In terms of football, how do you guys feel about certain countries such as Kazahstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azeirbaijan, and Turkey being part of Uefa, when they are geographically part of asia? Should this be changed?
Nah. I don't really think there's any need for confederations to be geographically correct. Travel distance and ease (which, I admit, in Asia's case doesn't hold up with East and West Asia), and other practical considerations are more important, I think. I mean, do we really need to put Israel in AFC simply for the sake of geographical accuracy?
Geographically? It sounds more like cultural thing you meant?? I want them to draw the line somewhere around.... Malaysia?? East Asia should be separated.... don't mind some Osceanian, but ..... middle east is too far when thinking about time zone.... (without big time differences, doesn't matter how far, like North <-> South, but.....) Regions should be devided by time zones!! (guess FIFA is trying that now though)
I'm saying Israel is geographically in Asia, but politically, it's closer to Europe so it makes sense that they are in UEFA and not AFC. I think you bring up a good point about time zones. There's some time zone crossing in Europe, but there's only a 3 hour difference between London and Moscow, and England plays the majority of its matches in Western Europe. Between Tokyo and the Middle East, there's a 6 hour difference. You shouldn't have to deal with jet lag (jisa boke) when you're playing teams in your "region".
By that reasoning, it should be in the Concacaf, since Israel is actually the closest to the US, politically.
I'm against splitting the confederation for now, neither region is strong enough on it's own. If Asia becomes a power house, then it could be split into east and west, with all the west Asian nations in UEFA moving back to Asia (ie Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, etc..)
Well, it has to make some geographical sense, mostly for ease of travel. And I agree with HiJazzey that a split AFC won't be strong enough. Which East or Southeast Asian team is good enough to even think about playing in the World Cup other than Korea, Japan and China? But if talent was distributed more evenly, I'd divide Asia into West/Central/South and Southeast/East/Oceania.
You should have thought of that when building the continent. Was it your first time? It sounds like a classic beginners mistake to me. Seriously though, that's a very big time difference. It's not ideal, but how about regional groups within Asia? East and West. I'm sure there are bound to be a number of problems with this scenario but I'm actually intrigued.
They should only make west meet east in Asian Cup, they should have made the Second Round according to region, like it should have been Iran, KSA, Bahrain and Kuwait. But at the same time the other team should come a week before the game to get used to it.
I actually enjoy it when East Asians talk about separation and use time difference as excuse (every time around).... it gives you do feeling that West Asian teams are not going through the same trouble ..... the period between the games are long enough to get used to the condition and time difference... even if it wasn't as all the teams are evenly under the same condition that makes it fair.... I'm guessing the main reason behind this is that East Asian countries don't mind qualifying automatically every time and are not really fans of taking risks with West Asian teams like Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Oman, Jordan and Qatar.... (e.g. imagine if Japan wasn’t lucky enough and Bahrain didn’t score the own goal, the moral boost would have given Bahrain a very good shot at being at least the 2nd team in the group) but if it happens and we split now... West Asia clearly deserves more spots because it is way more competitive that East Asia...
Im not sure that its for ease of travel or politics.... take Kazahstan for example... its much easier for them to travel to most places in Asia than all the way to Europe (I would expect most of their national players would play either at home or in Russia) and they dont really "gain" any respect from England or any other European nation by making them come out and play qualifiers smack down in the middle of asia either. I think its a little stupid Kazahstan is in Uefa, they, among others would do so much better with the level of competition in asia... but perhaps they are trying to use jet lag for the other teams when playing at home to their advantage.
I hope you're not talking about me since I didn't use it as an excuse. Of course I know West Asian teams go through the same too, and I bring it up because it's something that would help both sides (all else being equal, of course). But really, "every time around"? Let's go easy on the hyperboles here.
I wasn't talking about anyone in particular... the fact is ever since I joined BS every time we discuss this issue there is an East Asian bringing up the splitting the continental zone!... the thing is as oppose to what you think only East Asia will benefit from this decision… you ask why, my reasons.. * having better political relation with FIFA the East Asian side will have equal WC spots as West which is unfair…. As we can clearly see the ratio of participation in second round of WCQ was 5 : 3… * Iran and Uzbekistan will be the only non-Arab teams in West, I think you can guess the rest… these 2 are the most general ones… there are more which are least effective!