Confused.com?!

Im AC and was going to buy Akinfeev on 2nd Jan, but this happened!

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/4795/asssaa.jpg

I dont get it because Akinfeev is Russian and Russia is a European country, So why Can't I sign Akinfeev?

Russia isn't a member of the EU.

Im AC and was going to buy Akinfeev on 2nd Jan, but this happened!

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/4795/asssaa.jpg

I dont get it because Akinfeev is Russian and Russia is a European country, So why Can't I sign Akinfeev?

Russia is not part of the European Union.

Also, you have to remember that Russia is a big country that spreads into Asia as well, so it technically is not just a European country.

Russia isn't a member of the EU.

Carrotdude Beat me to it

Russia isn't a member of the EU.

Why are Russia apart of the Euro Championships then?

Not all nations of Europe are in the European nations.

Why are Russia apart of the Euro Championships then?

Because they're in Europe. They aren't in the EU. There are about 20 European states that aren't in the EU, and at least three or four that arguably aren't even in Europe.

Why are Russia apart of the Euro Championships then?

Russia are members of UEFA so they can enter the Euro Championships, which is open to all nations who are members of UEFA.

They aren't a member of the EU and most rules related to player employment are based on membership of the EU as it has employment laws etc that have to be applied in its member states.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_men%27s_national_football_%28soccer%29_teams#UEFA_.28Europe.29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_State_of_the_European_Union

Thats funny, Switerzland joint hosted Euro 2008 and there not apart of the EU, but only hosted because there in 'Europe' and are apart of UEFA. Its a weird world

The same argument can be made for Israel. They're located in the Middle East, but due to religious and political reasons they requested to play in UEFA. Could imagine if Russia and Turkey were in the Asian group? They would dominate most competitions and would eventually request to move to a different association much like Australia did a couple of years ago.

Thats funny, Switerzland joint hosted Euro 2008 and there not apart of the EU, but only hosted because there in 'Europe' and are apart of UEFA. Its a weird world

The European Union is a political institution. It has nothing to do with football except when it comes to employment law.

Thats funny, Switerzland joint hosted Euro 2008 and there not apart of the EU, but only hosted because there in 'Europe' and are apart of UEFA. Its a weird world

Europe is a continent, the Swiss are part of it.

Uefa is the footballing body of the continent and by default the Swiss FA is a member of it and therefore gain the right to participate in Uefa competitions.

Lastly the European Union is essentially a trades agreement made up of willing nations, the Swiss are not one of these at present. It has no baring on their standing in Uefa, nor does it suddenly detach them from Europe. They just aren't part of this particular economic union.

Now, Israel. That's a more complex story.

Now, Israel. That's a more complex story.

Understatement of the day, methinks.

I think alot of the EU nations who have rules stating less than x amount of non-forgeniers but eu law prevents that

Russia is not part of the European Union.

Also, you have to remember that Russia is a big country that spreads into Asia as well, so it technically is not just a European country.

Technically, the whole country is European. Culturally, perhaps parts of, especially the eastern parts, may be more Asian.

Kazakhstan is technically Asian, i think about 3% of its land mass is in Europe, but it plays under UEFA. Same with Turkey.

Technically, the whole country is European. Culturally, perhaps parts of, especially the eastern parts, may be more Asian.

Kazakhstan is technically Asian, i think about 3% of its land mass is in Europe, but it plays under UEFA. Same with Turkey.

I thought Russia counts as both Europe and Russia (being the largest country in both) but the majority of the major cities and all the administrative areas are in the far West, ie. in Europe.

I thought Russia counts as both Europe and Russia (being the largest country in both) but the majority of the major cities and all the administrative areas are in the far West, ie. in Europe.

I thought this too

The screenie says EU not Europe so where russia is is largely irrelevant.

I think I'm right in saying this but I seem to remember a few years ago that Italians clubs could only buy one non eu player per season!

Technically, the whole country is European. Culturally, perhaps parts of, especially the eastern parts, may be more Asian.

Kazakhstan is technically Asian, i think about 3% of its land mass is in Europe, but it plays under UEFA. Same with Turkey.

