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Euro 2016

I think we all agree that Euro 2012 has been an exciting tournament so far with very close groups. The groups are competitive and unpredictable.

However, this is soon to change. From 2016 there will be 24 teams in the finals. The groups will effectively be 'diluted' with teams of inferior quality added. Imagine another 'Ireland' in each of this years' groups. In addition the majority of third place teams will qualify for the second round. That's like having this year's Group C, knowing that Spain, Italy and Croatia can all go through (only 2 of the six 3rd placed teams will go out).

Isn't it a bit pointless playing 36 matches just to eliminate 8 of the 24 teams? Then 15 matches are played to eliminate 15 of the remaining 16 teams.

I don't like this format at all. It's hard enough to get the French enthusiastic about the tournament as it is (neither of tonight's final Group A games were shown on terrestial channels for example) so I can't see 2016 being anywhere near as great a success as this year or 2008. Nevermind: Platini will be happy sitting in Stade St Denis with everyone telling him how wonderful he is.
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    It's fair to say the Euros will be worse as a result of it and the qualifying will literally be a joke. The big nations will know they've qualified before it starts.
    Why leave something alone that works well as it is, when you can ruin it for some extra £££££.
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    JTJT
    edited June 2012
    I can't wait for it to be more or less on my doorstep though.

    I can see France from the end of the my road on a clear day. Can go to the game and get home each time
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    JTJT
    edited June 2012
    .
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    i think making more games without somehow dilluting the quality is a good idea not sure how you do it though

    Were there two group stages once perhaps in the WC?
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    Remember they had to rounds of qualifying groups for champs league? Or was I dreaming? A lot better now the champs league with just one group then straight into knock out rounds.
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    Will turn it into a farce. There are barely 16 nations in UEFA good enough to be at a major tournament, there certainly aren't 24. UEFA have admitted that they haven't even finalised the format yet, how they can announce the expansion without having determined the qualification and tournament mechanics is beyond me but hey it's all about the dollar.
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    Am deffo thinking of an international tournament
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    I think we all agree that Euro 2012 has been an exciting tournament so far with very close groups. The groups are competitive and unpredictable.

    However, this is soon to change. From 2016 there will be 24 teams in the finals. The groups will effectively be 'diluted' with teams of inferior quality added. Imagine another 'Ireland' in each of this years' groups. In addition the majority of third place teams will qualify for the second round. That's like having this year's Group C, knowing that Spain, Italy and Croatia can all go through (only 2 of the six 3rd placed teams will go out).

    Isn't it a bit pointless playing 36 matches just to eliminate 8 of the 24 teams? Then 15 matches are played to eliminate 15 of the remaining 16 teams.

    I don't like this format at all. It's hard enough to get the French enthusiastic about the tournament as it is (neither of tonight's final Group A games were shown on terrestial channels for example) so I can't see 2016 being anywhere near as great a success as this year or 2008. Nevermind: Platini will be happy sitting in Stade St Denis with everyone telling him how wonderful he is.
    I remember years ago reading a spoof book called "Windsden's cricketing almanack" or something which contained a description of World Series Cricket along the lines of: First each of the 3 teams plays each other 27 times. Then the top 3 teams go through to the next round.....
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    WSSWSS
    edited June 2012
    Unless you go to first round groups of different numbers, you will need a second round of group games with 24 won't you? You can't go 24-12-6-3...

    But I suppose you could go from six groups of four to four groups of three in some weird round robin. 24-12-8-4-2-1.

    Or two super groups of six after the first round and the top two of each go straight to semis. It would go on for ages!
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    Four groups of six?
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    With 24 teams the simplest way is six groups of 4 with the 4 best group winners receiving a bye to the main quarter final. All of the teams finishing 2nd in the group stages will go into a draw with the two remaining group winners in a single knockout round. It expands the number of matches from 31 to 47.

    The main problem is, as others have said, there are barely 16 top teams in Europe, pushing it to 24 makes a mockery of the qualification rounds.
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    World cup 86 = 24 teams

    6 Groups of 4
    top 2 into second round
    Four best 3rd place teams into second round
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    Out of interest, how many teams in uefa?

    Makes quakifying a farce if 24 out of, say 38 teams qualify

    Money grabbers!
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    The format will be like that above I reckon, 6 groups of 4 top two through plus 4 best third placed teams gives you a round of 16 straight ko then into quarters etc

    Too much in my opinion.
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    Out of interest, how many teams in uefa?

    Makes quakifying a farce if 24 out of, say 38 teams qualify

    Money grabbers!
    53 according to wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA#Men.27s_national_teams
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    53 Siv. The finals will be exactly as you suggest. Interesting that between them Arthur Drury and Stanley Rous chaired FIFA for nineteen years and we got one major tournament. This will be France's third Euro championship - although the first was only semi-finals and final - and they have hosted two World Cup final tournaments too.
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    53 teams make up UEFA at the moment, but they include places like Andorra, Armenia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino and Scotland!
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    i think making more games without somehow dilluting the quality is a good idea not sure how you do it though

    Were there two group stages once perhaps in the WC?
    spain '82.
    we got through the 1st group and went into a group with spain and west germany. we drew 0-0 against both of them and went out.
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    Qualifying will be an 18 month long joke if it isn't bad enough already for the top nations. Instead of expanding the tournament they should have been looking at a pre-qualification system.
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    Ireland aren't terrible it's just they have had to play Croatia and Spain. They would give England a good match.
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    edited June 2012
    Why do Uefa need to change it? This year has been brilliant so whats wrong? A change for the worse.
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    24 is an awkward number. Tried it in the World Cup with two different formats - neither worked very well. It's ok now it's up to 32. But also the overall standard will be reduced so there will be less likelihood of groups finishing like yesterday's when every team could still qualify. Bad idea - money at the root of it as always.
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    Looking at that list of 53 it's difficult to pick 24 tournament-quality teams.
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    Why dont they make it 32? Itll make the numbers easier!
    Top 8 from this year automatically qualify for 2016, then the other 45 teams fight it out for the last 24 places
    Then have 8 groups of 4 top 2 qualify then a knockout, simple
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    It'll make the qualification games for 2 years a real pointless process for the top nations would kill off alot of the interest for international football during the season as well.
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    Why dont they make it 32? Itll make the numbers easier!
    Top 8 from this year automatically qualify for 2016, then the other 45 teams fight it out for the last 24 places
    Then have 8 groups of 4 top 2 qualify then a knockout, simple
    Once it's 24 it's just a matter of time before it becomes 32, and that really will be ridiculous.
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    Rather than increases the numbers, UFEA should just do away with seeding and have an open draw.
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    Where is the next euro?
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    France 2016
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    France
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