UEFA Euro 2016- a Diluted Competition

One of the best competitions in the world of national team soccer after the FIFA World Cup is undoubtedly the European championship. Every four years the elite of the old continent meets in a final tournament full of excitement. However, after the recent changes made by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, in the structure of the competition, it seems that a place in the final tournament is no longer reserved for the finest national teams in Europe.
To be more concrete, starting with France 2016 the number of teams qualified for the European powerhouses will increase from 16 to 24. What does that mean? Well, it means that almost half the continent will take part in the final tournament, so qualifying for Euro will no longer be a reason of pride for smaller nations. If we exclude a few minnows like Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino or the rookies Gibraltar, we can say that more than half of Europe will participate in the final tournament from now on.
Is it a good thing for European soccer? Obviously not, because the value of the final tournament will be significantly diluted and the preliminary stage will be extremely boring. All the favorites will qualify and there will be little room for surprises in the preliminary stage. Just try to imagine a FIFA World Cup, which now has 32 competitors in the final tournament, with 64 or even 96 qualified teams. That would really sound absurd!
If there’s a good thing in the new format of the European championship, that might be the fact that my country, Romania, will finally obtain another qualification after a 8-year drought. I find it hard to believe they cannot qualify under these circumstances, but where is the satisfaction of a great achievement if qualifying is so easy from now on?

I think UEFA’s decision to increase the number of participating teams is not beneficial at all for the thrill and excitement of the competition. 16 teams qualified out of 54 UEFA members  was the ideal number. Now, besides the lack of excitement of the preliminaries, there’s also an inflation of teams of low value in the final tournament. I really think this change is not beneficial for the general interest around this prestigious competition.

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