Top Stories

Should UEFA expand the Euro field?

RonaldoSneijderRVP (Getty Images)

Euro 2012 has been one of the more intense, entertaining international tournaments in recent memory, with each game carrying loads of significance and each group coming down to the final day of group play.

Even with the 16-team format providing such a strong competition — and groups containing multiple world powers, making for high drama — UEFA is poised to expand the tournament field to 24 teams in 2016, something that UEFA president Michel Platini has conceded "will be less dramatic" in the group stage.

In comments made Monday, Platini offered that the 24-team field in France in four years would incorporate a 16-team knockout round, meaning that two-thirds of the teams would get out of the group stage as opposed to the half that do now.

"Twenty-four (teams) is OK…I think it's OK. Eight good teams to add. It's not a problem of quality," Platini told reporters. "It's very important for the (additional) countries that qualify. It is good for the national associations and their development."

What do you think, should UEFA expand the Euro field to 24 teams? Cast your vote after the jump:

 

 

———————–

How did you vote? Do you like the tournament format as it is? Do you think a 24-team Euro tournament will provide less quality? What do you make of Platini's comments? What do you think the biggest byproduct would be of an expanded field?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Would you say that if it was you who got the extra money?

    If the Euros don’t become a bigger deal financially and broaden their base, they risk being rendered completely irrelevant by the Champions League.

    The tournament has to find ways to increase revenue or else it will slowly go the way of the FA Cup.

    Reply
  2. Exactly. Neither game today would have mattered under this system except to determine seeding. Sweden were out no matter what. I don’t think that makes things more exciting.

    Reply
  3. Would a 20 team, 5 teams per pool, top 2 teams advance the same way currently be better? With 4 group games, I think the better teams in each group have greater chance for succes.

    Reply
  4. Meaning it will be like MLS playoff structure. You hardly have to try to qualify. Many teams will just play for the tie.

    Reply
  5. I am not a Platini fan, but I think this is a good idea. I don’t like a knock-out round that starts with only eight teams or, put the other way, at the quarter-final stage–only three straight three wins and your are Euro Champ. I think a Sweet Sixteen knock-out round would be better. And, as Platini says, there are decent teams that did not make the 16-team cut that can play respectably.

    Reply

Leave a Comment