I really don't see the point in OFC being a separate confederation. There is only one half-decent team in that confederation - New Zealand - and even they're not that good. I don't understand why OFC won't just merge with AFC. Right now New Zealand only plays decent opposition in friendlies and in World Cup play-offs every four years. They're not going to get better just by battering teams like the Solomon Islands. Why don't the two confederations just merge already? Or if OFC wants to keep its own confederation-level tournaments, I at least think they should merge the two regions' World Cup qualifying tournaments.
1. A merger involves two parties. Right now AFC covers more territory than nany other confederation. It also has a large number of members, with a large gap between their footballing abilities from top to bottom. I don't believe ASia is in the situation to expand, particularly when you get more countries at the bottom level and one at middle level. How easy is it to organise matches between Tahiti and Syria for example. 2. OFC doesn't really want to combine with Asia. They are happy with what they have, apart from they would probably like a full World Cup spot rather than just a play off. Most of them don't have the finances to travel to compete. Thats why their tournaments are always small regional groups to start with where they all go to one place to play.
Guam is an AFC member, and has recently hosted Turkmenistan, India, and Oman in World Cup qualifying. That's not all that different from Tahiti hosting Syria. I still think they should at least merge their qualifiers, even if they don't go for an outright merger. If they're concerned about finances, maybe OFC could keep their own separate preliminary rounds and then have the top two or three teams (or maybe just one) enter AFC's qualifying rounds at some point. From a footballing standpoint, I think New Zealand in particular could benefit from playing meaningful matches against the likes of Japan, South Korea, or Iran. Or maybe the confederations could remain completely separate, but New Zealand could join AFC like Australia did back in 2006. I really don't understand why New Zealand wants to stay in OFC, unless they're hoping they can get a full World Cup spot at some point through FIFA politics. Maybe they're hoping for free rides to World Cups in the future, knowing they're kings in that hopeless confederation.
If it were up to me I would split the Asian confederation into two with the Middle Eastern countries forming a new confederation, and the East Asian countries joining with the Oceanic countries. Also, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Cyprus would go into the Middle Eastern confederation (I know they wouldn't want to, but they're not really European). After these changes, travel will become less of a problem.
This seems more likely than combining the two. OFC is definitely underpowered but it's most likely FIFA will do nothing about it.
Since 1982, every time that OFC has had to play some playoff against a team from AFC for a WC spot, the team who has come out of it victoriously, has been the team from OFC. (oh, and for the 2006 WC, Australia was OFC's representative, beating Uruguay at the playoff, and only after they had qualified to the WC, is that they switched to AFC) (post-edited : correction, for the 1998 WC Iran did defeat Australia, over more away goals scored, after draws home and away) Reasons why OFC hasn't had some of their teams to be present at the WC, has been because they have lost against teams from elsewhere (against teams from Conmebol and once against a team from Concacaf). If there is anyone who really gets "free rides" to the WC, where most of the times afterwards ends making the absolute ridicule at the WC, that would be AFC. Not OFC. Imho, AFC should only get 3 direct spots and a playoff spot, or only 4 direct spots and no playoff spots at all.
When AFC won the playoff against OFC it was their 4th team that won. AFC hasn't won a playoff since their allocation was increased to 4 1/2.
Since AFC has been given 4.5 spots, the AFC team is 0-4 in the intercontinental playoff. 2002: Ireland 2-1 Iran on aggregate 2006: Trinidad and Tobago 2-1 Bahrain on aggregate 2010: New Zealand 1-0 Bahrain on aggregate 2014: Uruguay 5-0 Jordan on aggregate
There's more to this story than the men's A team. You have the U-20 and U-17 WCs where OFC has one full spot. Same with the women's team: A, U-20 and U-17. Plus the Club World Cup. NZ would have to give all this up when joining AFC.
