So in my posts, will be using the following convention:
"New East AFC" will be called the "Pacific Football Confederation"
"New West AFC" will continue to be called the "Asian Football Confederation".
So... solely using the existing sub-confederations - and counting Oceania as it's own sub-confederation, (ASEAN, East Asia, Central Asia, Oceania, South Asia, West Asia), this would be the split:
AFC
Bahrain |
Iraq |
Jordan |
Kuwait |
Lebanon |
Oman |
Palestine |
Qatar |
Saudi Arabia |
Syria |
UAE |
Yemen |
Afghanistan |
Iran |
Kyrgyzstan |
Tajikistan |
Turkmenistan |
Uzbekistan |
Bangladesh |
Bhutan |
India |
Maldives |
Nepal |
Pakistan |
Sri Lanka |
PFC
China |
Chinese Taipei |
Guam |
Hong Kong |
Japan |
Korea DPR |
Korea Republic |
Macau |
Mongolia |
New Caledonia |
American Samoa |
Cook Islands |
Tonga |
Tahiti |
Solomon Islands |
Vanuatu |
Samoa |
Papua New Guinea |
Fiji |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Brunei Darussalam |
Cambodia |
Indonesia |
Laos |
Malaysia |
Myanmar |
Phillippines |
Singapore |
Thailand |
Timor-Leste |
Vietnam |
This would then leave AFC with 25 nations, and PFC with 32. If trying to get as even as a split, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos (arguable that Mongolia could replace Laos in this list) are the 3 most western nations, which would then leave AFC with 28, and PFC with 29. China I considered as more Eastern, becuase the two major cities (Shanghai, Beijing) are along the east coast of China.
Another thing to factor, is as mentioned earlier, there is a possibility of Russia joining the AFC (which would be 29 each).
If I had my way, and war/racism etc didn't exist, in addition to the above I would bring in the following from UEFA:
- Israel
- Turkey
- Kazakhstan
- Armenia
- Georgia
- Azerbaijan
If ALL of the above happened (except for the 'even split' bringing Myanmar, et al across from East to West), the numbers of the 3 affected confederations would be:
AFC: 32
PFC: 32
UEFA: 48
If keeping the same amount of qualifying nations to the World Cup, using ONLY the current FIFA Rankings, you would get from the two Asian nations (Top 5 in each, plus 6th for a playoff)
PFC: Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, New Zealand, Thailand
AFC: Iran, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Jordan
AFC (if the UEFA exodus happens): Iran, Turkey, Russia, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia