View Single Post
Old 07-10-2011, 02:56 AM   #50
Blade6119
Coordinator
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Found this interesting, I knew of a few but not all of them:

With the recent promotion of Swansea to the Premier League, I was wondering whether there are any other football teams around the world which are based in, and compete in, separate countries' football leagues? Ekrem Sonmenis asked

This is an awkward situation. Technically Wales is not a different country, though it has its own national team, but is part of the United Kingdom. However, there is a separate League of Wales. Nevertheless, six Welsh teams are in the English football pyramid: Swansea, Cardiff (in the Championship) and, in non-league, Newport, Wrexham, Colwyn Bay and Merthyr Town. Newport, Wrexham and a former club in Merthyr Tydfil have all played in the Football League in the past.

However, there is an English team who play in a different league: Berwick Rangers, members of the Scottish League since 1955 and currently in the third division. To further complicate matters, one Scottish club - Queens Park - have played in the English FA Cup, albeit in the 19th Century. They reached the final in both 1884 and 1885. Cardiff, by the way, are the only non-English club to have won the FA Cup.

In addition, the League of Ireland includes one club from Northern Ireland, Derry City. They required special dispensation to join the division south of the border. Leaving the British Isles, Major League Soccer in the United States contains two Canadian teams, Toronto and the Vancouver Whitecaps and its predecessor, NASL, also included clubs from Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal as well as Toronto and Vancouver. In addition, the Australian A-League has a side from New Zealand, Wellington Phoenix. In both cases, there is a tradition of other sports competing in club leagues across the two countries while Canada and New Zealand lack a full-time professional football league.

There are other examples. The seven-times champions of France, Monaco, actually play in a separate country, though Monaco is not a member of FIFA. Exceptions are made for other small countries, too: San Marino Calcio are in Serie C2 in Italy, FC Andorra play in Spain and Liechtenstein's club sides are in the Swiss system. Perhaps the most extreme example is Singapore's S League which has featured 10 different non-Singaporean teams, though only two are in the current division.
__________________
Underachievement
The tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut by the lawnmower.
Despair
It's always darkest just before it goes pitch black.
Demotivation
Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people.
http://www.despair.com/viewall.html
Blade6119 is offline   Reply With Quote