How? Why does the Dutch team play against England and not against Great Britain?

The Netherlands play England in the semi-finals of the European Football Championship. It would make more sense if Great Britain were the next opponents. How?

Image via Europeana / Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum

England and Scotland have qualified for the European Football Championship. Scotland did not qualify beyond the group stage as they should have. England will play the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

In the world of football there are two different teams, which does not happen in the Olympics.

So the big question is Why Scotland and England are two separate football nations. After all, Friesland and Limburg are not allowed to participate in the European Championship as an independent team. This strange situation is the solution to the problem of football since the beginning of the last century.

Major Nations

FIFA was founded on May 21, 1904, at the initiative of France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The British Isles were not interested in joining an international football organization, which seriously undermined FIFA's credibility. Bored, because football originated there. It's as if the Netherlands wanted nothing to do with the International Korfball Federation.

In fact, Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland are so important to the origins of modern football that they represent Major Nations They are called. They played matches against each other as early as the 19th century, long before FIFA existed. The oldest official international match was between England and Scotland in 1870, 34 years before the world federation was founded. To do that, they had to agree on the rules of the game, or the referee in charge would not have a good day.

To arrange this, International Football Association Board (IFAB) was founded by Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. The legal basis for football was laid there. Rules of the game So it's much older than FIFA, and it's all organised in the British Isles. That's IFAB, in a nutshell. blackboardstill exists.

Four independent members

FIFA starts without her Major Nations So it was disastrous. In order to integrate these unions, they were all offered to become independent members, rather than just the UK. This gave the UK not one vote in FIFA, but four. With the current membership of 211 countries, this no longer matters, but at the beginning of the last century, not even ten countries were members of FIFA. So Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland gained enormous influence.

Then there was something else: FIFA recognized the International Football Association Board (IFAB) as the eternal guardian of the rules of the game. Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland each received 12.5% ​​of the votes in this organization, half of the total. The other half went to FIFA itself. Since a rule change can only be made with at least 75% of the votes, FIFA is unable to make a decision on this matter independently. The assembly always needs the support of at least two people for this purpose. Major Nations: 50% + 12.5% ​​+ 12.5%.

Under these circumstances, the four British associations actually joined FIFA between 1905 and 1911. The only thing that changed was that Ireland was divided into an independent state and Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom, in the 1920s. For the rest, Great Britain still consists of four footballing nations.

These rules apply. no For the International Olympic Committee, which only recognises Great Britain. So a match between Holland and England, as happened in the semi-final of the European Football Championship, is impossible there.