Remember in Hungary were held the same week ( may 22nd to 25th) CFU, CONCACAF and FIFA congress. On this occasion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Saint-Martin and Sint Maarten associate members in CONCACAF, sent delegates who attended the three congress. CFU and CONCACAF have the opportunity to elect their respective new president. This is how CFU has elected mister Gordon Derrick from Antigua and Barbuda and CONCACAF mister Jeffrey Webb from the Cayman Islands. Mister Webb said that now there will be only full members in CONCACAF. Countries who'll have the same rights and duties! So Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Saint-Martin and Sint-Maarten have applied to join FIFA while having Jeffrey Webb's support. Delegates from this five countries met with CONCACAF and FIFA leaders to discuss their current situation. FIFA through its secretary general Jérome Valcker says it supports this request. Soon, French Football Federation, Dutch Football Federation, CONCACAF and FIFA will study the case of each country. So Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Saint-Martin and Sint-Maarten in FIFA? It's at 99,99% done!
Should you already have the agreement of the federal state with the risk that USA will no longer exist! Seriously, the 50 states are part of the Union. This is not for example the case of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, is it? Florida, Ohio, Texas or California are not in CONCACAF, are they? Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, yes they are! Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Saint-Martin and Sint-Maarten are too! Understand that CONCACAF wants to reform its statutes. They decided there will be no associate members, there will be only full members with same rights and duties! So Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Saint-Martin and Sint-Maarten will no doubt be full CONCACAF and FIFA members! Seen?
Well I am sure you know more about French politics than I do, I was under the impression that some French Caribbean positions were part of France as in Departments or municipalities, meaning like say Illinois or Chicago being part of the USA. But I bet it is way more complicated than that. And do not get me started on the stupidity of Wales, N. Ireland, Scotland and England having their own “National” teams. EDIT Is Gibraltar part of UEFA? Imagine a Falkland Islands NT playing in Conmebol, the Argentina FA would flip.
Is Gibraltar part of UEFA? Gibraltar is a provisional member of UEFA and will be a full member next year. In 1946, after World War II, it passed an assimilation law in order to integrate Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana to the French Republic as Departments like others departments in France. They assimilated Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana due to social equality. But a few years later, people realized this equality between France and Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana would never be guaranteed. During the 80's, there was in Guadeloupe a strong independence movement. At that time, there were leaders in Guadeloupe soccer who were nationalists. And they felt that Guadeloupe soccer should integrate into Caribbean and Latin-American environment. So, with the agreement of the French Football Federation, CONCACAF and FIFA, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana and Saint-Martin came in CONCACAF. Currently, France and the rest of European Union budget is in crisis. They no longer have this ability providencial state. So the question of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana greater autonomy is increasingly raised. Who says political autonomy says sports autonomy! Especially with the good results obtained by Guadeloupe in the 2007 and 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, our country must also legitimately take part in World Cup qualifying. Right?
This is very exciting news for caribbean football. If Martinique & Guadeloupe become full FIFA members then their national teams will no doubt become better. In the case of Guadeloupe this is already a top 8 concacaf team and will get better because they will be able to play more matches together and attract more quality players. I could see players like Ciani, Capoue & Yoan Gouffran deciding to join the Guadeloupe project when the see chances of qualifying for the 2016 Copa and the 2018 WC. On paper Guadeloupe could arguably be the 2nd most talented team in the region if they get some of their best french eligible players to join. Martinique also could become a quality team as well with their french eligible players. Now all we need is for Suriname to change their immigration rules and the caribbean will be truly exciting.
This is good new for CONCACAF and Caribbean football. Not sure how it will work, but I hope it comes through. I think Gold Cup could actually become a proper 16 team tournament. I think we have 10 fairly consistent teams in our six Hex teams + the next best 4: Mexcio, USA, Honduras, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama + El Salvador, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, Canada. I think the following teams can compete for the final 6 spots in the GC: Guadeloupe, Cuba, Haiti, Suriname, Antigua & Barbuda, Guyana, Grenada, Nicaragua, Belize, Dominican Republic, Martinique.
2015 Gold Cup just invite the 15 most populous 1 United States 315,791,000 2 Mexico 116,147,000 3 Canada 34,675,000 4 Guatemala 15,138,000 5 Cuba 11,249,000 6 Haiti 10,256,000 7 Dominican Republic 10,183,000 8 Honduras 7,912,000 9 El Salvador 6,264,000 10 Nicaragua 5,955,000 11 Costa Rica 4,794,000 12 Puerto Rico (US)[4] 3,743,000 13 Panama 3,625,000 14 Jamaica 2,761,000 15 Trinidad and Tobago 1,351,000 and make a qualification for the 16th spot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_countries_by_population (also the british colonies-provinces hahahah)
That's quite unfair to all the caribbean nations that punch well above their weight in football with respect to their population.
Uh, no. Not to mention no qualifying matches would kill the ranking for all the central american/Caribbean nations. And the fact that population has nothing to do with quality onf the field (Dominican Republlic ahead of Honduras and Costa Rica.
If you're adding countries' populations you have to keep in mind all the Americans who root for a team other than the USA or don't care about soccer.
Anyone have news on whether any of the CONCACAF members that don't belong to FIFA are going to apply to FIFA? I read somewhere that Sint Maarten was going to apply in 2016 but haven't heard anything since. In my opinion they shouldn't have any issue getting into FIFA. I think it's extremely screwed up that the French federation is blocking teams like French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Saint Martin from applying to FIFA. All these teams (maybe not Saint Martin) can seriously compete with the top teams in CONCACAF and could be competitive in World Cup qualifiers. It's just a shame. France already has such a vast selection of players to choose from, it should be the players of those countries choice if they want to play with France or not. Any input would be greatly appreciated
Its in France best interest that they don't allow them to go rogue or independent. Ligue Uns worst nightmare is losing half their squads for half the year.
Saint Martin probably could gain FIFA status if they tried as they are a "overseas collectivity" same as French Polynesia (who are FIFA members) and those have a lot of autonomy from France. New Caledonia have yet another classification but that is also one with lots of autonomy and that allows them too to be FIFA members. French Guiana, Martinique and Guadeloupe on the other hand are unlikely to get FIFA status as they are "overseas regions" which legally means they are just as much a part of France as Bretagne, Provence, Corsica or Paris.. I don't know enough about Dutch laws/politics to comment on which category Sint Maarten is likely to belong to.
St Maarten, with Aruba, Curaçao and the Netherlands are independant countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.