Russia as a country has been over time considered either European or Asiatic, depending on the political sensibilities within other European countries (if they wanted alliance Russia was European opposite if they wanted war). Geographically most of the Russian land mass is in Asia (here is a map of Europe), but most critically the population is mostly either European Russians, or decended from (most-forced) settlers from European Russia, or former client states or annexed territories, so Russia is effecively European.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU because it is the Earth version of The Neutral Planet, but as UEFA has no political connotations outside football they are constitutionally free to join.

Israel in UEFA is a strange case, due to the Palestinian situation no Muslim country would play Israel (a lot of Asian Muslim countries), so Israel were effecively frozen out of any AFC sancioned competition upto and including world cup qualifiacation, so in order to stop this anomaly UEFA and FIFA allowed Israel's entrance into UEFA.

Turkey is another anomaly, but the Turks generally consider themselves European (the reason why they have being trying for 40 years to get into the EU), and as UEFA and the AFC had no objections they resigned from the AFC in 1962 and immediately joined UEFA.

Keep them comming boys! I'm enjoying the geography and history lesson!!!

Russia as a country has been over time considered either European or Asiatic, depending on the political sensibilities within other European countries (if they wanted alliance Russia was European opposite if they wanted war). Geographically most of the Russian land mass is in Asia (here is a map of Europe), but most critically the population is mostly either European Russians, or decended from (most-forced) settlers from European Russia, or former client states or annexed territories, so Russia is effecively European.

A great number of the people in certain areas of Russia didn't settle there by choice, and/or didn't want to be part of Russia.

It's really not weird!

Europe is a continent, the Swiss are part of it.

Uefa is the footballing body of the continent and by default the Swiss FA is a member of it and therefore gain the right to participate in Uefa competitions.

Lastly the European Union is essentially a trades agreement made up of willing nations, the Swiss are not one of these at present. It has no baring on their standing in Uefa, nor does it suddenly detach them from Europe. They just aren't part of this particular economic union.

Now, Israel. That's a more complex story.

I'm 16, so don't go into to much detail about politics and unions

I'm 16, so don't go into to much detail about politics and unions

Never too young to learn. If not now then when?

As this thread has illustrated, what 'counts' as a particular continent is by no means always an objective 'fact', and can differ depending what context you are talking about (physical geography, socio-cultural identity, political history, or in our case, football). A good case could be made that Europe isn't really a continent at all geographically, but merely a part of the Eurasian landmass (or even the Eurasian-African landmass, since they're all connected too). Europe is considered a continent because of a shared history and cultural identities, so Europeans 'feel' different from Africans or Asian, and so make up arbitrary geographic boundaries (like the Urals or the Turkish Straits) that they think fit this social reality.

This geographical arbitrariness gets even more twisted in football. Perhaps Australia's recent 'move' from Oceania to Asia illustrates this well. There really isn't a 'continent' called Oceania- its actually more properly a region made up of the south Pacific Ocean. Australia is the continent, so I guess they have whatever right to choose which 'continental' federation they play in. It does make the remaining set of islands in the OFC rather small and weak compared to the other continental federations, but hey, good on NZ for qualifying for the World Cup!

As this thread has illustrated, what 'counts' as a particular continent is by no means always an objective 'fact', and can differ depending what context you are talking about (physical geography, socio-cultural identity, political history, or in our case, football). A good case could be made that Europe isn't really a continent at all geographically, but merely a part of the Eurasian landmass (or even the Eurasian-African landmass, since they're all connected too). Europe is considered a continent because of a shared history and cultural identities, so Europeans 'feel' different from Africans or Asian, and so make up arbitrary geographic boundaries (like the Urals or the Turkish Straits) that they think fit this social reality.

This geographical arbitrariness gets even more twisted in football. Perhaps Australia's recent 'move' from Oceania to Asia illustrates this well. There really isn't a 'continent' called Oceania- its actually more properly a region made up of the south Pacific Ocean. Australia is the continent, so I guess they have whatever right to choose which 'continental' federation they play in. It does make the remaining set of islands in the OFC rather small and weak compared to the other continental federations, but hey, good on NZ for qualifying for the World Cup!

That is why I don't want to go into much detail

I'll stick to AC Milan and remember that Russia and a few other countries are not apart of the EU