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AFC east/west split & OFC

HappyGuus

HappyGuus

Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2024
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58
An article by our own Mr Cleansheets:

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/10/...big-and-the-reasons-why-it-needs-to-be-split/

While it might be easier for A-League based Socceroos, it might be tougher for Europe based ones. There are many pros and cons.

I'd like to see this (take or leave Russia):

1729660066894.png

Pretty balanced. We'd have 2.39 million people in the east, and 2.31 million in the west.

Of course it sucks for NZ, missing out on $80m every four years at the CWC and guaranteed WC qualificaiton.
 
Oooh I did make a concept of this a while back. Can't remember if I put it on the old forum.

But based off this map, was roughly what you had. I think I also had Turkey and Kazakhstan coming into West AFC (I had given it another name, but can't remember), and Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan coming into the "Pacific Football Confederation"
 
Added bonus, it means that hosting a wc in qatar or saudi arabia doesnt count against east asia hosting a wc.

Also the main benefit of getting out if oceania was more roos matches

But that benefit is surelyega diluted if half the games are in a bad timezone?
 
WCQ would also be needed to be negotiated on.

At the moment AFC and OFC receive (combined) 9 direct spots, and 2 playoff spots. So... one confederation will have one less direct spot, unless:

5 direct slots each and they scrap this playoff tournament
5 direct slots each, and a playoff specifically between West AFC and Pacific for the final tournament playoff spot.

Based off World Rankings (currently) by the way, the top 5 in the Pacific would be:
Japan, South Korea, Australia, China and New Zealand (with Thailand as 6th)
 
Would love to see OFC combined with an East AFC, would make so much more sense. Would allow for better development of OFC nations as well with exposure to different countries and regular competitive fixtures, especially New Zealand.

You just know there would be push back from the West AFC nations who hold a lot of sway with FIFA and AFC.
 
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
 
Iran is something of the big connector geographically here. I always thought that putting North African Maghreb states with the ME would work just fine and then they could do all their antics and time wasting together. In turn, the harsh CAF qualifying would hopefully balance out for the rest of Africa.

I think more intercontinental qualifying needs to happen at an earlier stage. FIFA might try this to 'expand' on the internalisation of the world cup. Simply put, rivalries are good but the qualifying routes are getting a bit repetitive and boring. England always seem to get Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia. Australia and Japan are starting to rival world cup lovebirds Argentina and Nigeria. The Gulf states play on rotation that they always seem to be the same team.

By no means should it be immediately intercontinental but at some point seeing Sweden go to Costa Rica (they already go as far as Kazakhstan) or Togo to India can mix things up. Such nations travel across oceans for friendly games in the USA or the Kirin Cup so it's nothing new.
 
JS96 said:
Iran is something of the big connector geographically here. I always thought that putting North African Maghreb states with the ME would work just fine and then they could do all their antics and time wasting together. In turn, the harsh CAF qualifying would hopefully balance out for the rest of Africa.

I think more intercontinental qualifying needs to happen at an earlier stage. FIFA might try this to 'expand' on the internalisation of the world cup. Simply put, rivalries are good but the qualifying routes are getting a bit repetitive and boring. England always seem to get Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia. Australia and Japan are starting to rival world cup lovebirds Argentina and Nigeria. The Gulf states play on rotation that they always seem to be the same team.

By no means should it be immediately intercontinental but at some point seeing Sweden go to Costa Rica (they already go as far as Kazakhstan) or Togo to India can mix things up. Such nations travel across oceans for friendly games in the USA or the Kirin Cup so it's nothing new.
Click to expand...
Actually, I remember that was another scenario I tried to do - evening out all the confederations. as much as possible, and that did include moving some of the northern African teams to the new AFC (Essentially UAFA moving into AFC)
 
Russia will want to join the East Asian group because of the ridiculous political setting at the moment that they're trying to look (externally and internally) new and Asian to wallpaper over a good million cracks in their country.

East, West, they're not welcome in either for the forseeable future.
 
Thanks for reposting...

The one thing the article didn't go into was the money and the politics which would be incredibly complicated. It makes sense from football, logistical and cultural perspectives, but financially? NZ might take some convincing that their regular bucket of money is worth risking on a better football future. What would other members of the OFC think, now that a playoff spot will become available for one of them?

Do the Arab nations derive anything besides power from the AFC as currently constituted?

Given OFC already has one and a half spots, a 4.5 (West) to 5.5 (East) split is fair with the two half spots to play off against each other. That gives West Asia up to five spots which is beyond their wildest dreams right now.

Thing is, it's not just about WC spots so what seems logical to fans may be a total non-starter for the member nations.
 
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