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I have taken to writing the NO side of this debate, under the assumption that the question is referring to places that are seeking independence or view themselves separately from another country which for right or wrong they are currently a part. Examples are places such as Tibet and Somaliland.

By allowing all nations to compete in FIFA competitions, FIFA is unnecessarily becoming involved in politics. At the recent Olympics there was a call to keep sport separate from politics, which is difficult given when ever you have nations represented there is an inherent political aspect. There needs to be a standard by which FIFA accepts or deny applicants. If there is no standard FIFA will be drawn into political debates about who can have a team or not. When these debates are actually about whether or not the entity should be a country. Imagine if Kosovo is allowed to compete, then the Basque region will apply and say if you accepted Kosovo then we meet your criteria, and so on. Would there be a team from Kurdistan? A team from Ossetia? A team from Quebec? By having a standard, such as you must be a member of the UN, allows FIFA to pass on the responsibility to another organization that is better equipped to deal with these difficult questions.

If FIFA were to allow one of these nations in, it should be done with the cooperation of the nation that is also involved in the area. For example if Tibet applies for FIFA membership and the application is supported by China it should be accepted, but if Quebec applies and Canada is against the application it should fail. In this way FIFA can avoid being drawn into political debates and focus on football.

The IOC has standards for which nations can compete in the Olympics and FIFA should be no different. The first sporting federation that recognizes one of these nations will become a political battleground. I would like to see FIFA stay out of politics and focus on football.

There are some stories that tug at the heart strings, I saw a documentary on the Tibetan National Team, that showed that these men just wanted to opportunity to represent their nation. If FIFA were to admit Tibet, there is no way that the could do it without opening the door wide for other teams and being drawn into a political mess. FIFA would almost certainly end up in the middle of a crisis. If a country boycotts a FIFA tournament because of a nation being given a team that is not a crisis, but if other nations boycott in support of the first nation. Then it is crisis time, and football suffers.

The question of whether these nations should be recognized is extremely complex, and not one that should be handled by FIFA.

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