9. Limitations

Four limitations should be declared.

First: the twelve cases were selected for salience and available documentation, they are not a census of the 18 points of mismatch between the two maps; less visible cases (Pacific associations, micro-territories) may follow logics different from the three tested here.

Second: the piece documents patterns of admission, expulsion and rejection, but does not causally test whether sporting membership accelerates or substitutes for diplomatic recognition in any of the cases; Palestine joined FIFA before the UN, but inferring cause would require a comparative design this format does not accommodate.

Third: several claims that circulate popularly about this topic turned out to be imprecise in this fact-check — Messi’s presence at a frequently cited friendly (he did not play), the exact reason Kosovo is outside the UN (it never formally applied, it was not vetoed in a vote), and the sequence of Gibraltar’s admission (it came from a CAS ruling, not from FIFA’s voluntary openness). Where correction was possible, the piece applied it; where it was not, the claim was removed.

Fourth: the total membership numbers (211 at FIFA, 193 at the UN) reflect the moment of writing and change over time, as the very history of admissions and expulsions documented here demonstrates.