UEFA to expand the Euro

For people that do not know what the Euro is it is is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the Union of European Football Associations and it takes place every four years. Franz Beckenbauer's announcement that the European Championship finals will feature 24 teams instead of 16 from 2016 must have been welcomed by fans of countries that have found it difficult to qualify for major tournaments. But I think to the majority of soccer fans, this comes as a really stupid move. This is absolutely crazy, I mean we just saw possibly one of the most entertaining and exciting European Championships in quite a long time and honestly I think it is far more exciting than the world cup. But for UEFA this is a perfect idea. If there are more teams, then they are making more money. In Euro 2008 England did not make it into the tournament, which most likely reduced tv ratings in England so they did not make as much money.

The way the tournament is set up now is that the top two teams from each group advance. So this way the teams have to come out ready and attack right away. Add another four or eight teams and we get into a complicated situation because it is not easy to reduce 24 teams to a 16 team knockout stage. I think now the top 3 will advance from each group, so instead of coming out attacking right away, teams can just sit back and play defensively and not really have to worry too much. Also this system will allow teams such as England who narrowly missed qualiftying be able to qualify much easier. This can also allow teams to slip in who should not be there. I like underdogs upsetting just as the next person, such as Croatia winning their group and almost getting to the championship game in Euro 2008. But they established themselves being there as they beat England twice and winning their group in the qualifying round. Now this new system will allow teams who have not proven themselves to slip in and take out some of the bigger teams and make the tournament a lot less exciting. I really hope UEFA can get this figured out and not expand the tournament, as I can see this watering it down and not making the European Championship not nearly as exciting as it has been in the past.