is hosting should fight for that final spot so (5.5) Africa (5.5) Asia (5.5) Oceania (0.5) Europe (12.5) North/Central America (2.5) For me due to geographic reasons, the breakdown of these play off is very simple. Asia vs Oceania 1 spot Africa vs Europe 1 spot North/Central America vs South America 1 spot
whoops took it from Concacaf anyway yeah africa essentially loses half a spot and Asia should stay the same in my opinion. (5.5) Africa (4.5) Asia (4.5) Oceania (0.5) Europe (12.5) North/Central America (3.5) Asia vs Oceania 1 spot Africa vs Europe 1 spot North/Central America vs South America 1 spot Plus one spot for highest ranked FIFA nation who fails to qualify or a battle between all confederations for one spot, would be interesting
whoops darn it unable to edit :s South America (5.5) Africa (4.5) Asia (4.5) Oceania (0.5) Europe (12.5) North/Central America (3.5) Asia vs Oceania 1 spot Africa vs Europe 1 spot North/Central America vs South America 1 spot Plus one spot for highest ranked FIFA nation who fails to qualify or a battle between all confederations for one spot, would be interesting
I don't think so, geography and the fact Asia already plays Oceania for one spot would mean Africa should play Europe for a spot. South America play Concacaf for another spot, so why is it that Europe and Africa escape play offs? It's bs, both can give up half spots and play for that spot in the world cup.
If you look at FIFA rankings it's CONCACAF that deserves 2 at best .There are 3 african nations in the top 20. If you don't like the FIFA ranking system ,as some don't,then go by the previous world cup, thus rendering the 4 years competitive competition between cups redundant.