~~~ Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Why are they a member of UEFA Surely it would be more suitable to be party of the Asia set up insteadOr is it due to political reason similar to why Israel are allowed to play in european competitions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moredanlife Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Found this after a quick google search ALMATY, May 11 (Reuters)(DS) - Kazakhstan is to quit the Asian Football Confederation to try to become a member of UEFA, the country's soccer authorities said on Friday."Our experts and fans are deeply convinced that our soccer today needs to be part of UEFA, which in our opinion has the most developed and progressive system of soccer in the world," the Kazakhstan Soccer Federation (KSF) said in a statement. "The absolute majority of fans and soccer experts favours resignation from the AFC and support membership of UEFA," the statement added. "The KSF leadership will spare no effort to achieve membership of UEFA."A large chunk of Kazakh territory lies in Europe, and many refer to the country as being Eurasian rather than Central Asian. UEFA currently has 51 member associations. And http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=20010614&id=lSwhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j3gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6337,2191242 I guess also there'd be access to better revenue streams and the such as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1885 Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 could say the same for turkey, russia, armenia, israel etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 could say the same for turkey, russia, armenia, israel etc Aye but Kazakhstan is twenty miles from Mongolia FFS. Russia at least has the bit west of the Urals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~~~ Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Also Israel is for political reasons, not footballing ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Kazakhstan is partially in Europe, and its football clubs and players were part of UEFA during the entire Soviet Union era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Kazakhstan, like Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia, has territory in Europe and Asia so are entitled to join UEFA or the AFC. They used to be AFC members but left to join UEFA. As to why they chose to join UEFA, I think money is the main motivation. They make a lot more selling television to games against England/Germany/Spain etc than they do selling rights to Asian nations. I suppose there may also be the hope that a Kazakh club could one day qualify for the European Champions League gravy train although that seems a long way off at present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 It wasn't that far away last season when Shakhter Karagandy beat Celtic 2-0 in the first leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 There's also massive differences in WC qualification streams. In UEFA they get a top seed at home every two years and a chance to measure themselves against other 4th/5th/6th seeds. In the AFC they'd probably get a knockout preliminary tie every four years and if they lose, that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~~~ Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Kazakhstan is partially in Europe, and its football clubs and players were part of UEFA during the entire Soviet Union era. it's Central Asia really, That would be similar to try to claim Scotland is partially in scandinavia because of the Shetland Islands No idea why UEFA would accept them. I don't see the benefits of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 it's Central Asia really, That would be similar to try to claim Scotland is partially in scandinavia because of the Shetland Islands No idea why UEFA would accept them. I don't see the benefits of it Depends on where Europe "ends". The Ural River is often seen as the "border" between Europe and Asia, which means part of Kazakhstan falls under Europe. Part of it is defnitely in Central Asia but Central Asia seems to move about depending on who you ask - Afghanistan is central Asia but people constantly harp on about it being in the Middle East (mainly people who don't know where Afghanistan is). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 At the end of the day everyone in UEFA have geographic justifications for being so except Israel... And for those who have a choice between UEFA / CAF, or UEFA / AFC, it makes sense to go with UEFA for prestige, financial, development and competitive reasons. And practicality. Israel have no geographic justification but it's a matter of practicality... UEFA is clearly a more sensible option than their previous one - playing in OCF!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Depends on where Europe "ends". The Ural River is often seen as the "border" between Europe and Asia, which means part of Kazakhstan falls under Europe. Part of it is defnitely in Central Asia but Central Asia seems to move about depending on who you ask - Afghanistan is central Asia but people constantly harp on about it being in the Middle East (mainly people who don't know where Afghanistan is). The problem here is that there's no official definition of where Europe ends. Which is why Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan can all claim to be on whatever continent they want. Kazakhstan is the most far-fetched claim of the "Eurasia" nations, but it seems pretty obvious why they'd choose to be a member of UEFA, and seeing as there's no official border, there's not much that can be done about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~~~ Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 The problem here is that there's no official definition of where Europe ends. Which is why Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan can all claim to be on whatever continent they want. Kazakhstan is the most far-fetched claim of the "Eurasia" nations, but it seems pretty obvious why they'd choose to be a member of UEFA, and seeing as there's no official border, there's not much that can be done about it. UEFA could say no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Why would UEFA want to say no to someone who wants to be a member and who has every right to be part of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~~~ Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Why would UEFA want to say no to someone who wants to be a member and who has every right to be part of it? I'm not saying they would, i'm assuming they could have at time of application to join. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowenan Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 From Wikipedia: Border between Asia and Europe (dividing Eurasia): along the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, the Caucasus and the Urals (historically also north of the Caucasus, along the Kuma–Manych Depression or along the Don River). The entire length of the Ural River is considered the Europe-Asia boundary by most authoritative sources. Rarely, the smaller, shorter Emba River is claimed as the continental boundary, but that pushes "Europe" much further into "Central Asian" Kazakhstan. The Ural River bridge in Orenburg is even labeled with permanent monuments carved with the word "Europe" on one side, "Asia" on the other. Regardless, Kazakhstan has some European territory and is at times included in European political and sports organizations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I'm not saying they would, i'm assuming they could have at time of application to join. They fulfil all the requirements to be a member of UEFA, so it would be difficult to prevent them joining. They tried to prevent Gibraltar joining but were told by CAS that they had to let them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 A bit more info here... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transcontinental_countries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Cyprus I don't understand. It's wholly in Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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