By jimbo
August 26th 2008 @ 12:55am
Loading ...The Oceania qualifiers get a good kick along
The Football Federation of Australia and the Socceroos have moved on now into the Asian Football Confederation and, in some ways, might be trying to forget Oceania football.
If they were sending a postcard to their football families back in Oceania, it might go along the lines of:
Having a great time, wish you were here. Hope we don’t catch up again too soon. Regards, Socceroos
With the Oceania and Asian Football Confederations contesting the last remaining FIFA World Cup spot for South Africa in 2010, we might still need to concern ourselves with the Oceania Championship.
The move into Asian Football has had its obvious benefits, but there hasn’t been a shortage of critics either.
The Asian Football Confederation has nearly 50 member nations, so compared to Oceania, the Asian World Cup qualification process is longer, involves more countries and more games, and is more meaningful and well-attended than Socceroos matches.
From a financial standpoint, the Asian World Cup qualifiers have certainly helped the FFA to boost its revenues significantly.
With the three-stage qualification process, the Socceroos could see themselves playing up to nineteen matches and up to ten home games.
Each game is proving to be very well attended and will bring in about four to eight million in revenue for each home game for the FFA. Plus, of course, their share of the away games’ gate and Asian and Australian television rights, and millions in prize money if the Socceroos qualify for the next FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010 - the world’s greatest sporting event.
With the focus in Australia for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in the next couple of weeks squarely on the Socceroos game against Uzbekistan in Tashkent, what’s been happening in the Oceania Football Confederation World Cup Qualifiers?
The Oceania qualification is at the half way stage of the final round to determine the Oceania champions.
Teams like the Solomon Islands and Tahiti are already eliminated.
There are four teams left – New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu.
New Zealand leads the table on nine points from three games with New Caledonia second on eight points from four games, just one point behind the All Whites.
Fiji and Vanuatu seem to be out of it now, with just one point each from their games so far.
So it’s now a two horse race between New Caledonia and New Zealand.
There are two critical games coming up in the next two weeks, which should decide the Oceania champions: New Zealand play New Caledonia in Noumea on September 6th, and then the return game New Zealand versus New Caledonia on September 10th, in the land of the long white cloud.
The All Whites are favoured to go through and become the Oceania contenders to play the best third placed Asian qualifying nation for the last remaining FIFA World Cup spot for South Africa in 2010.
However, if the New Caledonians can get a win at home and a draw in New Zealand, they will be in the box seat.
How ironic would it be if the Socceroos, after all the trouble the FFA has gone to on their long and winding journey along the Asian Silk Road, should have to face up again to New Zealand or New Caledonia for a FIFA World Cup spot?
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Cpaaa said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:03am | Report comment
the inclusion of australia in asia was a win win for all. oceania is now more competitive and kiwi football has raised its profile.
australian fans win with competitive games and massive crowds
( which reminds me i got to book my tickets aus v qatar today)
asia win with australia ranked in the top 2 and with recognized international footballers makes this region even stronger. fifa win with australias business ethnics and the development of football as a wholle down under.
even though we are now no longer part of oceania our relationship should be closer than ever. When you look at players like Dwight York coming from little trinidad n tabago then oceania could be an undiscovered gold mine of talent.
A new competition is set up in PNG along the same system as HAL. the new NSL is now the PNG national competition 8 teams buy in to the so called franchise. Sunshine Coast FC of the Q-League has also recruited players from PNG’s, Hekari FC. Through our state leagues we could filter oceanias best through to club HAL and beyond. Who would have thought T & T competing on the world stage was possible.
As adidas would put it “impossible is nothing”.
Bring it on oceania, the world cup awaits you.
Towser said | August 26th 2008 @ 11:13am | Report comment
Jimbo Cpaaa
Having just booked my tickets for the Aus V Qatar match,no doubt about the importance of Asia to Australia as far as football goes. The only other time I did this on the first day of ticket sales was when we played Iraq in June.
However Asia is a no brainer,Oceania has been & remains a problem in relation to how to improve their football standard.
Lets look at the facts Tiny nations tiny populations tiny economies. Even the tiny Asian nations in the Middle East have decent economies. The problem is this is not going to change.
I remember many years ago in Ba ,Fiji whilst on holiday chatting to a local footballer after watching their training session(& skill wise these guys were no mugs). We talked about football in general(ie oversesa players leagues) . He was very informed,but mostly he lamented the lack of finances to hire decent coaches & put in place the infrastructure to advance football. Unfortunately nothing has changed in this respect as far as I can see.