In my humble opinion: - Yes, this needs to be evaluated by more than simply senior men's team results. However, in that same breath FIFA and the confederations should consider their true mission and how these structures can best serve that end. That may indeed put emphasis on the men's teams with respect to managing the events that actually make money. - The issue is greater than OFC, but rather the volume of tiny nations who's place in the soccer landscape will always be decidedly different than larger nations. The opportunity to reach the World Cup may be fair as it is now (I'm not arguing for or against), but politically the confederations are vastly different and thus their interests at the FIFA level are vastly different, which in turn can skew how things should be managed. Which is all a way of saying that world soccer (FIFA or whoever) should find a way to redefine how tiny nation members are to be included and served, and then see if the current confederation structure will do that job. It may not be the confederation makeup that's the issue. But it's for sure that there are far too many members who're impossibly small and forever restricted in their footballing capacities, and their roles should be framed differently, IMO. - From a confederation standpoint I see no real benefit to the merger idea, and if anything I tend to favor the notion of dividing the AFC. But I say that not knowing the business logistics of their operations and if there are true reasons for favoring the large confederation makeup. It might be that having all those markets under one roof is a valuable asset.
if OFC remains a separate confederation it needs to have members added; I suggest the 12 countries in the SE Asian Federation
Just make as the qualifiers to Spain 1982. OFC with one group, the winner goes to the final round joining other AFC countries.
damn bro, dont be mad at AFC that chile might lose out on 2018. Iran beat chile after all 2 years ago. dont forget. if you cant finish ahead of peru then it is your own fault. as for AFC and OFC merging, it makes no sense. aside from the travel issues, only new zealand would have a chance in AFC qualifying; there are enough crappy 4rth tier AFC teams, so it is needless to make AFC teams have to play with a bunch of 4rth tier OFC teams as well. and no, new zealand cant join AFC, because if they did, the intercontinental OFC vs x would be a meaningless joke. western asia being one confed and eastern asia + OFC being another confed would be a more realistic option, but i think the only fan of that would be new zealand. so it is not going to happen.
What has that have anything to do with anything I posted here, before ? (you, are trolling) Final point, AFC in football level terms, sucks. Too bad for your feelings that Iran belongs there, and only because a few good results at friendly matches, or only against other AFC teams (mostly from Asia, whom share their equivalent level), doesn't make your team be a powerhouse at all (as deep down, when things really count, Iran only knows how to bend over and pray to not get slaughtered). One against the other, on average, AFC teams share the same level as of OFC (can't tell whom stinks the worst, between them), with maybe a slight advantage for OFC, as till now, when confronted against each other, for most of the times when it counted for something, whom has come out victoriously, have been the ones from OFC. . . What is more pathetic for Asian football, is that their most recent continental champion, was a team that not so long ago, was a full member of OFC, and no matter what excuse they can come up with, for last Confed cup, there were no team from Asia taking part in that tournament, but instead there were 2 teams from Oceania.....
I just can't imagine 8 members of AFC playing in the FIFA World Cup 2026 ........And the 3 teams per group makes me sick . I would give 4 direct slots to Asia ( OFC included ) and the places 5 to 8 playing a play off against the 7 to10 of Conmebol.
You are being a touch unkind here. AFC is a stronger confederation across its membership than OFC. There is really only New Zealand in OFC that could lay claim to a top 12 position in AFC with any regularity. The rest are generally equivalent to the bottom half of AFC. It's not hard to work out AFC's place in world Football. Only two Asian teams have ever made the quarter finals of the World Cup, the last 15 years ago and that not without some controversy. As a close observer of Asian football I can say with some confidence that there has been some improvement in the second and third tier teams, but its not being reflected at the top of AFC where the better nations continue to struggle to put together some decent results against teams from elsewhere. We will see if that changes next year, but I suspect my own nations qualification struggles this time have more to do with our own performance than the improved performance of others.
They are getting a full WC spot starting in 2026. NZ also has many chances to play against good NTs - in the WC, in the confederations cup and in friendlies.
