-- If FIFA did not change the rule for World Cup winner's automatic spot in the Finals, Ronaldo might not have played a single WCQ in his career. He missed 1994 due to younger age.... 1998 due to being holder..... 2002 due to injuries!!!! By 2007, he might have retired from international soccer. -- If France qualifies for Germany 2006, it was their first in 20 years. Failed in 1990 & 1994.... host in 1998 and holder in 2002.
Cup-holder bye Anyone else think that the Cup holder should still get a bye? I understand that it opens up a potential additional spot, but...the holder has earned it, right?
Re: Cup-holder bye In the European Championships the holder never has qualified automatically. I think everybody should play qualification, except the hosts off course.
Re: Cup-holder bye I'm trying to think of a major sports tournmant where the previous winner is automatically invited... I suppose it is true for golf tournaments and, in a way, it applies to boxing... can anyone name a major sporting event where the winner is invited back and everyone else has to qualify?
Re: Re: Cup-holder bye In the Rugby World Cup (starts Friday) the top eight from the previous tournament get automatic entry. Crowdie
Interesting. Please excuse my ignorance re: rugby world cup... How many teams are there in all? How often is it held? How does the qualifying process for the reamining teams compare to WCQ?
There is only one stupid question... The one you don't ask. The Rugby World Cup was first held in 1987 in New Zealand and is held every four years. This year there are twenty countries competing in Australia (Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Romania, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga, United States, Uruguay & Wales) All teams outside the top eight teams from the last World Cup must qualify through various qualification tournaments (similar to the confederation system in soccer but the tournaments may feature teams from up to four different continents). My Picks: Quarter Finalists: Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa Semi Finalists: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, England Finalists: England, New Zealand Crowdie
Thanks for the info. Has there been a lot of turnover in who the best teams are each 4 year period? Or do the same 8-12 teams typically finish in the top 8? Have there been cases of top 8 finishers really bombing in the next tournament? [As in, teams of such poor qualify four years later that would probably not have qualified otherwise?] I do like the idea of having the Top 4 or 8 automatically instead of only the winner. I think in soccer, though, that there may have been a fair number of Top 8 teams in one tournament that didn't even qualify the next time around. Also, it sounds like in rugby they aren't using a confederation allocation system for the remaining places. A top-8 system could cause some real challenges within the current (soccer) WCQ process because of that.
it would be nice for each confederations equivelant cup winners to go threw automaticly i.e winners on euro04, copa america etc. I just think it would be cool to definatley have the champions of each continent in the world cup. Just a thought, whatcha think?
Re: Re: Cup-holder bye Or in two? They played a fine Euro 2000, a tournament with much more exciting soccer than the 2002 world cup. France hits a bad patch of form over a three game span (note very big three games), and everyone acts as if their lineup couldn't even compete in the A - League. Well, maybe their keepers would have trouble.
Re: Re: Re: Cup-holder bye Ahh. Another BigSoccer legend is born. Love it. Note folks: I am being silly.
I thought that I read somewhere that Fifa is upset with IOC because the IOC allows the host nation to participate in the football tournaments even though they may not have a chance to qualify if they had to. Well, Fifa does the same thing with the World Cup. Host nations are automatically in.
Of course, FIFA has yet to host a tournament in a country which has no chance to qualify. All the hosts so far have either been traditional powers, or at least have qualified or participated in previous tournaments (with the trivial exception of Uruguay in 1930). If I recall correctly, 1962, 1986, 1998 were the only three cups where the host hadn't qualified for/been at the previous cup, but the hosts had qualified for other previous cups. G.