Oceania nations just dont have the cash or population by themselves to progress.
They need outside help & even then it is problematic. Do you plough money into individual countries? . Personally I dont see this working. The Solomons are so far behind in everything(by first world material values) that there priorities lie elsewhere. This goes for most of the Islands. Yet there is enormous football potential there(Christian Karembeu-New Caledonia for instance).
What Oceania needs is a Central point. A focus for football in Oceania if you like. It has to be in a country of relative affluence. Only 2 countries fit the bill ,Australia & NZ. However we are tied to Asia. NZ would be a better fit.
Football can never progress in Oceania if it tries to advance each nation on an individual basis,there has to be a collective effort. I dont claim to have an answer. But I do no for certain that Fiji or the Solomons for instance will never scratch the surface in relation to football potential if they go solo.
The only thing I see as some sort of solution is the suggestion that a professional football team comprised of Pacific Islanders be set up in say Auckland,with satellite academies for talent spotting on the Specific Island/Countries with the local leagues also absorbed into this.
The bottom line is that buck stops at FIFA as far as Oceania is concerned.
Its the runt of the litter to FIFA in my opinion.
They either ignore it or use it to their advantage(Charlie Dempsey anyone).
They & they alone have the cash & influence to help Oceania with a plan. It should be a subsidiary of Asia.
But dont bank on it.
jimbo said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
Football is a business and FIFA is ruined by politics and Oceania doesn’t unfortunately have much money or power in FIFA. The injection of cash and technical resources will produce a tremendous lift for the region and help with a lot of their youth and social problems.
Although Oceania not getting its own automatic WC berth might have proved to be a bonus for the FFA.
Rather than the scenario of the Socceroos having to beat New Zealand or New Caledonia for a WC place, I’d like to think BOTH the Socceroos AND the Kiwis or New Caledonians could win a spot.
What a boost for football in the region and Oceania’s political clout with FIFA if we were both on the world stage in South Africa.
Pippinu said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Jimbo
You mention NZ playing the 3rd best Asian team, I think that should be the 5th best (form memory, the 3rd best of each group will play each other for the right to play the best Oceanic team for that final spot in the WC).
I can’t help thinking that down the track, Oceania has to join with Asia to form an Asia-Pacific confederation, meaning 5 automatic spots, and if performances were to improve in South Africa, grounds to argue for 6 spots, or at least 5 and a half.
It’s this sort of argument that would encourage the AFC to go down that track.
Some of these smaller Pacific nations are easily as good as nations such as Bhutan, and would slot into the preliminary rounds seamlessly.
True Tah said | August 26th 2008 @ 12:37pm | Report comment
Towser,
setting up a composite Islander team would have a lot of issues, the Pacific Islands are not as homogenous as say, the West Indies are, the Polynesians (i.e. Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti) are considerably differant to the Melanesians (Papuans, Fijians, Solomon Islanders, New Caledonia) culturally and physically.
Additionally, it is a bit racist to have a team whereby you need to be an Islander to play in it, it sounds a bit like the NSL clubs.
By no means is futbol the only sporting career available to these guys, as there are far more Pacific Islanders playing professional rugby in Europe and Japan and NFL in the States than playing professional futbol around the world.
Given that Tahiti and New Caledonia are French colonies, maybe the French futbol association would help out with these? Karembeu played for France, and I guess guys in these colonies see themselves as French as well.
I understand that a number of Solomon Islanders play professionally in the NZ domestic league, why doesn’t FFA make these players exempt in the A-League. The Island countries are best served by having their best players in any sports play in pro leagues around the world, and Australia is in a position to help out.
I guess a relevant example is in Brisbane rugby, Uni-Norths get quite a few Papuan players (Puk-Puks, means crocodiles) they have an arrangement where these guys can come down, get the benefit of better facilities and exposure to a higher level of play.
Midfielder said | August 26th 2008 @ 1:28pm | Report comment
AS I see it Oceania will collapse in time and be absorbed into Asia. With the existing Oceania teams as a group with Asia where the winner will play in the final number of teams for the by then 5 or 6 Asian spots.
dasilva said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:07pm | Report comment
It is not racist to have a islander club. You can have non-islander players but they count as overseas players. So Australian plays in the islander club and is considered a foreigner. There is no problems are is not “racist”
Towser said | August 26th 2008 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
True Tah
Understand the differences culturally racially in Oceania . Also that Fijiaans Maoris etc are physically suited to Rugby,but cant see for the life of me what thats got to do with islanders who choose to play football ,which is what I was talking about , which this article is about & how we improve the standard of football in the area.
