I was wondering... I know that these countries are NOT members of FIFA itself but of CONCACAF: French Guyana, Guadaloupe, Martinique and St Maarten. I was wondering: what would happen if they ever qualify for the World Cup? or let's say something a little more realistic like winning the Gold Cup and going to the Confederations Cup. My question is: would they be able to play either the Confederations Cup or the World Cup? Does FIFA have any official rules about this? I was looking at the fifa site, but I couldn't find any information about this. P.S. Yes, it's late at night and that's why I'm asking this type of questions
I believe the first 3 are feeders territories for France, which is obviously sanctioned; the 4th may be Dutch (?). The answer is, no, they cannot play in FIFA-sanctioned matches outside of CONCACAF, but can play friendlies outside the confederation, and can't qualify for the World Cup- that's my understanding.
I think you're right, I was looking at the WC Qualifications archive on this page: http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/event/fwc/index,2006,1040.html and it seems NEITHER of those teams has ever been on the CONCACAF qualification tournament for the WC (which is kinda sad ).
Can qualify for the Gold Cup and play friendlies outside CONCACAF but can't play in World Cup qualifications as they are not a FIFA member. That makes perfect sense. Also you omitted the French side of the island of Saint-Martin which is shared with the Dutch side called Sint Maarteen.
But why are they part of CONCACAF and not FIFA? I mean... FIFA does not recognize them as an individual country like say... Puerto Rico? (I know another case, which is Gilbraltar... who can't play on any FIFA competition since FIFA hasn't recognized them as country). I think I answered my own question .
France doesn't allow them to have membership in FIFA. They are basically considered a part of France, just in the Carribean. It's somewhat like the case of Gibralter and Spain, Spain not wanting Gibralter to get its own team, but it looks like they're slowly pushing towards their own team now. As for St. Maarten I supposed Holland doesn't let them participate on their own either, although I haven't seen anything that would make me believe that other than I don't think they take part in WC Qualifying.
Yeah, that is odd. I know that Netherlands Antilles plays in WCQ, but I really don't know anything about the specific relationship these countries are in with the mother land.
The Dutch Antilles are part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. They are for a large part autonomous(sp?) though.