Beckenbauer: Euro 2012 will expand to 24 teams?

[schrutebuck]

UEFA are set to agree to expand the European Championships from 16 to 24 teams, according to Franz Beckenbauer.

''Yes for sure it's going to be 24 teams. There are some good reasons to do it and the European Championships will not lose any quality by that,'' Beckenbauer said.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=575848&sec=europe&cc=5901

I think 24 teams make a lot of sense - it seems like the best permanent number to keep. Adding (for example) England, Denmark, Israel, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Norway, Finland, and one Cinderella wouldn't have diluted Euro 2008's quality (in my opinion).

[Lusankya]

No, it's stupid. Qualification will become a big joke and there is no good format for 24 teams.

[hackespitze123]

Absolutely stupid idea.

Why the hell can't UEFA (and FiFA) just stop ruining the most enjoyable competitions this sport has to offer? Idiotic over-the-top commercialisation, and the quality of the tournament(s) suffers as a consequence.

[Gorando]

Level in Europe is insane so I like this idea. Teams like England, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Ukraine , Scotland, Israel, Bulgaria, Serbia won't look bad on a finals tournament.

[Gnafron]

Great! England will be able to qualify and English networks will buy TV rights each time…

[Robandinho]

Whats next, 8 years from now they will expand to 32 teams, and in 2020 to 40? i say keep it Euro the way it is.

[mfw13]

It's a stupid idea driven solely by financial considerations (i.e. bigger tournament = more TV revenue).

The ONLY way it makes sense is if you severly reduce the length of qualifying.

Step 1: Have some of the minnows play off against each other in two-match head-to-head ties until the field is reduced to twice the number of spots available (either 22 or 23 depending on the number of hosts).

Step 2: Seed the remaining 44 or 46 teams using FIFA rankings and have them play off in another head-to-head two match tie.

Voila....qualifying is over and done with in less than a month!

An alternate second step which is much more likely to take place since it requires more matches (i.e. move TV money) would be to have 44 teams playing for 22 qualifying spots no matter what, divided into 11 four-team groups playing a total of six matches. If the tournament is co-hosted, then the 23rd and 24th spots go to the two co-hosts. If you have just a single country hosting, then the 23rd spot goes to them, and the 24th spot to the defending champion.

[sinner78]

Great! England will be able to qualify and English networks will buy TV rights each time…

so?
England only missed one tournament in the entire history of the cup.
This change was proposed by the Scotland association. They havent qualified for anything since 98 and probably wont ever again unless they have some big expansions.

[schrutebuck]

No, it's stupid. Qualification will become a big joke and there is no good format for 24 teams.

Actually after thinking about this for several hours, especially the issue of qualifiers, I think my first post is definitely wrong. :o

Positives: Quality of play in Euro probably wouldn't decrease; even more money from hosting and tv rights
Negatives: Qualification for established teams would be a joke; Format with 3rd place teams advancing sucks

[j.fisher]

They had to get the Home Nations in somehow. Just another cash grab.

[Messi-ah]

gay gay and gay! platini has to step down, he his head is too big for the position.

and someone said this earlier... Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Ukraine , Scotland, Israel, Bulgaria, Serbia wouldnt dilute a euro 2008

hahahaha, no thank you. Thank god we didnt have to suffer by having to watch those teams. the euro is perfect. So England didnt make the 08 finals, tough..
you have to earn it. not expand the pool. What will be of qualifiers, of the 25 spots that dont make it, 80 % are piss poor teams like faroe islands , andoora, and luxembourg.
the qualifiers will be a waste of time, and energy for players, and CLUBS WILL HATE IT.
that has to be the dumbest idea ever, 24 is not even divisable , you would have to have that 3rd place finish in the groups, which means, no more groups of death. Shall i keep going?? platini needs to shut his french arrogant mouth up and sit down..he has too much power to destroy a great tradition, BTW, the euros have been incredible in the round of 16, its a prefect blend. last year Russia was the only annoying team to progress, now think about this possible final 4 in a 24 team bracket, serbia- bulgaira & danmark -germany.. who the hell wants that??
give me a break! the euros are for powerhouses, i dont want to watch serbia, i want to watch spain, and italy in the finals. no offense to the eastern european teams.
16 teams mean more pressure to perform, a 24 bracket will allow teams to completly kill off a third group match if the third place rule were in affect, see copa america 2007 ...
and what europe needs more money??? cmon now, the f***in euro is almost 1:2 to the dollar. man, that just sickens me.. i say put kevin keegan at the helm as the uefa presidency!