My local football club in Brisbane(BPL) is also is sympathetic to islanders & has had quite a few on their books. However that is not really getting them to the next step above.
Why should we have to help out anyway?. We have no obligation as a country as they are another country bound by the rules of FIFA as we are.
If FIFA puts forth a PLAN for Oceania with a concrete path for progression in Oceania & we are part of that plan,then yes we will be involved.
But it is pointless any country including us going out on a limb ,if FIFA are not bothered about Oceania.
The first step is to integrate them into Asia.& into their Vision Asia program for developing countries. In this case Vision Oceania a whole region. The plan would then have to consider the difficulties of developing a region rather than a country. Until that happens the area wont get out of the stalls. If nothing happens its permanently munching hay in the stables.
Koala Bear said | August 26th 2008 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
Jimbo,
It’s the fifth best, that the Oceania Champions have to play off for a world cup birth.. Nonetheless, I gave you a cheer as too often we are neglecting the Oceania region.. This is to me why, how important it is, to secure the 2018 FIFA world cup, as the whole Oceania region will be part of and benefit from the extravaganza the most important sporting event on earth.. We may, I hope, even see European and Sth American national teams stop over in the Pacific Islands, on route to Australia; doing some preparation work, and wouldn’t that be fantastic for the island nations to get a glimpse of these high ranking elite teams train, or play a game or two en route to Australia .. Another good reason why we desperately need to secure the 2018 FIFA world cup event..
~~~~~~~
KB
jimbo said | August 26th 2008 @ 4:01pm | Report comment
Yes - spot on Pip and KB,
the 5th best team overall in the AFC play the Oceania champions home and away over 2 legs in an elimination match for the final WC spot.
To determine the 5th best in Asia, the 2 teams finishing 3rd in the 2 final elimination groups play each other home and away over 2 legs and the winner is the 5th Asian placed country and plays the final elimination/qualification match against Oceania Champions.
Clear as mud?
I explained all this in another article but didn’t want to repeat myself again.
albatross said | August 26th 2008 @ 6:05pm | Report comment
Eventually FIFA is going to get sick of China not qualifying for the WCF and the fix will be in to carve up the Asian Zone and guarantee them a place as has been achieved for the USA.
The USA play in the CONCACAF zone which is a joke played on the rest of the world by FIFA. CONCACAF nations can’t muster a top 20 FIFA ranking between them and has only two national sides in the top 60 but they get 3.5 places.
The break up of the Asian confed will mean the end of Oceania which would be a good thing. NZ would play in Asia which is where it should be and the small nations will be able to play against comparable competition in an Asian-Oceania zone and not suffer the disheartening 10+ goal losses that they have had to endure against giants like Australia
dasilva said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:05pm | Report comment
When Australia left Oceania it was under the condition that we still support Oceania. If we just left Oceania to rot then we will look very bad. We still have an obligation ot help the oceania region in football. An islander team in the A-league has also been proposed by Lowy to ensure continued support from Oceania for the World Cup bid.
Midfielder said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:09pm | Report comment
Dasilva
Correct but TBH I still think it is better to bring Oceania into Asia as there own special group.
One advantage of having a team from PNG and Island nations is the extra 11 million viewers and I would assume a quite high rating as it would be their only side in a major league of any kind.
True Tah said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:32pm | Report comment
Midfielder
where are these 11 million viewers you talk about? Which country?
Are you talking about a team in the A-League? They are only shown on Pay TV, I don’t know how many pay TV subscribers there are throughout the South Pacific, but it would be nowhere near 11 million,.
PNG loves its league, they are league fundamentalists, yet the NRL has not given them a side, and for a very good reason.
Oceania should be a part of Asia, its a no brainer, the likes of the Solomon Islands would love to have a crack against India, Bhutan, Phillippines, etc, what is stopping them?
dasilva said | August 26th 2008 @ 8:55pm | Report comment
I think whats stopping them is that they will be a burden for AFC. THey are having massive problems professionalising the game in undeveloped countries in Asia. Why add more countries to their problems? I think thats the biggest reason stopping OCeania from joining. If all Oceania team has professional and decent team the people at AFC would be the first to support a merger but in all respect to the oceania region, having them join with the exception of New Zealand will probably weaken AFC not strenghten it.
unless Fifa intervenes, Oceania will be staying as is for a while yet.
