[Soccer] Why does the UK get more than 1 team?

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I was going to post this as a "funny picture" in the appropriate thread, but then it occurred to me.. this is a valid question!



Duh, we've all been corrected on it enough to know that the UK consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But by this logic... couldn't the US field 50 teams (or at the very least, two since Texas was a sovereign nation before being annexed)? I mean, nobody has "Scottish citizenship," they have UK citizenship. Yet there is a "national" team in FIFA competition for all four major parts of the Kingdom. Which, if you really want to nitpick, means there are two Irish teams as well.


Heh.. wouldn't that be a hoot though.. Texas at the world cup.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

This article goes into it in some detail.

Long story short, it's because FIFA does whatever it likes. It defines a country based on whatever it wants, and right now it sees England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as separate countries.

Also, I've heard that FIFA likes to define a country as one with an independent football association. So, for example, England has its own organization (the FA), Scotland has its own (the SFA), Wales has its own (FAW), etc. Though this does raise further questions about why Cardiff City and Swansea City, both being teams based in Welsh cities, get to play in the English league, and oh god it's all a mess.
 
jwhouk

jwhouk

As a translator, you should have figured out long ago that there is nothing easily explained about English.
 
Jay

Jay

For a country to be represented in any FIFA tournament they must have their own national football association.

These "countries" do not meet the criteria to be named a full country and are a multi-nation state, do have their own football association....the UK does not. The reason they have individual FA is because they invented the game and our FA's are older than FIFA itself.

It's a cultural and historical thing, I guess.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Man, imagine how confusing it'd get if a country had competing sports associations... like the National and American leagues in baseball. If there was a world series for baseball they... oh. Heh heh heh.
 
drifter

drifter

Jay said:
I did answer the question didn't i shitlord?

Or maybe we can pretend its amusing to keep reading Americans continue to find themselves special and actually and realistically think they deserve another football team that can equally ignore.
Click to expand...
No, Manchester Fellow answered the question, you're just the one trying to take credit for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top