For 2006 WC, In November 2005, OFC's champion was Australia and FIFA's ranking had them as 54th, while Conmebol's 5th was once again Uruguay, which FIFA's ranking had them as 17th. Guess who won that playoff ? . . . FIFA rankings don't say much
Can Uruguay finish in a different spot just one time? I think they've been the playoff team every time since you adopted the 9 or 10 team league system for qualifiers.
They were outright eliminated the first time this format was played for WC98, finishing 7th overall. Since then, they have finished 5th in every cycle of qualifying from Conmebol.
Well, you had to rewind the clock 10 years to find that single example. It actually makes me wonder why OFC didn't lose any spots after it lost by far its best team. That alone tells you OFC is over-represented.
OFC gets 0.5 spot since WC98. During the WC94 qualification campaign, it got 0.25. Maybe there will be a weak team at each WC but any confederation should be represented by at least one (automatic) spot.
Most Confederations have enough spots that qualification is pretty automatic for someone (sometimes more than 1).
I guess you are talking about the likes of USA, Mexico, Japan, etc. That's a bit different imo. Those teams need to go through a long qualifying process. I don't see why the same shouldn't be the case for New Zealand. Giving OFC 0.25 spots still wouldn't make it too grueling for NZ to qualify. Only makes sense that if a region is significantly weaker than it was in 2002 and 2006 that it should lose a fraction of a WC spot.
Unless FIFA adds more matchdays per year (which they won't, they removed February and August matchdays) there are enough qualifiers without New Zealand (or whoever else wins OFC) having to go through two playoffs because OFC would have 0.25. I don't think OFC should get 1 spot either. I think OFC should stay with 0.5
Fair point, but unless AFC changes their WC qualifying schedule there would still be time. - September: AFC playoff to determine 5th-best team - October: winner of AFC playoff v OFC champion - November: winner of AFC/OFC playoff v best 2nd-place UEFA team
The last AFC Group Stage in qualifying for World Cup 2014 ended on June 18, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(AFC)#Schedule has the last AFC Group Stage ending on September 5, 2017 with the 5th place playoff in October.
RE Korea 2002: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/24/1023864552544.html Something that also goes for them is that the eager media hasn't found stories about, say, wiretapping opponents by the secret intelligence service, and such like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Football_Elo_Ratings#Strongest_teams_since_the_mid_to_late_1960s All countries above Uruguay have at least twice the population. The first country below Uruguay, with a similar or lower population, is Denmark (which has the additional disadvantage of speaking a minority language). They have also high-ranked football officials, directors, managers and such was what their population would suggest.
Denmark's total population ( 5.6 million pop), is lots closer to doubling the one from Uruguay (3.5 million)., than being about the same. They are not comparable one to the other, on this aspect. In Uefa, teams like Moldavia (3.6 million), are those who you can compare Uruguay to, regarding to population numbers.
You're right, I underestimated that bit. Denmark does track population better and more accurate though, and is a country that still attracts immigrants (10-15% with a darker skin color, and in case of Moroccans a foreign passport). It is also an older population, with 0-14 years always been lower than 18% while Uruguay is typically around the 25% (a bit lower in recent years though, 23%). Uruguay has a negative immigration account, meaning more people leave (with an Uruguayan passport) than arrive. And a higher percentage of their population are males. To be exact, Uruguay has 360000 people in the age group 0-14, Denmark has 485000. In the age group 0-24 it is 630000 vs 856000.
Blatter's running for re-election and is telling Concacaf they'll get 4 if they back him. Sounds fair even if he is an old crook-
He didn't say they will get four - that's not in his power to give. Just that he siggests it would be fairer if they had four. But he will also tell Africa they should have more. And he will tell Asia they should have more. Vote for me! Vote for me! But it's not in his power to give anyway - it's a decision for the whole ExCo as far as I know.
And just to extend it out to the full population cohorts that would reasonably be playing football competitively, the Danish male population ages 0-34 is around 1,080,000, and Uruguay's male population ages 0-34 is around 920,000. Not a significant difference, IMO, and especially when you consider how huge countries such as Germany, France, Argentina, and even Holland and Chile are in comparison.
meh, 2 million difference still qualifies as 'about the same' for me. I doubt Denmark would be so much worse if they had the same population as Uruguay (or vice versa).