Koala Bear said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:05pm | Report comment
True Tah,
I can’t be sure of Oceania TV viewers. However, apparently the A-League is beamed into Singapore live I believe.. What does that have to do with Oceania? Absolutely nothing .. I just thought I would bring it up.. However, you would get 11 million there perhaps..
~~~~~~~
KB
dasilva said | August 26th 2008 @ 9:09pm | Report comment
Some one go on wiki and get a population of all the islander countrie. That might add up to 11 million although I haven’t done the maths yet. I think that was hte quote Frank Lowy said that it was 11 million so I trust his words that thats the populatio nof the oceania region
Midfielder said | August 26th 2008 @ 11:56pm | Report comment
TT
I got the 11 million from a site some time back but in includes all of NG and the island nations it does add up.
Also league own PNG now ………… but thats the game they watch the game they play and at international level is football and they like winning against other island teams. They also have a very well established local league.
True Tah said | August 27th 2008 @ 8:27am | Report comment
Midfielder
the point I was getting at was that I doubt that 11 million of Islanders have easy access to a TV, let alone Pay TV subscriptions.
Particularly in PNG, there are vast areas without television, and of the 11 million figure, PNG would make up over 50%. There are still parts of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa where this is true also.
Places like New Caledonia and Tahiti would already have considerable support, although I reckon that they would probably more interested in the French League than A-League, but this might change is say a Noumea based side was placed in the comp .
albatross said | August 27th 2008 @ 9:26am | Report comment
>>Some one go on wiki and get a population of all the islander countrie. That might add up to 11 million although I haven’t done >>the maths yet. I think that was hte quote Frank Lowy said that it was 11 million so I trust his words that thats the populatio nof >>the oceania region
>>>the point I was getting at was that I doubt that 11 million of Islanders have easy access to a TV, let alone Pay TV >>>subscriptions.
The question that Frank should be asked is “would you build or buy a shopping centre anywhere in the Oceania zone other than New Zealand”?
The Bear said | August 27th 2008 @ 10:49am | Report comment
I like the prospect of carving west asia from east asia and the pacifics . West would include all the Middle Easties, Uzbeks, India and China. That would leave the Japs, Koreans, Thais, Indos, Malays, Aussies, Kiwis, and PNG/Pacifics.
That’s a decent split, imo. 3 from each.
Graciously,
The Bear
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 10:56am | Report comment
China in West Asia?
Your geography is worse than your logic!
The Bear said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:06am | Report comment
Please Pip, China borders Uzbek. Give it a rest. If India and China, the booming continents can be grouped with the Middle East, and Australia and the Pacifics be grouped with SEAsia, then the logic is sound.
Graciously,
The Bear
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Speaking of geography, and going back to the population of Oceania, if you exclude Australia, Oceania has a population of 14.8 million.
New Zealand has 4.1 million, so that reduces again to 10.7 million.
That’s starting to resemble Lowy’s figure of 11 million, except that that figure includes the “oceanic” part of Indonesia, i.e. Irian Jaya, which has a population of 4.2 million.
So the true figure is 6.5 million.
Papua New Guinea makes up 5.1 million and Fiji 0.9 million.
In other words, all the tiny island nation states come to a total of 0.5 million.
This should not surprise us at all, because the vast bulk of them have populations of between 2,000 and 100,000.
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:11am | Report comment
Russia borders Europe on the one hand and North America on the other; sorry but to talk of China as belonging to West Asia is a little off beam.
True Tah said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:19am | Report comment
Pippininu
I reckon the 11 million figure is pretty close. The PNG population is actually 6.3m, and this is the Oceanic side.
Tonga - 100,000
Samoa - 200,000
New Caledonia - 250,000
Solomons - 500,000
Fiji - 850,000
French Polynesia - 200,000
Kiribati - 100,000
Guam (already part of Asia) - 170,000
Vanuatu - 200,000
Didn’t bother thinking about the other countries, as they would have less than 100,000.
Haven’t included Hawaii, as am sure they have a side in US MLS already.
At the end of the day, the futbol interests of the South Pacific would be best served by getting them into Asia, and not by including an A-League side, because an A-League side would be a failure - like the Japanese Empire before them, futbol/FFA should consolidate Australia before they try to invade the South Pacific.
