No Route into Europe for Cardiff City

After a dreadful start to the season, Cardiff City look to have finally turned the corner, sitting in ninth position in the Championship table, just four points from the playoff positions. This weekend also saw the Bluebirds reach the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 14 years – but what many people do not realise is that Cardiff cannot qualify for European football. If Cardiff managed to gain promotion this season, theoretically they would be within shooting distance of European qualification, however the FA will not nominate a non-English team to represent England in a European competition. Cardiff City are actually members of the Welsh FA, therefore are allowed to play in England by way of an “affiliated membership”. English officials claim that due to Cardiff being an “affiliated member” they can play in the Barclays FA Premier League, however cannot represent England in Europe.

There is no ruling however from Uefa preventing Cardiff from representing English football in Europe, as there are examples outside of Britain where this exact situation takes place – a Monaco side in France for instance, or even Lichtenstein representing Switzerland in Europe. As it stands, the English are having none of it.

So with Scottish Giants Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic citing a future move to the Premiership – the English FA may have to have a rethink.

Do you think the English FA should allow Cardiff City to represent them in Europe, if they qualify?

I don't see why they allow Cardiff to play in England if they aren't willing to let them represent the country in Europe. If they aprticipate in the league, it should be one rule for all

The same goes for Swansea and Wrexham - however that will never really be an issue for them as they will never be big enough to play in Europe

i think they should play in their own country personally in the first place. its right that they cant represent England in Europe. why should they take a place of an english club?

They are taking the place of an English club by playing in England. If they went back to Wales, then a non-league team would move into league 2 etc so why will they let an English team miss out on a higher league but won't allow one of the big 4 miss out on Europe.

Personally it doesn't bother me. Celtic or Rangers will never play in England. I see it more likely that there will be a European league before that

like i said, they should play in their own country.

Agreed.

Do you also think Monaco should play in their own country?

Monaco is a difficult one, due to the fact that it is such a tiny nation. I doubt the Country provides a sufficient football league.

Country's size or population shouldn't be a factor

Do they even have a League?

its not quite the same as Cardiff is it.

the entire nation of Monaco has little over 30,000 people, wales has a population of over 3,000,000. its inconceivable for Monaco to have a fully functioning national league but there is no such excuse for Wales

I doubt Monaco have their own league.

Why should that be a difficult 1. Your views on the matter seemed quite straight forward. However, you are now displaying a more reasonable attitude by actually accepting the fact that some matters deserve careful consideration instead of being dismissed out of hand. Also as with a lot of things decisons are made during and after a situation arises as its impossible to have every angle covered before the actual event. There are multitudes of legal loopholes, but its only when these are used to win a a case that the rules are scrutinised. Matter of fact - Cardiff could well be in the premiership next season, then im sure an eyebrow might be raised, but if they were to somehow manage to find themselves in 4th spot half-way through the season that the lawyers will take over. I think it is safe to say that a legal challenge wouldnt be far away.

any country that has a fully functioning football league should include teams from that nation only. if a nation has no football league then special circumstances such as the Monaco situation should arise.

As steely pointed out, there are little over 30 thousand people living in Monaco and over 3 million populating Wales.

Monaco should be allowed to compete in another country due to the fact that their country cannot support and sanction a football League system whereas Wales should be able to.

Out of curiosity then, would you welcome Monaco into the Premier League as they have no league of their own?

Whether Cardiff should be playing in England or not isn't what this is about. I agree that they should play in their own country but the FA are being abit contradictive here if you ask me. Why allow them to play in your country if they can't represent it. If Cardiff were to be promoted and they began to break into the top 4 every year, I'd say the FA would have no choice but to allow them to play in Europe

I also find the FA to be a complete bunch of mugs. Both the English and Welsh FA. Cardiff City Ladies can qualify for Europe via the Welsh Cup - which they have been unbeaten in for 4 years!! However they participate in the NATIONWIDE WOMEN'S PREMIER LEAGUE (English set-up).

The Welsh FA however kicked Cardiff City, Swansea City, Wrexham, Newport County and Colwyn Bay out of the Welsh FA Cup because they do not play in the Welsh League.

here here mr cfcbhoy. infact further to my recent post. cardiff are probably already seeking legal advice as to the possibility of reversing the fa decision.