Why Isn’t Guadeloupe a FIFA Member?

July 14th, 2009 | by: Daryl |

Guadeloupe made the semi-finals of the Gold Cup back in 2007, and have (so far) made the quarterfinals of the 2009 Gold Cup (they play Costa Rica this Sunday, 19th July).

The team includes some French Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and Championnat National (basically Ligue 3) players. That fact, coupled with the recent Gold Cup successes suggests that if this team was allowed to enter World Cup qualification in the CONCACAF region, they’d have at least something like a decent shot at making it.

But that’s not going to happen any time soon, because Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA and so not allowed to attempt World Cup qualification. Which leads to the question: Why not?

As with most things, it’s all about politics. Guadeloupe is not an independent nation, it’s an overseas department (basically: a part of) France. Similarly, the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football organization that runs the team is really just a branch of the French Football Federation.

So maybe “Why isn’t Guadeloupe in FIFA?” is the wrong question. Maybe the real question should be “Why is Guadeloupe in CONCACAF?” Or at least “Why is it in one but not the other?” According to Wikipedia the answer is that…

“…Guadeloupe is a member of CONCACAF and CFU [Caribbean Football Union], and thus eligible for all competitions organized by both. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF [French Football Federation] (article 34, paragraph 6): “[...]Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to partipate [sic] to them.”

There was an interesting discussion about the Guadeloupe national football team on the BBC World Football Phone-In this past weekend (click here to listen, right at the start) where Sean Wheelock suggested that Guadeloupe could become a FIFA member if France allowed it to do so.

I’m not 100% sure that that’s true, at least not without Guadeloupe devolving it’s relationship with France so that it was no longer an overseas department. And that’s a whole other issue, separate from football.

It’s also true that the Guadeloupe team benefits from not being a full FIFA member, because that frees it from certain restrictions. For example, the 2007 Gold Cup squad included Jocelyn Angloma, who played 37 times for France. And the current squad includes players who can represent Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup without ruining their future eligibility for the French national team. This may be a little unfair on other Gold Cup teams, but the current rule is that you can’t play for Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup if you’ve represented the French national team within the past five years.

This is one of those messy situations where a team falls somewhere between existing and not. But it’s hard to blame FIFA or CONCACAF for the complexities of colonial or post-colonial politics. Instead, I think it’s worth putting this in context:

Guadeloupe is in the same situation as fellow French “overseas departments” Martinique and French Guiana. No one’s asking why Martinique or French Guiana aren’t FIFA members, because Martinique and French Guiana aren’t tearing it up at the 2009 Gold Cup right now. So maybe the thing to do is to not worry about the politics of France, FIFA or anyone else, and just enjoy Guadeloupe’s performances.

Tags: CONCACAF, FIFA, France, French Guiana, Gold Cup, Guadeloupe, Martinique, World Football, World Soccer

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Comments

By abk | July 14th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

Im from Puerto Rico and even if we are in some way part of the U.S we still have our own nationals teams and are we are members of FIFA. I guess its a matter of France and Guadalupe figuring it out and then FIFA approving it. I dont think its fair they can’t participate in regular international competiton which would only help and enrich the caribbean area

Posted from Brazil

By elle | July 14th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

If Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland can have their own ‘national’ football teams I don’t see why any other protectorate, territory, etc. shouldn’t be able to either.

By alex | July 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm

exactly wales, n. ireland etc etc…it all has to do with france…did u know what theirry henry’s father is from guadalupe? thats the reason france dont want them to b idependent (according to fifa) cuz a player might come out guadalupe that they would like…its all about money and talent…

By adas | July 14th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

So, if by some strange undertaking Guadeloupe were to win the Gold Cup, would the runners up be headed to the Confederations Cup?

By Daryl | July 14th, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Not this year, because the next Confed Cup isn’t until 2013, and presumably there’ll be another Gold Cup between now and then.

By lefutur | July 14th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

Having Guadalupe be a world cup eligible team would be as unlikely as Hawaii or Alaska having their own eligible teams in FIFA. Guadalupe is like an overseas “state” in France, their citizens have exactly the same rights as those French citizens born in the “hexagone”.

Posted from United States

By Drew | July 15th, 2009 at 12:15 am

It reminds me of the Catalan national team too. I say let them do it.

By Matt | July 15th, 2009 at 5:01 am

So lets assume for a second that all of the below players chose to represent the country of their birth/heritage (and that Guadeloupe was a full member of FIFA), or in Suriname’s case, that they were allowed to (another story).

What would the landscape of CONCACAF look like?

Suriname – Kluivert, Drenthe, Davids, Seedorf, Castelen, Hasselbaink, etc

Guadeloupe – Henry, Wiltord, Thuram, Clichy, Chimbonda, Silvestre, Gallas, Abidal, Christanval, Saha, etc

Might look a little different huh?

Posted from United States

By Sam | July 15th, 2009 at 9:43 am

Well it would make CONCACAF more interesting. And I’m definitely down for that.

Posted from Canada

By Applesauce | July 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

^^You’re getting a little ahead of yourself with that assumption.

You said birthplace/heritage. That’s another can of worms. Some of those players you named were born in France and have loose affiliation with Guadeloupe (such as one parent hailing from the islands.) It’s not any different from players today who choose powerhouses over the country in which they were born and raised.

By sandrahn | July 15th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

“did u know what theirry henry’s father is from guadalupe? thats the reason france dont want them to b idependent (according to fifa) cuz a player might come out guadalupe that they would like…its all about money and talent…”

Henry was born and raised in France and was TRAINED and EDUCATED by the French — not by Guadeloupe. If it hadn’t been for France, he would never have developed into a world class footballer because Guadeloupe has no structure to develop footballers into world class talents. Period.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding in this blog here: Guadeloupe is the equivalent of Alaska and Hawaii. Puerto Rico is a US territory and Puerto Ricans are US citizens but they have less standing than a US state in Congress does. Whereas Guadeloupe has full recognition as a French “department” (like a state) in the national French legislature.

Posted from United States

By Daniel | July 16th, 2009 at 11:11 am

I think it is because Guadalupe is not an independent country but a province or department of France. The case of Puerto Rico is different because officially it is an independent nation, while Guadalupe officially is a part of France. As far as I understand, Guadalupe needs independent status to join Fifa as an independent nation. As an example, California cannot join Fifa because it is not an independent nation but is part of US.

By Gwadaboyz1 | August 6th, 2009 at 11:30 am

I come from Guadeloupe and i think if Guadeloupe is not a fifa members it’s because we haven’t solve our political relashionships with France. Imagine a football match between Guadeloupe and France with the same flag and the same national anthem! This situation would be comical, isn’t it? As the French polynesia and New-Caledonia, Guadeloupe has to change his political status. And that is precisely what we are doing with french government.

Posted from France