Look. FIFA is not going to continue to exist as a 1-country, 1 -vote organization dominated by tiny countries who have no hope of ever qualifying for the World Cup. Blatter's idiocy & the Qatar 2022 fiasco are making sure of that, because the big nations are getting sick and tired of FIFA's mismanagement and incompetence. If Blatter gets re-elected, tries to take spots away from UEFA, and tries to make Qatar 2022 a winter tournament against the wishes of the big UEFA clubs & leagues, UEFA will leave FIFA. Remember, FIFA gets most of its $$$ from World Cup TV rights...and without UEFA (and the USA), those TV rights aren't worth much....
For you, it might be a waste of time. We love it, as it is. For the facts though, we also had a great performance in 2010 (all 5 teams progressed), which also wasn't played in South America. In any case, 8 teams seems to be enough for Conmebol, as with the nineth or tenth team, we probably would have 1 or 2 teams not performing as well as the rest.
I disagree with what I underlined. If you go by former World Cup participants then Canada (110th in the FIFA Rankings) and Israel (75th in the FIFA Rankings) would have more power than Panama (31st in the FIFA Rankings). What I think could be fair is a weighted vote system like this: Top 50 in FIFA Rankings: 4 votes 51-100: 3 votes 101-150: 2 votes 151+: 1 vote Currently UEFA has 53 out of 209 votes (25.4%), and UEFA and CONMEBOL combined have 63 votes (30.1%). With this weighting UEFA would have 171 out of 509 votes (33.6%), and UEFA and CONMEBOL combined would have 210 votes (41.3%).
Yeah. 2 out of 6. Wrong. England beat Slovenia to progress. Failed to beat either USA or Algeria. The second team was Slovakia.
Purely on merit they possibly deserve it, but with 10 votes this ain't happening. I could see them somehow arguing a 5th full slot, but this would be purely based on merit and ignoring the politics. No way the other federations agree to CONMEBOL getting to send over half of its countries to a World Cup. This isn't a question of who deserves them more. Its a question of equity. If so many UEFA countries perform as badly as teams from other Confeds, then we might as well send more teams from other Confeds (regardless of whether or not they perform better).
1 out of 6, the Netherlands beated everybody in their group and didn't actually need the victory over Denmark to impose itself as best of the group. The only Uefa team that got the benefit of progressing by beating another Uefa team was Slovakia. Wrong again, without their victory over Slovenia, England would've had 2 pts. while Algeria would've had 1 pt. They didn't need that victory to impose itself over Algeria. They needed it to impose itself over the other Uefa team which was Slovenia. All that Algeria achieved in this group, was a scoreless draw against England, but lost to the yanks and also lost to Slovania.
So take out the ones that don't perform and bring in others that don't perform , just because . To me, I don't think Concacaf deserves more slots , I thinknthey have 1.5 too many !
I would be in favor of expanding intercontinental playoffs. Otherwise, it's impossible to really asses whether CONCACAF's 4th or 5h teams are better than UEFA's 13th or 14th or Africa's 5th or 6th. That's really going to change a lot every year, and the only fair way to determine it is through intercontinental playoffs. But UEFA is right not to let go of its direct spots without getting something in return. I would love to see something like this: CONCACAF reduces its number of direct spots to 2, but 3 of its teams get access to the playoffs, so a total of 5 CONCACAF teams can qualify. CAF reduces its number of direct sports to 4, but 2 of its teams get access to the playoffs, so a total of 6 CAF teams can qualify. UEFA reduces its number of direct spots to 12, but 2 of its teams get access to the playoffs, so a total of 14 UEFA teams can qualify. AFC reduces its number of direct spots to 3, but but 3 of its teams get access to the playoffs, so a total of 6 AFC teams can qualify. Then, through a random draw, you could get something like this: CONCACAF vs UEFA CAF vs UEFA AFC vs CAF AFC vs CONCACAF AFC vs OFC CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF Anyway, something like that. But I'm sure that confederations prefer guaranteed spots over the potential to have more teams qualify. And for that reason, I think it's more likely we will see the WC field expanded to 40 teams. And if that does ever happen, I hope the 8 additional spots are heavily determined through intercontinental playoffs. It's the only way of reflecting the true strength of the different confederation each World Cup, and that is going to change every World Cup cycle.
Too many considering they have 10 in total. The CONMEBOL basically becomes an avoid-relegation-to-qualify type of scenario. Most Europeans don't agree with the 24 Euro expasion for the same reason. Many of my compatriots neither and we are a country that will benefit from this
But CONMEBOL does not see any up side to this other than possible revenue. Everything else is a negative.
If it only were based on votes, Conmebol wouldn't have the amount of Exco members and influences it actually has. And based on politics, you never know what a lesser member can achieve, when he is one of the top performers. Besides, in this battle for spots, what if UEFA joins only with Conmebol to continue playing the WC (Platini has suggested it in the form of a new type of Euro), as it was in the past, without teams of no where else, while on the other side the rest of the world can have their own WC. Which of these 2 tournament do you think will win more money and prevail ? In its battle for more spots, the rest of the world, needs Conmebol, because our achievements are the only thing that gives them credibility in what they ask for. No Conmebol, and the ROW is doomed from the start. So the few votes we represent is really not important, and what really is important here, is who we are. Oh yes, and this is politics. Well be consequent then. Don't argue that Uefa doesn't deserve them based on their performance. If it is going to be over performance, you got to give more spots to Conmebol If it is going to be over proportionality, well try a new order, and try to do it without the support that Uefa and maybe Conmebol represents. Without these, you are doomed. You can't have it both ways.
More places than they have now? If they combine their 2014 spots that would be 10 spots for the WC. All up for grabs Why not take that opportunity?
How about this instead? ... have them play the 5th and 6th from South America, the 3rd and 4th from Asia, the 3rd and 4th from CONCACAF, the 3rd, 4th and 5th from Africa and/or top team from Oceania.
Well if we are talking strictly combining for Qualifications then that is a different story. Combining the two Confederations for everything else is not seen as a good thing by most South American Federations.
as i said on the other topic it's at the end of the show that we pay the musicians... uefa represents 26 semi finalists places on the last 32 semi finalists. south africa 2010: european world champion, finalist, and 3rd place. uefa: 53 squads 13 squads in world cup 6/13 in round 16: 0.46 caf: 54 squads 6 squads in world cup 1/6 in round 16: 0.16 get a clue.... at this right moment the only confederation that can ask for more squads is concacaf. and the next world cup will be played in uefa.
I have no doubt in my mind that the people in charge wouldn't want to share the power. Even the more intercontinental play offs are a dream that will never happen Only UEFA and CONMEBOL would risk a direct spot for 2 play off spots. The rest woudn't dare risking a direct spot
But you can... Its politics - a question of carefully balancing equity and merit all flimsily placed on top of non-UEFA confederation numerical advantgae. CONMEBOL is winning the merit battle, UEFA isn't. They aren't proving they can justify having so many slots. Whether or not they make up the majority of finalists is irrelevant. All it proves is that they are top heavy.
And the talk is for CONMEBOL to have 4 spots at the 2018 WC. They want to take 0.5 from them For our Spanish speaking friends http://www.lanacion.com.py/articulo/144957-sudamerica-perderia-media-plaza-para-rusia-2018.html
Talking about politics. Be careful... What if Uefa and Conmebol get together and say fvck you and say they wont participate? Or they choose to schedule another tournament at the same time? Heck! they could call it the "Premier World Cup". What happens then? Where would the sponsors go? And the ratings...
It not anywhere close to such a turn of events But overall a good point... that why merit is not without its merit.