Enough is enough. After years of instability, poor management and most worryingly poor football, it is time the football community asks itself what to do with the troubled Oceania Football Confederation.
With a mere 14 member nations (most of which are ranked outside the top 100) and only half a World Cup spot, the Oceania Football Confederation has no influence in the world of football.
Australia were quick to jump the sinking Oceanic ship, ditching the confederation as part of a total revamp of football in the country, and leaving New Zealand as the only ‘major’ footballing nation to represent the confederation.
A merger with the Asian Football Confederation could give OFC members a much needed boost. The sad truth is that Oceania is holding them back.
With little financial power removing the chance of fostering talent in the region, one must wonder what the point is in isolating a handful of Pacific nations in the world of football.
No one wants to take on Oceania’s troubles, as little potential is seen in the member nations.
However, this doesn’t have to be the case.
New Zealand alone boasts great potential as a footballing nation, and like Australia, is in the midst of a footballing rebirth, aiming to join the AFC.
Should the Kiwis jump ship, Oceania will become even less significant.
There appears to be only one solution to this problem, and that is to merge the AFC and the OFC.
The AFC is a region of great growth and football potential, becoming a new land of football talent and riches.
Even a fraction of this money could significantly change the fortunes of many Pacific football federations, helping unearth some real talent and bringing a level of professionalism to the region not yet seen.
A merger would also provide New Zealand with more opportunities to play a part in international football.
Football is a global game, a fair game that anyone can play.
Unfortunately the OFC is holding back its members, and preventing football from living up to its potential in the region.
It’s time to merge Asia and Oceania to give the Pacific nations a fair go at football.
Cozza
Guest
NZ or greater Oceania FC into Asian Football is not going to happen for at least 20 years.
Riva Philip
Guest
What about creating two new confederations - 1) West Asia (WAC) - 2 WC spots 2. East Asia & Pacific (EAPC) - 3 WC spots This will also ensure teams like New Caledonia to avoid travelling to Lebanon or Saudi Arabia. West Asia Confederation ---------------------------------- World Cup Spots: 2 1. Iran 2. Uzbekistan 3. Jordan 4. United Arab Emirates 5. Oman 6. Iraq 7. Qatar 8. Kuwait 9. Saudi Arabia 10. Tajikistan 11. Lebanon 12. Bahrain 13. Turkmenistan 14. Afghanistan 15. Syria 16. Kyrgyzstan 17. Maldives 18. India 19. Palestine 20. Pakistan 21. Nepal 22. Bangladesh 23. Sri Lanka 24. Yemen 25. Bhutan East Asia & Pacific Confederation ---------------------------------- World Cup Spots: 3 1. Japan 2. Australia 3. Korea Republic (South Korea) 4. New Zealand 5. New Caledonia 6. China PR (China) 7. Korea DPR (North Korea) 8. Thailand 9. Philippines 10. Tahiti (French Polynesia) 11. Hong Kong 12. Vietnam 13. Singapore 14. Malaysia 15. Myanmar (Burma) 16. Solomon Islands 17. Indonesia 18. Laos 19. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) 20. Guam 21. Samoa 22. Vanuatu 23. Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) 24. Timor-Leste (East Timor) 25. Mongolia 26. Fiji 27. American Samoa 28. Tonga 29. Papua New Guinea 30. Cambodia 31. Macau 32. Cook Islands 33. Northern Marianas 34. Kiribati 35. Tuvalu 36. Niue
michael
Guest
Oceanian will get smaller and smaller if new zealand new caledonia jump ship
michael
Guest
Asia is subdivided in regions anyway that have there own tournament you could even have australia back in oceania for sub regional qualifiers then so many go through to play in the main world cup qualifier parts and even regional championships as asean have one. Northern marianas are part of east asian sub group why i dont know? But there could be a oceania division and it be collectibly calked asia oceania confederation
gazza
Guest
Host a world cup in New Zealand would do it , they have big rugby stadiums that could be used and the other ocenia nations could play for a spot by reducing the 13 European spots to 12 and giving Oceania 1 so 2 Oceania teams would be there the hosts and 1 more
Kelvin
Guest
I think the best is to make AFC split in AFC West (with Middle East, Tadzjkistan, Kyrgyzstan,, Afghanistan and such) and AFC East with nations like Japan, Indonesia, Philipines, China, South Korea, North Korea and the OFC nations
Avram Murphy
Guest
How about add Ozz and Pacific to CONMEBOL (South America) ?
Gus W
Guest
Well, some people are saying NZ doesnt want to move to Asia. This is a lie, ryan nelson has said a few things bwt them moving to asia, and who wants to be in a confederation where new calidonia and fiji are your fiercest rivals?
Griffo
Roar Guru
We were a large whale in a small fish pond that was Oceania Football Confederation. New Zealand barely had room to move as the big fish in that pond. When Australia left for Asia, New Zealand enjoyed all the benefits the big fish in small football ponds usually have: they started to make the major tournaments regularly. They haven't had enough time in my opinion to enjoy and make use of that position. Australia for the most part had a few decades or so. 2014 will be New Zealands second world cup cycle where they will most likely play off for a world cup spot without having to beat Australia in Oceania. Jumping to the AFC now would pit New Zealand against Australia again, as well as the likes of South and North Korea, Japan and some of the rising teams like Uzbekistan. Pros and cons in terms of development or making the major tournaments. Making major tournaments will help their development to a certain degree for now which I think is what NZF is reluctant to give up so easily.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
cynical tactics can be tiring, I agree.
