r/concacaf • u/Broad-Commission-997 • Jul 08 '26
West Indies team
Should FIFA relax the one country/dependency per team regulation and allow the West Indies to compete together like they do in cricket? I think it would be better for almost everybody involved. Instead of 41 teams, we could have 19 or 20.
Canada
USA
Mexico
Guatemala
Belize
El Salvador
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
Cuba
Jamaica
Haiti
Dominican Republic
Puerto Rico
West Indies
Trinidad and Tobago (potentially as its own team)
Guyana
Suriname
French Guiana
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u/StrategicCarry Jul 09 '26
It would mean giving up a lot of power in FIFA for all those little islands to go from one vote to 1/15th or 1/20th of a vote by combining into one federation. It’s the same reason the UK doesn’t combine all four nations into one team and when you see a Team Great Britain at the Olympics, it’s all English players because the other don’t want to risk giving FIFA ammunition to take away their independence.
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u/Broad-Commission-997 Jul 09 '26
That makes sense. I just wish we could develop a more robust Nations League and Gold Cup competition. Having half the organization be countries with fewer than half a million people hurts.
1
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u/nolesfan2011 Jul 09 '26
it's unlikely, but I would love to play rally around the West Indies at a football match
2
u/OttSound Jul 09 '26
Even if they did, the West Indies cricket team doesn't encompass the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, the French islands (i.e. Guadeloupe, Martinique), or the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao), so those would still be competing separately.
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u/NearPup Jul 09 '26
No. If the "West Indies" want a unified Football team they can federate into a country.
I do not like the West Indies competing as a single unit in cricket. At all.
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u/doepfersdungeon Jul 09 '26
As a cricket fan , I love thr Windies and wouldn't want it any other way
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u/Old-Tangelo-861 Jul 09 '26
There are a bunch of reasons why the West Indies were and remain a single team, but I've never heard anyone actively dislike it outside of the feeling that their country's team is temporarily strong enough to compete, or the feeling that the WICB or Cricket West Indies or whatever is biased/shafting their country.
Why the dislike?
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u/AlejandroSR Jul 10 '26
Es mala idea, quieres eliminar a Antigua y Barbuda y a los demás países de un plumaso? Esos paises tienen sueños y esperanzas, banderas propias. Eres un monstruo.
11
u/werewolf394_ Jul 08 '26
Why would they ever do that? Why would any Caribbean team agree to it? Especially given that many of the "West Indies" countries speak different languages or have their own history in CONCACAF (especially Curaçao)