Few people are disputing that we’ve just experienced the most attacking and entertaining European Championships of modern times. Yet Europe’s soccer governing body, UEFA, has decided that even something which isn’t broken must need fixing, writes Paul Wilson. That’s why it has tabled a proposal to extend the championships from 16 to 24 teams, starting with the 2016 tournament.
It’s “a misguided attempt to rake in more money and ape the World Cup,” he says. “No one with any sense wants this to happen. World Cups themselves could do with being as slick and streamlined as the three-week festival of excellence that has just taken place in Austria and Switzerland, and while there may be more countries in Europe than was once the case, there aren’t eight more capable of playing to the standard set by this year’s 16 finalists.”
It would not only dilute the quality of the tournament itself, with almost half of Europe’s teams making it to the finals, but spoil the qualifying process too. “Much better to qualify by knocking England out, as Croatia did, than simply turn up for a party to which almost everyone is invited. Having fewer teams in the finals means more meaningful matches all the way through the two-year cycle.” Though with increasingly powerful clubs perpetually moaning about their players being away on international duty, perhaps diminishing the qualification stage is part of UEFA’s plan of appeasement.