TomC
Guest
Thinking about it, perhaps a better solution is to make qualfiication for major tournaments more regional based, at least until the last round. So Australia would compete against ASEAN and East Asian nations in the first round of World Cup qualifying, leaving the travel for the end, and Middle Eastern nations would play each other. That would cut down on travel as a whole. Seems to work for the Asian Champions League.
TomC
Guest
It's always going to be hard to produce our best football playing in less-than-ideal conditions in the Middle East. I don't mean that those games aren't going to challenge us, more that they don't challenge us in a particularly beneficial way. The biggest issue when playing in those countries is dealing with the conditions. Perhaps I would feel differently if it wasn't for the defensive, cynical tactics employed by almost every Middle Eastern national team. I don't see how painstaking slogfests are going to equip us to compete against Spain and Germany. While it might be a shorter travelling distance from Europe to the Middle East, until FIFA changes the international schedule the Socceroos will usually have to travel to Australia or East Asia as well, so I don't think that's much of a consideration. In any case, my problem with the AFC isn't really about the costs and benefits for Australia, but the sheer madness of having one confederation comprise (I think) almost two-thirds of the world's population, just because medieval Europeans decided to call everything east of Constantinople 'Asia'. All AFC teams have to contend with exhausting travel to places they don't share any historical, cultural or sporting ties with, all on a schedule designed for European competition. Plus the whole confederation system is meant to ensure representation from each part of the world, and at the last world cup there was no participant from the great space between Greece and North Korea.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Oman gave us some grief lately and Iran and Kuwait have in the past. UAE and Uzbekistan seem to be giving the Olyroos troubles at the moment. Jordan is looking very composed at the moment. Even at the club level Al Saad just won the ACL and Al Ittihad has on a number of occassions in the past. For the Socceroos Dubai is a hell of a lot closer than Melbourne. Most Asian nations complain about the long flights to Australia, not the Middle East. I guess I believe that the stronger the confederation and the more difficult the opposition the stronger Australian sides will be when they reach global competition finals. Having difficult trips facing tricky opposition hardens the competitve edge of our teams; and that is a good thing, surely?
TomC
Guest
I don't think it improves the competitiveness of the confederation, but I think the benefit we currently get out of playing the Middle Eastern teams is marginal at best, especially considering the travel involved.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
I have spent quite some time in the Pacific. Whilst there is little to gain for the Polynesian and Micronesian countries the situation is not the same for the Melanesian countries where football is extremely popular. One of their primary issues is the lack of funds the confederation has and the costs of flying around the Pacific for uncompetitive matches. The AFC has sufficient funds for the best two or three teams of Oceania to join regional competitions and boost their footballing stocks. Teams like Solomon Islands would benefit immeasurably by taking on the likes of Laos, Tajikistan and Yemen. The mooted split in Asia is self-defeating and ill-considered. How does swapping Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan & Uzbekistan for Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands & PNG improve the competitiveness of the confederation and subsequently the strength of Australian representative and club sides?
Midfielder
Guest
NZ see themselves in every WC other the the senior male WC... they will qualify for them all ... and get a two match chance at the senior mens WC... in Asia they would be lucky to make any.. they will choose to stay ...
jugo bonito
Guest
they won't need to.. the former Oceania would play a mini league-qualification round and only the top couple would progress to further qualification rounds. Hopefully if Oceania joined an East Asia/Asia Pacific confederation, the furthest they would need to go would be china.
King Robbo
Guest
One small reason the Oceania region was conceived (I once read) in 1986 was to ensure Israel did not have an easy passage to the world cup based on the perceived security risks (Previously they followed Australia's path to the world cup). Obviously they could not play under the asian confederation due to tension with some of their arab neighbours, so they were forced to join the more difficult route through europe. It makes sense for oceania to join asia and for asia to get an extra half spot for qualifying. Fiji, samoa, tonga etc can play each other, like the smaller countries eg Nepal in Asia already currently do in the early rounds of world cup qualification. Surely these countries associations can afford one trip abroad for a home and away knock out series.
Roger
Guest
"as for splitting asia, west asia don’t deserve anything more than a half spot based on their form and you can guarantee they will demand/pay for those if we split which would lead to a scenario that is actually worse for us." Yea, those were my thoughts too. The Middle East would demand AT LEAST 1 spot, maybe more. That is not a good trade off for Asia given the recent performance of middle eastern countries.
Roger
Guest
I don't necessarily disagree with splitting the Middle East and Asia, but do you really think the Middle East will be happy with just one spot? I think no. So then you'd have to say that they have to get two, or maybe 1.5? But then that only leaves Asia with 2.5 or 3. That's going to be a competitive Asia! Personally, I'd rather have Australia take on the middle east nations, and retain the 4.5 spots for Asia.