The five new members of CONCACAF are highly
unlikely to be fast-tracked into FIFA membership at the world body's next
Congress later this month in Mauritius.
Although South Sudan joined both the
Confederation of African Football and FIFA inside six months last year, FIFA
does not expect to welcome in Guadeloupe (pictured below at the 2012 Coupe de
l'Outre Mer), Martinique, French Guiana and Saint Martin, or the Dutch island
of Sint Maarten.
A FIFA spokesperson said: “The admittance of
the 5 member associations to CONCACAF (Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana,
St Martin & St Maarten) does not imply automatic or direct membership
to FIFA. Any association seeking affiliation to FIFA must observe FIFA’s
regulations related to the subject.
“The admission of football associations to
FIFA is referred to in many provisions of the FIFA Statutes and in specific
regulations. In particular, art. 10 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes stipulates
that:
"Any Association which is responsible
for organising and supervising football in its country may become a Member of
FIFA. In this context, the expression “country” shall refer to an independent
state recognised by the international community. Furthermore, and as
contemplated in such article, any candidate must have reached a good level of
development in terms of championships, infrastructures, etc.”
Although Guadeloupe, Martinique and French
Guiana have well developed leagues, the infrastructure is less developed in
Saint Martin and Sint Maarten, the Dutch controlled side of the same island.
Saint Martin is unable to take part in the biennial
Coupe de l'Outre Mer for French overseas territories or departments because the
island's association was simply too slow in contacting the French federation,
the FFF, after the first competition was staged in 2008.
Instead, the tiny North American territory of
St Pierre et Miquelon took the last remaining place of what is now an eight
team competition, but St Pierre will not join Concacaf because traveling to
matches is both lengthy and very expensive for an association with just three
clubs.
Sint Maarten do not take part in the annual
ABCS for Dutch-speaking teams in the Caribbean and are unlikely to
either.
“The ABCS Cup is all about Aruba, Bonaire,
Curacao and Suriname,” says Kenneth Jaliens, the manager of Suriname. “That’s
why the name is ABCS.”
Surinam are not even in touch with the
fledgling association on Sint Maarten. Jaliens says the Surinaamse Voetbal Bond
relies on the Dutch FA for contact but the KNVB is not in touch with the Sint
Maarten association.
The KNVB is working with FIFA to develop
pitches at Antriol and Rincon and a mini-pitch at North Salina on Bonaire,
another Dutch-controlled Caribbean island that was welcomed as an associate
member of Concacaf recently and does play in the ABCS Cup, but there has been
no contact whatsoever with Sint Maarten.
Johan van Geijn, international co-ordinator
at the KNVB, says: “We currently have no contacts with St Maarten FA and we
don’t know who’s in charge. Our last interventions were a few years ago and
focused on youth.
“We do not facilitate the islands with
finances. We facilitate courses and for Bonaire we have done something special
with our Goal project: two new artificial fields and an artificial mini-field.”
Quite why Sint Maarten have been allowed into
Concacaf is hard to gauge; certainly the other Dutch islands have no idea and
the move looks increasingly like an attempt to bolster numbers ahead of a bid
for more World Cup finals’ places – just the sort of ploy that Jack Warner
employed in the 1990s.
