England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland are not recognized externally as independent countries by the UN , but by sports bodies they are. Simple as that. However Scots do not like to be called English, English called Scots , Welsh called English…
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They will never give up their status to unify. There are separate football leagues in each country. Although talked about over the years, Scotland would never in a million years join with the English league as it would mean they give up their UEFA places and huge revenue.
The top teams in Scotland would struggle to qualify for European places if they were in the English league.
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This is athletics but applies to many sports on the island.
Source: https://athleticsni.org/download/files/International%20Representation%20Pathway%20Information.docx
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A demand by the Soviet Union that all then fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics[a] be recognized as member states in the UN was counter-demanded by the United States that all then 48 U.S. states be similarly recognized. Ultimately at the Yalta Conference a compromise was made in which two Soviet Republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia) were admitted as full members of the United Nations, so, between 1945 and 1991, the Soviet Union was represented by three seats in the United Nations.[2][4] This was supported by British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden so that, in return, British dominions would be granted membership. Roosevelt agreed at Eden’s insistence, despite the U.S. State Department’s objection.[2]
MANY kingdoms and republics are a union of X countries, but only the UK has 3 teams in various sporting events.
The answer is the UK used to be the global superpower so it got to write the rules back in the days. Scotland and Wales aren’t any more of a “country” than a random Mexican or Brazilian federal state. This anglo-supremacy has allowed for the UK to have more influence than it deserves as a second rate power.
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Union of crown followed by union of parliaments. Separate legal system, devolved government, different political parties, different identity, different history, … there are a large number of differences. Union definitely allowed the UK to punch above its weight. Like many regions in Europe, there are stronger aspirations for a different future.
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It’s because rugby is less sectarian.
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Northern Ireland is bits of the fourth province of Ireland lopped off. And about the same relevance these days. Some good sports people from there though e.g Rory McIlroy. They can represent who they want which is a pretty fair system.
You can find same things in other countries. Germany for example share many of these attributes, people from different parts of Belgium and Switzerland don’t even understand each other, to say less about extreme cases like Bosnia Herzegovina where linguistic and ethnic diversity fuels intense hatred, or countries outside Europe.
The only reason why these characteristics seem unique to Britain is because the UK used to be a much bigger deal than it is today. As for “punching above its weight” - that’s linguistic privileges. All English-speaking countries punch above their weight. The UK is the second largest English-speaking country so it seems like it could hold her own against the heavyweights, but in reality it’s got very limited tangible influence.
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The real answer is that the four nations of the UK were the first to begin holding football competitions between themselves. Then, more and more countries began to join in and eventually it was the entire world.
Since it was just the four UK nations playing in the first place, the anomaly was never fixed.
The same is true of the Six Nations Championship, which started as a competition between England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Then, Italy and France joined. But unlike the World Cup, it never grew beyond these six.
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And that ladies and gentlemen is how you say you have no idea what you’re talking about, without saying “I have no idea what I’m talking about”.
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It’s time for Canada to have 10 teams!
In what way is Scotland or Wales more of a country than say Wallonia or Catalonia then? Language? Food? Government? Or the gool ol’ “because I say so”?
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Jaysus, I’m astooonished.
This makes sense.
Could ask the same question about HK, Macau and while we are at it add Taiwan to the list if we are talking about countries as defined by the UN. Since they all compete for the World cup, in addition to China.
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The UK recognizes Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland as countries.
Nobody is going around saying they aren’t countries, anymore at least.
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I don’t think anyone is arguing that HK and Macau are countries?
Ha. Right.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/23/uk/scottish-indepedence-court-ruling-gbr-intl/index.html
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The UK blocked Scotland’s independence vote to be independent from the Union, not to be a country, and they were given the chance to vote to leave the Union before anyway. Scotland is already a country. That’s like saying France isn’t a country because it is part of the EU 
You’re getting hung up on semantics of what is a country, HK has a customs and passport control for going from China to HK, arguably that alone makes it more of a country than say Scotland or Wales where no such requirement is necessary coming to and from England.
But as far as the World Cup and why the UK is allowed to have 4 teams compete, the China Macau, HK and Taiwan situation proves it is not unique.
This entire thread focusses on the UK somehow winning if one of four countries wins, or the UK gains an unfair advantage by having four countries entering. The UK gains nothing if, say, Wales wins.
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