They start relatively late into the competition actually, after the League 2 teams, and one round before the Ligue 1 teams. I think the best ever result from an overseas club was a participation in the round of 32. But Liechtenstein doesn't have a league on it's own of course (there used to be a Liechtenstein championship, but it was discontinued after WWII). If Liechtenstein had it's own league clubs playing in the Swiss pyramid couldn't qualify through the Liechtenstein cup anymore - the same happened to Welsh clubs in England, who could qualify for Europe through the Welsh cup, and did so until the early 90s. But when Wales got it's own semi-pro league in the 90s clubs staying in the English league pyramid (most prominently Cardiff City, Swansea City and Wrexham) were banned from the Welsh FA cup. During the 90s Australian teams played in the Singaporean league (a team from Perth won the 1994 Singaporean championship).
There can be more than one association per country as long as the national association that holds the “sovereignty” over the territory allows it. The faroe islands are an example of that.
The Faroe Islands Football Association is fully independent from the Danish Football Association so both situations aren't comparable at all. The French Guianese Football League is a regional league of the French Football Federation (with the same status as Alsace Football League and so on). Outside football institutions, French Guiana is not a territory, but is fully part of France. Footballers playing in the French Guianese team during CONCACAF competitions still remain eligible to play in the French national team at any time. Nothing similar is true with the Faroe Islands. Let's imagine that Hawaii would like to play the Oceania regional cup, would that be enough to make it a FIFA member? The whole problem is here.
Yeah, but the Faroe Islands aren't an independent country - they are largely autonomous, but people from Faroe are citizens of Denmark. That was his point, as there are two fully recognized football associations representing the Kingdom of Denmark internationally (in the Olympics athletes from Faroe compete for Denmark, just like the UK).
Faroe Islands aren't part of Denmark. They are an autonomous territory of Denmark. French Guiana is part of France. Faroe Islands status is similar to the status of New Caledonia, which also have an independent representation in FIFA. Once the planned dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles will be put in place, the 3 islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba will be fully integrated to the Netherlands. On the other hand, Curacao and Sint Marteen will become two new autonomous territory of the Netherlands. Curacao and Sint Marteen will join FIFA, the three islands integrated to the Netherlands will not (as they will already be as part of the Netherlands).
Thanks for this link Alex. It proves exactly my point. As you can see, Faroe Islands and Greenland are part of the kingdom, but they aren't part of Denmark. That's because they are autonomous territories of Denmark. The organization of the Danish kingdom is actually very similar to the Dutch kingdom. Read this and you'll better understand.
Autonomous territories of the Kingdom of Denmark (Denmark itself is also a part of the Kingdom of Denmark). And thanks, I think I understand the issue just fine. Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles are actually further examples for not fully independent territories being FIFA members (and while the situations are similar there are also differences - people from the Faroe Islands and Greenland can actually vote in Danish parliamentary elections, which people from the Dutch overseas territories can't I think, but I'm no expert on either and didn't look very in-depth). Despite being autonomous the Faroe Islands still needed the approval of Denmark to join FIFA, which was granted in 1988. Anyway, the issue was non-sovereign regions as FIFA members. The FIFA statutes explicitly state that non-independent regions (they don't mention anything about those having to be autonomous) can apply for FIFA membership if the FA of the country those regions belong to gives it's approval.
Outside the UK, there is no FIFA member which are subdivisions being integral part of a country. All non-independent territories which are member of FIFA have an autonomous status (even Hong Kong and Macau). Saying that French Guiana isn't a FIFA member because France doesn't allow it to be so is exactly the same as saying that Lower Saxony isn't a FIFA member because Germany doesn't allow it to be so. The statement in itself is true, but doesn't make any sense. And to your information, Mayotte (which is currently an autonomous French territory) will also become soon fully part of France since they recently voted for that. That may sound weird to you, but that's just how it is.
Autonomous regions are way more likely to have a team, of course. I mean, there would actually have to be a significant movement to join FIFA. There is currently nobody in Lower Saxony who wants Lower Saxony to become a FIFA member. So the statement isn't really true at all - Catalonia or the Basque Country would be much better examples (although both have autonomous status as well). Lower Saxony isn't a FIFA member because nobody has asked for it, so Germany had no chance to not allow it. If there was significant support for such a proposal I'd be all for it, btw - although it's extremely hypothetical. I have no idea what the situation in French Guiana is, and if the local FA ever tried to join FIFA. If this was the case I'd see no problem at all for them to join FIFA personally. And the better question would be - has there even been a case in which a non-autonomous region ever applied for FIFA membership and in which the FA of the "mother country" granted the request, regardless if it actually lead to FIFA accepting it? If the answer is no it doesn't really matter that there is no such a FIFA member currently. Why should this sound weird to me? At all, I mean? Not only that this has zero relevance to the topic, it's also none of my business, considering I'm not from Mayotte.
Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF I hope this is an OK place to put this thread. Wasn't sure where else to go. But I think it applies since it is regarding the FIFA regions and the fact that these teams play CONCACAF games in WC Qualifying. So....does anyone know? Why aren't they in CONMEBOL like every other country in South America? It would certainly help their Cup tournaments and WC Qualifying to have 12 teams, easily spread into 3 groups of 4. On top of that, you could make an arugment that countries like Aruba, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, etc.... should be in CONMEBOL as well. Those islands are right off the coast of the South American mainland. They're essentially extensions of Venezuela. I understand that they are technically Caribbean islands and therefore get bundled with the rest. But....they probably have a lot more in common with the South American countries that are less than 5-10-20 miles away. If Guyana and Suriname can currently be in a different FIFA region then these islands could be also if a change were to be made.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF Addendum.... I got Bonaire mixed up with Barbados. Barbados clearly looks to be a part of the island chain that makes up the rest of the Caribbean Islands so maybe it doesn't apply to them. But Aruba and T&T definitely do not. They are clearly more connected to the South American mainland then they are to the rest of the Caribbean Islands.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF They would get owned in South America worse than in concacaf.......no way Jack Warner will allow his country to be humiliated in CONMEBOL. Besides he would rather have them(T&T) in Concacaf in order to keep his power and money flowing, in CONMEBOL he would be a nobody.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF So Jack Warner would never let T&T switch. The politics are understood there. But that doesn't apply to the 2 countries that actually are South American. How are they in CONCACAF?
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF Well, maybe somehow, it was their decision, not Conch-A-Calf's. I know Oz left the OFC on its own (well, at least that's the vibe I get). They are now part of the Asian Confed.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF I posted it about a year ago, but it actually has zero to do with Jack Warner's politics, or the weakness of the teams making it impossible for them to compete in CONMEBOL. Strike both of those things from your thinking, they might both be true, but don't actually enter into it. Its physical geography--the topography of the land. The Caribbean Football Union is an organization that predates the formation of CONCACAF by a couple of decades. The CFU along with UNCAF(Central America) and the NAFC(USA, Mexico, Canada, Cuba) were the component organizations that merged to form CONCACAF. The Guyana Highlands historically created a physical border between the nations of Northeast South America and the rest of the continent. Air travel of the 40's and 50's was not suitable for navigation over the Highlands, which still to this day are an sparsely inhabited wilderness from the north bank of the Amazon northward. So while in a modern context it seems odd, in the standards of the time period it was perfectly reasonable for those nations to be in the Caribbean Football Union. Dutch Guiana and British Guiana were founding members of the CFU. Travel was/is much easier to Trinidad and Jamaica than Brazil or Argentina.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF So convenience and technical (aviation) ability it was. That actually sounds like a very plausible explanation!
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF Culturally, Guyana and Suriname are Caribbean. I mean, Guyana sends players to the West Indies cricket team. And I have no clue wtf you're talking about Aruba, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago being closer to South American in culture, they're 100% Caribbean. Oh and none of those countries speak Spanish. It seems like you dont like the fact that one confederation has 10 teams while its neighbor has like 40. I'm all for merging CONCACAF and CONMEBOL but forcing North American teams into South America just for the sake of geography isn't the solution.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF Solution? What's the problem? I never said I don't like the fact that those countries are in CONCACAF. I'm just wondering why. It doesn't really matter since they're never going to be quality teams anyway. They're extra leftovers in whatever confederation they're in. But....nice job setting up a straw man. What does speaking Spanish have to do with it either? How does Brazil fit into things if you think all CONMEBOL teams need to speak Spanish? Is there any federation in FIFA where all the countries speak the same language? This is a lot like other sports leagues where teams are divided into divisions or conferences or federations. It doesn't always line up perfectly (Dallas Cowboys playing in the NFC East). This is an example of that. But...it definitely seems like they're out of place currently. IMO realignment wouldn't be such a bad thing, though I guess everyone is happy where they currently are.
Re: Why are Guyana and Suriname in CONCACAF It would be a bad thing because it would do nobody any good. CONMEBOL would have to figure out how to fit two vastly overmatched sides into their competitions. Do they join the single group WCQs and get destroyed for 20 games, or do they create a new preliminary round where they get pounded for two games and sent home? Do they get automatic entry into Copa America at the expense of financially lucrative guest teams, or does that tournament get it's first ever qualification stages just to dispatch two minnows? In CONCACAF these two countries are able to compete against relatively comparable competition in Gold Cup qualifiers and WCQ preliminaries, and then they can move up the ladder toward stronger opponents if their results justify it.
Me too. The only explanation is cultural. They are certainly more similar to the Caribbean in terms of language and history. They were formerly Dutch and French colonies, like many of the Caribbean islands. Now I think they both are primarily English-speaking. Does this matter? Not really - CONCACAF is also composed of Central American countries that are more similar culturally to CONMEBOL nations. But maybe it's part of it(???). Finally, if you ask their domestic football federations, surely they prefer to stay in CONCACAF where they can compete against several smaller nations, whereas in CONMEBOL they would be handily destroyed in every match.