Frank Lowy might know a fair bit about shopping centres, but I dont think he understands the economic climate of the South Pacific, and the fact that a fair chunk of the population do not have easy access to a TV…then again maybe he does, which explains why you won’t find a Westfield shopping centre in Nuku-alofa, Honiara or Papeete.
True Tah said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:34am | Report comment
The Bear/Pippinu,
maybe having West Asia and East Asia would not only give China a better chance of qualifying, but wouldn’t it also give India a better chance of qualifying?
I guess the decent teams in West Asia would be Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, whereas East Asia has the likes China, Korea, Japan, Australia and Indonesia - far more competitive.
There is no way China would be in West Asia, I agree with Pippinu.
Cpaaa said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:35am | Report comment
..what about apan pacific style comp with oceania. a-league all-stars ( maybe include the imports) to take on the countries PNG, NC, NZ or who ever passes the criteria formed by the ponchos of the FFA. the manager of the year will coach our allstar-roos. it adds a yearly competition to Oceania (ffa administration works with oceania to make it work) and also gives our managers a look in to the pick of the crop from oceania. not our socceroos squad but a squad disguised as one.
what you think ??
The Bear said | August 27th 2008 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
TT, my “grouping” is all about travel times and proximity. And number of places for WC entry i.e. “West Asia” can have two spots, and “Asia-Pacific” can have 4, if required to balance the numbers.
And with the amount of rubbing of hands together in FIFA HQ regarding India and China’s emergence, they will want India (and China) to have a relatively smooth ride into the “big dance”, soon enough.
?Pip, who said China is IN West Asia? All i suggested is that it is close enough to India and the former Soviet states AND the Middle East to be practically grouped.
If Australia can be included in “Asia”, how is THAT any stretch of semantics and geography, compared to what i would suggest?
By including the Pacifics, and destroying the Oceania, my system would be feasable. Fiji team won’t be travelling to Uzbekistan. The cost and time would be prohibitive. Even to China.
Seriously, have a cookie.
Graciously,
The Bear
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 12:32pm | Report comment
Bear
I said further up that Oceania should be dismantled and they should form part of a larger Asian confederation - there ain’t no need to split them up into two - everyone’s interests are better served by having one large confederation with 6 qualifying spots of their own.
But all that aside - nowhere do the existing confederations align perfectly with the continents - which is understandable since the definition of a continent is vague in the first place. Africa comes the closest, but even there, a large chunk of Egypt spills over into the Asian continent.
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 12:38pm | Report comment
True Tah
Re the population of Oceania, don’t forget I was excluding all of Australia and New Zealand, and Irian Jaya.
Wikipedia shows 5.1 million as the population for PNG - but anyway, even if it’s what you’ve written, if you add all those numbers, you’re going to fall a few mill short of 11 mill.
But even if Oceania has a population of 11 million - what does it mean? Indonesia has a population in excess of 200 million, and so forth, and so on.
What was the question again??
The Bear said | August 27th 2008 @ 1:07pm | Report comment
Pip, so in effect we have Asia Pacific, rather than Asia AND Ocenia? It may be impossible for Pacific Island teams to travel to Central or Western Asia, but if the group stages are done correctly, then sure. Otherwise, a Central Asia confederation (Middle East to China) and a Pacific Confederation (SEAsia, Australia, NZ, PNG and islanders) needs to be considered.
This may a more de-centralised approach for the region, and in effect be able to cater to the enormous geographical area that a combined confederation would fail to adequately service. I reckon the Japs and Koreans would be all too happy to not have to deal with the Chinese, too. And the Middle Eastern countries feel a better chance to be represented.
Graciously,
The Bear
jimbo said | August 27th 2008 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
There are 25,000 islands in the pacific and there is no official census for them all.
Most of them will be under water after global warming anyway, so forget Oceania, they’ll all move to NZ or Australia and we’ll all be in Asia by then.
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
Bear
Yes - one large Asia-Pacific confederation is the desireable outcome. We want to be part of a meaty confederation - and that fits the bill. One would think that 6 qualifying spots wouldn’t be too far away (especially when you consider that the Americas currently have 8 spots in total).
The way Asia currently does its various qualifying stages would barely change. The bulk of the island nations would go into the initial home and away knock out stage, meaning there is far less travel than you might first think. This could be done amongst themselves, better still, it could be done between them and the other no-hoper Asian countries, e.g. Bhutan.
