LXIV
New Member
The latest trendy online fad over in the Americas is the discussion about the potential merging or at least closing a sisterhood between the North American CONCACAF and South American CONMEBOL for a "Pan-American" federation. The "more vocal" opinion seems to revolve around the "it's so dumb it just might work" interpretation whereas the more levelheaded of us realize that this'll surely happen when pigs fly.
Another closely related topic of discussion is whether FMF (Mexico) should leave CONCACAF and join COMNEBOL.
Maybe if the UK folks formed their own federation separate from UEFA post-Brexit, this would actually be a serious topic to consider
OPs opinion:
I don't particularly have an opinion regarding CONMEBOL but I do have the personal view that CONCACAF and by extension its domination by both US Soccer and Canada Soccer is a shallow and vain organisation. Their quickness to turn against he-who-shall-not-be-named in the most recent FFE fiasco in spite of spending the last half-decade cozying up demonstrates a snake-like corporate personality and a desperation to be included in serious assoc discussions while we prioritize courting soon-to-be retirees and ignoring homegrown development. We co-host 2* World Cups (Canada: 0.5 + US: 1.5)* and all of a sudden we want to be included as an equal to UEFA? Fat chance. Any sort of merger operation will blow up in seconds.
Canada in particular has an internal divorce between the provincial federations of Quebec Soccer vs the rest of the nation, who haven't followed suit with a national identity merger, and although this is a separate topic of discussion it puts into perspective how unprepared Canada would be for any sort of big moves like this.
Some believe that it is sensible geographically, like as if teams can just take a bus ride through the Panama Canal and the Amazon for a regular away game. They forget that even our domestic leagues have to be split along Eastern and Western conferences already. The logistics would be more like the AFC, with talks about further regional subdivisions. As a reminder, CONCACAF is so centered on the US and Canadian national federations that the regional NAFU doesn't exist as an organisation.
On specifically Mexico hopping south, I can see why they would wish to, on account of probably getting the stiff end of their two northern counterparts, but the FMF alone probably doesn't have the internal strength and sophistication to handle the logistics of such a move. If they did go ahead with this pipe dream, I feel they would be in for a rude awakening.
Another closely related topic of discussion is whether FMF (Mexico) should leave CONCACAF and join COMNEBOL.
Maybe if the UK folks formed their own federation separate from UEFA post-Brexit, this would actually be a serious topic to consider
OPs opinion:
I don't particularly have an opinion regarding CONMEBOL but I do have the personal view that CONCACAF and by extension its domination by both US Soccer and Canada Soccer is a shallow and vain organisation. Their quickness to turn against he-who-shall-not-be-named in the most recent FFE fiasco in spite of spending the last half-decade cozying up demonstrates a snake-like corporate personality and a desperation to be included in serious assoc discussions while we prioritize courting soon-to-be retirees and ignoring homegrown development. We co-host 2* World Cups (Canada: 0.5 + US: 1.5)* and all of a sudden we want to be included as an equal to UEFA? Fat chance. Any sort of merger operation will blow up in seconds.
Canada in particular has an internal divorce between the provincial federations of Quebec Soccer vs the rest of the nation, who haven't followed suit with a national identity merger, and although this is a separate topic of discussion it puts into perspective how unprepared Canada would be for any sort of big moves like this.
Some believe that it is sensible geographically, like as if teams can just take a bus ride through the Panama Canal and the Amazon for a regular away game. They forget that even our domestic leagues have to be split along Eastern and Western conferences already. The logistics would be more like the AFC, with talks about further regional subdivisions. As a reminder, CONCACAF is so centered on the US and Canadian national federations that the regional NAFU doesn't exist as an organisation.
On specifically Mexico hopping south, I can see why they would wish to, on account of probably getting the stiff end of their two northern counterparts, but the FMF alone probably doesn't have the internal strength and sophistication to handle the logistics of such a move. If they did go ahead with this pipe dream, I feel they would be in for a rude awakening.