The Asian landscape seems to be changing slightly. Let's look at this cycle for instance: If you would have told me a couple years back that Asian Champions Australia would be playing in a 5th place playoff against Syria I would have been like what in the world? So that seems to be about 6 teams that are almost about equal footing when it comes to competitive balance. Then you have Uzbekistan that are the bridesmaids and never the bride. China seems to also be putting football as a priority. Whether or not money and investing within their Federation translates into a better team on the field is another story... ... but at least they are trying. So that is about 8 teams that are about the same level. Would it be that horrible to see within a 48 team format ? I am not going to be ready to judge so harshly. As for the Combining of the Confederations... ...not going to happen.
Fact is, hardly ever any asian team plays against teams from OFC diferent to New Zeland or what used to be Australia, but if you search for data regarding matches between asian teams and other OFC teams diferent to New Zeland or what was Australia in the past, despite not being too many of them (and the very few that do exist also involves teams that aren't powerful in Asia neither, and mostly from south eastern Asia), where of course there are all sort of results for both sides, but for most of the times, curiously still have been the OFC teams, the ones who have won more of those few matches. Only big diference between AFC and OFC, is that AFC gets more of their teams in the WC, so they always get more exposition on regards to the rest of the world (an issue OFC doesn't get). But at the end, it doesn't matter much, as they continue being every body else's "punching bag" at the WC. To have more of their teams at the WC, will only mean "more meat for the meat grinder". Sucks for AFC that they stink at football, but despite what they may feel over it, it still continues to be their reality.
From a neutral POV a merger seems to make sense (or at least a merger b/w OFC and east Asia, and a separation of West Asia from the rest of Asia), but I just don't see any strong motives for the countries involved. Australia had an incentive to move to AFC since it made it easier for them to qualify for WCs on top of also getting more competitive matches through the Asian Cup every 4 years. But none of the remaining members of OFC has an overall incentive to move from what I can see.
For a Confederation switch, not only those teams must be willing to do so, but also must get accepted by the members of the Confederation to where they pretend to switch to (in this case, OFC teams must also have the aproval of AFC teams). An issue, that currently as how Australia has been performing there, being among the top teams in Asia, and also as due to it, has taken away WC spots from potential other asian teams on the past 2 WC's, whom if it not were to them, they would've qualified to the WC instead. At present times, specially among western asian countries, there is already a very big concern over it, where some think that Australia don't really belong to AFC, and the likelyhood of having other possible teams not from Asia (specially on regards to New Zeland, whom in both 1982 and 2010, left behind some asian teams on their road to the WC) to take away from them other WC spots in the future, is not something they are really willing to accept. This is about pretty much the same on regards to Concacaf, if merged to Conmebol, although in this case there is no doubt, that whom would get the biggest benefit, would be Conmebol (diference on level of the game, even including their top teams, is overwhelming, one compared to the other) .
If freaking Peru can manage scraping into the qualifying zone, while a certain other team struggles despite being awarded full points at the table, then I'm sure that argument is settled. If we all had the time and patience for a grueling 3+ year league campaign, we'd also might even see you trip up on occasion against lowly Concacaf sides. Who's to say no. Confederations are regarded strong/weak insofar as their teams are. Suriname is South American and they play Concacaf. AFC was indeed represented at the last Confed cup. Australia is a full AFC member. If Suriname had gone for Concacaf, or if Kazakhstan went for Uefa, it would be no different. Australia are not OFC anymore. There's no point in anyone in Asia being especially concerned about Australia more than any other team contending for WC berths.
freaking Peru is still in the fight because this time round they have a good team just like in 1998 when they also nearly made it in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 they were not in the running at the end because they did not have a good enough team to be there I have no doubt that this current version of Peru (post Copa 2016 team) would qualifiy easily in the current Concacaf hex
I don't see why not. Between USA, Mex and CR, you can count on at least one of them having bad form at any given cycle.