One of the most fascinating statistics I have ever heard is that the membership of FIFA is greater than that of the UN. At present, the international governing body of soccer has 207 member states, while the international governing body of politics has a mere 192.

What countries, I’ve wondered, could make up this elite group of non-UN, pro-FIFA members?

Well, it turns out most are officially territories of other countries. With the exception of the home countries, they are also low-ranking members of FIFA. So, while their impact on the sporting world may be minimal (with the exception of breaking records as in American Samoa’s 31-0 loss to Australia in 2001), they maintain status as icons of political and soccer trivia.

The full list:

Home Nations

• England
• Scotland
• Northern Ireland
• Wales

Countries Which are Officially Territories of Other Countries

• Puerto Rico (USA)
• American Samoa (USA)
• Guam (USA)
• U.S. Virgin Islands (USA)
• Macao (China)
• Hong Kong (China)
• Montserrat (UK)
• Bermuda (UK)
• British Virgin Islands (UK)
• Cayman Islands (UK)
• Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)
• New Caledonia (France)
• Faroe Islands (Denmark)
• Cook Islands (its foreign affairs are represented by New Zealand in the UN)
• Aruba (Netherlands)

Countries Whose Official Existence is Politically Sensitive

• Palestine
• Chinese Taipei (aka Taiwan)

Where would France be without its colonial past? On the soccer field, perhaps nowhere. The bulk of its current and recently retired players were born outside of France or have parents who immigrated to France from former colonial countries.

France’s colonial past gives it access to a huge pool of players. Those who come to France from former colonies are assured French citizenship and ushered into the national team. Until recently, France’s “poaching” of promising young players from Africa into French youth national teams made them ineligible to player for their countries of origin if they never made it to the full Les Bleus team. Indeed, France was the example most cited in FIFA’s decision to allow players who had only played for the youth teams of one country to turn out for a second country’s full national team. Immediately, teams such as Senegal, Mali, and Ivory Coast saw their ranks swelled by former French youth national team players returning to play for their homelands.

Despite some players returning home, most of the best players from former French colonies opt to play for France if given the opportunity. A list of players who were born in or have parents from former colonies or current overseas “departments” reads like a who’s who of French footballing stars:

Algeria

• Zinedine Zidane

Martinique

• Eric Abidal
• Thierry Henry
• Sylvain Wiltord
• Louis Saha
• Nicolas Anelka

French Guyana

• Mikael Silvestre
• Florent Malouda

Guadalupe

• Lillian Thuram
• William Gallas

Democratic Republic of Congo

• Claude Makelele

Senegal

• Patrick Vieira
  
• Patrice Evra

But the most interesting background is that of up-and-coming star Rio Mavuba. As a BBC article in 2004 revealed, the Bordeaux star was literally “born at sea” (it even says so on his passport) as his mother fleed civil war in her native Angola. Mavuba’s case differs from those listed above, as he does not hail from a former colony (his family was given refugee status in France), but like them, he will turn out for the French national team.

Soccer is a beautiful sport. It has been dubbed “the beautiful game” and for good reason. The sheer athleticism demonstrated by Ronaldinho is, indeed, poetry in motion.

But soccer is not the only sport in which players use their feet in beautiful and incredibly skillful ways. Two other sports, Sepak Takraw and Kemari, take the skill of juggling to new heights. Recent posts on The Offside and The Global Game have discussed Separk Takraw, which is essentially soccer volleyball (don’t miss the video on The Offside site).

Kemari is a much more refined and ceremonial form of juggling. Essentially hacky sack in ceremonial robes, it is unique in that there are no winners and losers. According to Wikipedia, the “object of Kemari is to keep one ball in the air, with all players cooperating to do so.” How very Japanese.

On the firing of Catholic coach Paul Le Guen by Rangers (the team most well-known worldwide as the Protestant half of the Scottish Old Firm) a reader of the Guardian’s excellent The Fiver submitted the snarkiest entry ever to grace the letters section of that “tea-time football email.”

“Agent Le Guen: mission accomplished, your sainthood awaits you” - Pope Benedict.

Hilarious.

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Sports lovers are often spotted aboard the las vegas flights since they are really cheap flights. Those who want to catch a glimpse of their favorite players look for orlando flights or the more expensive new york flights. 

Adboards around the English Premier League this year are sporting a new sponsor: Think Israel. After seeing this for the first, I wondered what it could be referring to. Okay, I’m thinking Israel, but what should I be thinking about Israel? Well, it turns out this is no crazy scheme to encourage deep reflection on the Jewish nation; instead, it is part of a campaign to encourage tourism to Israel. This realization comes by way of the public radio program Marketplace, which today ran a story on the larger marketing program of which these adboards are a part.

Who exactly are the marketers trying to reach with their message? Well, given that part of their scheme involves placing adboards in Premier League stadiums, it’s clear that they are going for males. The scantily clad women who front the Think Israel website make it clear of these gender-specific intentions. Sex sells, and even the Holy Land can be hawked using it, apparently.

But will this scheme work? Are bare-chested Newcastle fans going to be convinced to leave St. James’ Park and hop on the next plane to Tel Aviv for a romp in the Mediterranean? I doubt it. I just can’t imagine this scheme working. The idea that people would have more favorable opinions about a country after seeing advertisements for it is ludicrous. Constant images of conflict and occupation of Palestinian land in the media speak more strongly than any slick marketing campaign.

Budweiser, Nike, and even the Borat movie will use the Premier League’s worldwide visibility to improve their image, but I doubt whether Israel can do the same.

Very nice … I like.

The British not only brought soccer to South America, they also left the continent littered with hilarious names. Some names have become so often repeated that you can forget just how ridiculous they are. Others maintain their ability to make you laugh no matter how often you hear them (yes, O’Higgins, I’m speaking of you).

Many of the clubs were founded by Brits and kept their names even after the Anglos scurried back home. Others were named in honor of British teams (Brazil’s Corinthians was named after an identically monikered British team who toured South America early in the 20th century). Whatever its origins, there is no escaping the fact that Bolivia’s Club Destroyers sounds more like the name of a team in my hometown’s recreational league for elementary school kids that the name of a club that gave a start to that country’s most famous player, Marco Etcheverry.

Here is a full list of teams with Anglo names in the top divisions in South America along with links to Wikipedia articles about each of them.

Argentina

• Banfield
• Boca Juniors
• Newell’s Old Boys
• Racing
• River Plate
• Velez Sarsfield

Brazil

• Corinthians (SP)

Chile

• Everton
• O’Higgins
• Santiago Wanderers

Bolivia

• Blooming, Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• Jorge Wilstermann, Cochabamba
• Destroyers, Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• The Strongest, La Paz

Peru

• Sport Boys (Callao)

Uruguay

• Liverpool
• Montevideo Wanderers
• River Plate

Brought to you by Iseeq.co.uk

A travel lodge is a much better deal than expensive hotels. The deal can be further lessened by flying on cheap flights. Even on cruises one can devise methods to decrease the expenses like foregoing car rental at the dry ports.