There is a precedent (https://blog.unicode.org/2022/03/the-past-and-future-of-flag...) to stop accepting new emojis in certain categories, so the hope is not fully out that that can happen to other sections. Maybe at one point they say "We won't be accepting Emoji proposals regarding sports anymore, unless they're listed by X entity or in the Plympics", or something like that.
> Wait, if a country gains independence and is recognised by ISO, does that mean no flag emoji for them?
> Flags for countries with Unicode region codes are automatically recommended, with no proposals necessary! First their codes and translated names are added to Unicode’s Common Locale Data Repository [CLDR], and then the emoji become valid in the next version of Unicode. These emoji are also automatically recommended for general interchange and wide deployment.
So making it dependent, as you described, on recognition by a different governing body seems quite likely.
Flags are special because they’re made by combining special letter codepoints. A new flag doesn’t change the standard so much as change the way devices display those ligature-like codepoints.
(My favorite fun Unicode fact: naively reversing a string containing the flag for Spain will turn it into the flag for Sweden. ES —> SE)
