FourFourTwo magazine this month ran a letter from Cheeks Overton, Townsville which said that if the NZ Team in the A-League won the comp they would not be eligable to play in the Asian Champions League, surely this is not true. Does anyone know for sure.
Kiwi now living on Sunshine Coast thinks the team based in
Wgtn is the best thing that could have happened. Let hope the
Stadium becomes a fortress.
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That's correct. A-league is an Australian competition. If NZ
team wins A-league, it can't play in the Asian Champions League,
because NZ is in the Oceania Confederation, not the Asian
Confederation.
football tragic for too long
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But as there is a stand down period for players from the A-League
team to a NZ team surely that means the team is recognised as an
team playing in an Asian Comp
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Actually, there's another thing as well.
Wellington Phoenix can't play in Asian Champions League even
if it wins the A-league, because it isn't an Australian team.
But neither can it play in the Oceania Champions League, because NZ
Soccer has said the NZFC is the route to Oceania.
So NZ's only professional team cannot make either Champions
Leagues!
football tragic for too long
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No, Wellington Phoenix is a NZ team playing in an Australian competition (not an Asian one).
Stand down for individual players is not the issue - that's
irrelevant.
The issue is that a NZ team cannot play in the Asian
Champion's League because NZ is not in Asia.
football tragic for too long
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I find that very disturbing and have just emailed the FFA for
clarification. So if I get a reply I will post their
response.
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The Phoenix are an Australian club, playing in New Zealand.
By the strict rules of the AFC they should be able to play in the
competition if they win the A-League but there is an
'understanding' with the FFA that they won't.
The other problem would be that for the AFC you are only allowed 3 foreign players meaning we'd have to go and recruit an entire squad for the comppetition as our NZ players would be inelligible.
The other problem would be that for the AFC you are only allowed 3 foreign players meaning we'd have to go and recruit an entire squad for the comppetition as our NZ players would be inelligible.
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Well I'd love to f*cken win th A League and then say to who ever
came second, oh well, we're the best but we're not allowed.... so
....Sydney.... you can play in it.
Oi Oi Edgecumbe... lets have a clean sheet
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The other problem is that NZers are classed as foreigners so even if we won most of our squad would be ineligible
Peoples Republik of Aucklandia
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The Phoenix are an Australian club, playing in New
Zealand.
I support rorts where the club is called the Wellington Phoenix but are actually registered at a post office in regional New South Wales.
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I think that by the time your team is in a position to qualify to the Champions League NZ will probably have been admitted to Asia as well anyway, or the Oceana/Asia confederations merged into one. I feel some sort of move in this area will happen soon.
But if that does not happen perhaps you'll have to convince your PM to let Johnny Howard annex NZ so that you will be able to play Champions League football should you qualify!!! tintin19892007-04-08 22:12:12
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Well Phoenix will be the only club in the world not able to enter
the competition, so we could play off against the winners to see
who is best in the world. Won't be Barca or Real Madrid - this much
we know.
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This was the same issue that existed with the Knights so nothing
has changed there. What I would like to see is the Pheonix
being allowed into the play-offs for the Oceania spot at the World
Championships (which is likely to involve a play-off against the
host nation's champion side if moves in this direction are
approved). This would most likely require the Pheonix to
field more Oceania players.
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This was the same issue that existed with the Knights so nothing
has changed there. What I would like to see is the Pheonix
being allowed into the play-offs for the Oceania spot at the World
Championships (which is likely to involve a play-off against the
host nation's champion side if moves in this direction are
approved). This would most likely require the Pheonix to
field more Oceania players.
It's chnaged alright - if Auckland or Waitakere wins we demand
the right to play them. If TW wins - ah well dreams are free.
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"Well Phoenix will be the only club in the world not able to enter
the competition"
Oh really? I'm pretty sure that my local club in Sydney will
not be able to play in that comp either. There goes that
argument.
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Stupidest problem ever. I don't know how the FFA can (or is
even thinking) of addressing this in the future.
Also, I wouldn't agree to NZ joining Asia. Particularly when the AFC is trying to strengthen Asian nations, admitting a nation that is, at the end of the day, sh*te, is not going to fit in with their grand plan.
Which obviously sucks for NZ, but with the development of Wellington (and possibly the admission of another club into the A-League much further down the track), it could be considered. But I would imagine there is a threshold minimum that NZ would have to meet. I just don't see it happening.
Also, I wouldn't agree to NZ joining Asia. Particularly when the AFC is trying to strengthen Asian nations, admitting a nation that is, at the end of the day, sh*te, is not going to fit in with their grand plan.
Which obviously sucks for NZ, but with the development of Wellington (and possibly the admission of another club into the A-League much further down the track), it could be considered. But I would imagine there is a threshold minimum that NZ would have to meet. I just don't see it happening.
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Yeah as someone alluded to this came up before with the Knights,
when Australia switched to the Asian Confediration. Basically the
FFA just flat out stated that if the Knights won, they would not be
allowed to represent Australia at the Asian Champions league. Which
is fair enough really, it's there competition and the inclusion of
an NZ team is at their discretion. The press talked about it for a
bit, but since the Knights never really threatened to make the
finals, no one really cared that much.
I'm sure the FFA's position will be the same for the Phoenix.
At the time there was some talk about the Knights playing off
againsts the winners of the NZFC but nothing really happened. I'm
not sure this is sensible.
Of course the other point is that I believe Sepp Blatter has
stated that he doesn't believe non professional teams should be
competiting at the club championship (whatever its called). Which
if anything came of it, would possibly leave the Phoenix as
the only eligible club (as far as I know, suspect they would
just can Oceania entry).
With respect to Asia and Ocenania merging, I think it is
pretty much inevitable. Even if Asia doesn't want it, with
Australia gone you have to question the value of the confederation
existing and I suspect FIFA will push towards it one way or the
other.
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I think it is sad that if Wellington win they will not get a place
in the AFC, but maybe you could try and beg the NZFC to have a
play-off to decide the O-league spot, and if Wellington win the
O-league then you wont have to worry about it the next year since
the O-league winner gains automatic entry to the next comp. :)
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