I noticed that Tuvalu has become more and more active in soccer lately and now even enter the Pacific Games. I wonder when they will finally affiliate to FIFA and OFC and why they haven't done so already. They are a fully independent state and should have no problems whatsoever to get accepted as a member...
Well, they are the smallest country in the world by population, unless you include the Vatican, and the 4th smallest in terms of geographical size. They are independent, but very poor. Probably being a member of FIFA isn't right on top of their list?
I agree Paul, the Tuvalu islands are extremely poor with only around 9,000 people inhabiting the small islands, so I also think becoming a member of FIFA is not high up on their list. But what is becoming an extremely ominous situation is the fact that there might not be a country of Tuvalu in the next few decades. That's right, the entire group of islands are predicted to be completely under water due to global warming. In the recent book World of Tomorrow, some experts say that Tuvalu could be gone as early as 5-10 years from now. So again, FIFA membership probably isn't that important right now.
They have their own league and national team (competing in non-FIFA tournaments) so I am sure there is some interest in becoming FIFA member? It would also attract attention to the problems of the country so the football team could be a bit of an ambassador. Also you are right with the problem of Tuvalu maybe getting swamped in the next decades. Not sure how fast it could actually happen but I believe the government is considering buying an island elsewhere in the pacific to move the entire population there and continue the State of Tuvalu there. Not sure how realistic that plan is. Tuvalu has one luck though: their country extention .TV is very popular all over the world and they made an incredible amount of money already by selling .TV domainnames to companies all over the world. I believe to have read that they recently financed an entire new hospital on the islands solely with money they made from their .TV internet country suffix.
I don't know a ton about Tuvalu itself. But when faced with poverty, and dealing with playing in Oceania. You rarely play home games if I remember right. Normally you are traveling to new zealand or fiji or the solomon islands from what I recall. Even if I'm wrong I don't think Tuvalu is going to be hosting many of their matches which means transporting all of their players somewhere else. The bank account could really start to bleed at that point. I also read somewhere recently (I don't have the link) that FIFA wasn't really considering any new Members and that Montenegro was a unique situation. It may be some time before Tuvalu, Kiribati, Guadeloupe, Martinique (Doubt France will give their blessing) Tibet, Gibralter etc. etc. will become full FIFA members. They should try very hard imo to fully affiliate with the OFC... But, if they can't afford to compete then they'd just have to stay home.
the nations which i think should defenitely become full fifa members are guadeloupe and martinique for the simple fact that they are getting better at football and able to put up a match with the strong nations of concacaf just like guadeloupe showed at the gold cup 2007. and about the tuvalu thing i heard that nauru where trying to build a football stadium but because of money havent yet been able to build it but if they did i heard that they could become a ofc member and maybe fifa member
The biggest problem with Martinique and Guadeloupe becomming members is, because they are not a sovreign (spelling?) state, they have to have France's premission to apply for membership. Since France is continuing to draw footballers from that region (or is at least is using footballers that would in theory have the choice to participate for either their native caribbean Island, or France. As it stands, their only choice is France on an official level. If I had to guess France is blocking their application attempts unless their reluctance is financial.
Tuvalu is an associate member of OFC since 2006. I believe this gives them right to compete in OFC Nations Cup, which they did (eliminated in qualifiers). Also, Micronesia FS, Palau and Niue were granted associate status in 2006. Another Oceanian team, the Northern Mariana Islands, were granted full East Asia Football Federation membership just recently and are now associate memebers of AFC. FIFA does not allow non-independent countries to enter unless they are listed by UN as dependent territories. That is why Guadeloupe or Martinique cannot join FIFA.
I really don't understand why people get so excited about tiny little territories like this joining the FIFA community. Given they have 12000 people living there (Wikipedia) and let's assume half of those are male, and a fifth of those would be able to play football in terms of age, and let's assume about a fifth of those actually play football. There would be around 240 people able & willing to play in the league & national team. Do you really think they should go through the trouble for so few people? I think they're fine being an associate member and playing football when they like against the groups of islands in their region. Joining FIFA hardly seems worth it.
Well fancy having a rich country-state call the Vatican and not have a team at least full of catholic priests. You could have the Pope in goal because he wears a different outfit. Nah point taken, having 12,000 people and swamped by the high seas waters ain't too pretty to play footy unless you walk on water.
Perhaps the Vatican and Tuvalu should join forces because then they can play football AND walk on water!
Football wasn't too popular a sport in the USA when it joined FIFA, as far as I know. It doesn't really matter about the number of people. In terms of percentage of the total population, it is similar to other bigger countries. All countries deserve the same treatment, regardless of how many people live in them. Joining FIFA is certainly 'worth it' when you consider the amount of money that FIFA give to member associations each year. To countries like England and Netherlands, the FIFA annual payment is nothing, but to countries like Tuvalu, it could go a long way to giving the game a foothold and allowing it to develop. It is also the most popular sport in the country, so why shouldn't they be allowed to join? I'd much rather be on the side of the people who get excited about new countries being given the opportunity than sit on the side of the naysayers just beacuse they come from a country that is 'lucky' enough to have more people and more power. Everything big starts from something small. Stop moaning and let them have their day. If you can't understand the excitement, stay out of the discussion. Simple
I don't think they want to become full members because they don't have the money volume for the cost in running anything and more likely are not interested in having a sizable programme to train players. We talking about a small township of people about the same size of an university campus. The best that they can probably do is have a small league of four teams and invite a couple of other island team for a small tournament. A full FIFA/OFC membership is not really needed at all. If they are able to have better resources or economy or a rich country sitting on oil then maybe they have something for full FIFA membership and money get someone on the plane to go to the many OFC and FIFA meetings rather than getting there a few times and collecting memos. Otherwise it is a pointless exercise for them.
Re: Any news ab Any news about this topic? It is 4 years ago the thread started. When will Tuvalu become full FIFA and OFC member? Or maybe just a full OFC member?
They have had a 6-8 team league for several years now. In 2005, the 8-team premier league (each from separate islands within Tuvalu) was supplemented by a B-division of 6 teams (including a University team) and a C-division of 5 teams. So, there were 9 'A' teams, 5 of which also had enough players to form B and C teams. http://www.tuvaluislands.com/news/archives/sports/s2005-04-01.htm
Sounds like a nice local social club league. I wouldn't be surprised if the A team is the normal adult playing age, B team is the half/half young & old experienced players and the C teams are the golden oldies. Some of the teams are probably mixed experiences if they don't have a second team. So I wouldn't hold my breath expecting much. Do they have a team again for the coming pacific games?? PS Yes they do have a team for Mens but not Womens.
Any news on whether Micronesia, Tuvalu, or Kiribati have applied to FIFA? It's a shame they won't get let in. These countries won't be able to meet the requirements until FIFA lets them in, and FIFA knows that. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
To be honest I can't see such small nations applying to FIFA. My main thoughts are they have more important things to worry about for their budgets about than for costly international football. I can't say that global warming is help them either. Some other small nations have applied in the past but yet they don't get to play internationals and they struggle to pull a team for the pacific games and that is regional games. In those games they have a few athletics and that is all. It's rare that any would get Olympic standard for those games as a progression. Only by Olympic charity quota that they would get anyone to Olympics.
a bit of an update on possible admission to FIFA: http://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/0...anders-battling-to-become-fifas-212th-member/