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 1:17pm | Report comment
Jimbo
Spot on! (nothing like cutting the cr@p out and getting to the heart of the matter)
The Bear said | August 27th 2008 @ 1:37pm | Report comment
LOL, Jimbo. Yes they’ll be under water by the time FIFA ratify any changes. RIP Oceania.
And Pip, can’t see Fiji traveling to Bhutan. The economies will sh1t themsleves, respectively. Keep it with two feds. Just draw the border a little differently. Meh, just imo ; )
Nth America have their own little party, why can’t Central Asia (india and china are set to boom past usa) and AsiaPacific have their own, too?
Graciously,
The Bear
dasilva said | August 27th 2008 @ 5:08pm | Report comment
I think people are being really hopeful about oceania joining Asia. It is not going to happen for a while yet. Its benefit Oceania but tell me how much does it better Asia. You guys really have to answer that question before this debate to continue.
Sure they get a half a spot in the world cup but in all honesty they already have it. THey just have to beat New zealand to get to the world cup. How much different would that be if NEw zealand join Asia. THe oceania side will be a burden to AFC. They won’t join Asia for the same reason why some countries don’t accept refugees. I’m all for humanitarian and support rescuing the OCeania confederation but I’m quite cynical about their chances. THe countries will rot in Oceania for a while yet.
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 5:19pm | Report comment
dasilva
I think the real benefit is in wanting to advance from 5 spots to 6 spots - sure, that’s down the track, but mark my words, it will happen.
Let us say, for argument’s sake, three Asian teams make the final 16 next WC. Couple that possibility with the Asian confederation having over half the world’s population and nearly one third of all nations (if Oceania was part of it) - would there be a case for denying Asia a 6th spot?
The answer is no.
jimbo said | August 27th 2008 @ 5:22pm | Report comment
Would New Zealand or New Caledonia have more chance of qualifying for South Africa if they were in our Asian Qualification group or if they played a one off Home and Away (not the channel 7 drama) against the 5th best Asian team.
Wonder what Ricki Herbert would choose - stay in Oceania?
Pippinu said | August 27th 2008 @ 5:25pm | Report comment
Jimbo
as things are, you are correct - but if we’re talking about 6 spots - that might change the equation slightly.
dasilva said | August 27th 2008 @ 6:10pm | Report comment
Pippinu.
4.5 (from asia) + 0.5 (from oceania) = 6 ?????
jimbo said | August 27th 2008 @ 11:59pm | Report comment
KB,
yes Fox have struck a deal with the Asian TV networks to show A-League games live in Asia for the first time ever. Doesn’t say which countries but suggest Korea and Japan as well as Singapore.
The games are also shown delayed to some other countries including India and China.
FTA as well as pay TV and potential TV audience of over 1 billion.
Fox are making hay while the sun shines on their deal with the FFA.
Another reason FFA will ask for (and get) a lot more money when the A-League and Socceroos TV rights are up for negotiation next time.
The benefits from the move into Asia, just keep adding up for Australian football.
jimbo said | August 30th 2008 @ 3:32pm | Report comment
dasilva,
I think Pip was suggesting if we both do well, that is Australia and New Zealand become regular WC Finalists and the number of footballers in Asia continues to grow at the same fast pace, then we might be able to influence FIFA into forming a combined Asia/Oceania group with 6 WC finals places.
Maybe a move into Asia could have the same beneficial impact for Oceania countries as it has for Australia, or is it dependant on having a more realistic chance to qualify for the WC finals and not a smaller chance?
Adam Pearce said | August 31st 2008 @ 9:17pm | Report comment
Its really simple integrate the whole Oceania region into Asia.That would mean teams that the only time they face decent opposition is at the end of a hiding by New Zealand or earlier on Australia,they would face Asia nations of which like them are coming up in Asia.If they get used of qualifying for Asia tournaments and club sides get to play in the competitions below the ACL the standard of the game will improve.
Sure there will logistical problems but that happens in every confederation now. I mean if the confederations cant afford certain trips i think the AFC will help them out just for the fact they have to get fixtures done. Not to mention there will be more support from government etc because the nations arent stuck in a dead end confederation with little chance of getting to the world cup and due to the weakness of the confederation even less chance of competiting on a real international stage like the world cup.
We must still help Oceania by not giving handouts or other good will token gestures but by the best way possible by going down to FIFA and saying get rid of this cruel joke of a federation and get the AFC to integrate them into Asia otherwise football is going to fade into oblivion in this region.