ughh im so mad at that idea//

[Robandinho]

This is probably the result of England whining so much that Platini had no choice but to expand the # of teams solely so England can Qualify. Guess what England, The Euro is only for good teams and if you want in.....then you have to perform. Horrible idea, Who would want to watch Bulgaria, Scotland, or Ukraine....the 8 teams added would seriously dilute the quality of football at Euro.

[ZeekLTK]

I heard that UEFA were going to expand the field to 24 teams for Euro 2016. Please tell me this isn't true!

[Jwaksman]

I think that's pretty old news:

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-europlatiniexpansion&prov=reuters&type=lgns


I'm not sure why it's a bad thing. How could it be bad to have more games? The Euros are a lot of fun, so why not add a few games? And it's not like you're going to really dilute the talent. To give you a hint of who hasn't been playing so far: Israel is currently ranked 19th in the World, yet they have NEVER played in a Euro championship. It can't hurt to let teams like that in.

[OrlandoEngelaar]

Not 2012, but 2016 and hopefully it will be back to 16 teams by then.

[Lusankya]

so?
England only missed one tournament in the entire history of the cup.

You're almost right.
But a little correction, they missed it six times.


now think about this possible final 4 in a 24 team bracket, serbia- bulgaira & danmark -germany
The seeding should prevent such a situation.

[Matt12]

24 teams is a bad number i don`t like it when 3 placed teams can make it to the knock out rounds

It would also dilute the qualite of the teams. But that is not really such a big problem. At the moment the EC has on average better teams then the WC.

[Prenn]

This is probably the result of England whining so much that Platini had no choice but to expand the # of teams solely so England can Qualify. Guess what England, The Euro is only for good teams and if you want in.....then you have to perform. Horrible idea, Who would want to watch Bulgaria, Scotland, or Ukraine....the 8 teams added would seriously dilute the quality of football at Euro.

:rolleyes:

[Bauser]

Bad decision by UEFA. 16 is the perfect tournament format, but they intend to do exactly the same at FIFA with the World Cup. They want to gamble with the perfect 32 team format to have more teams.

I guess money is the reason. As always.

[sinner78]

Thank god we didnt have to suffer by having to watch those teams. the euro is perfect. So England didnt make the 08 finals, tough..
you have to earn it. not expand the pool.


Portugal benefited from past expansions. They didnt make it to 88 and 92. Then the cup was expanded to 16 teams.
They didnt qualify for the world cup in 90,94 and 98 .The tournament was expanded in 98 and portugal then managed to make it in 2002.
Did you hang around discussions back in the late 90s saying "ooooh tough portugal so you didnt qualify for anything in the last decade ,you have to earn it" ?? I doubt it.

But you probably dont know any of this anyway judging by your location. Im wasting my time explaining this to you.



This is probably the result of England whining so much that Platini had no choice but to expand the # of teams solely so England can Qualify. Guess what England, The Euro is only for good teams and if you want in.....then you have to perform. Horrible idea, Who would want to watch Bulgaria, Scotland, or Ukraine....the 8 teams added would seriously dilute the quality of football at Euro.

It was proposed by Scotland and ireland. Dont let facts get in the way of your fantasies.
The English FA was happy with the previous setup and didnt propose anything.
I laugh every time some mouthbreather with a North American location spouts sh1t in threads like this.
They should stop posing as Europeans and get back to their concacrap threads. Acting like they are personally offended by a decision that is nothing to do with them.