UEFA EURO 2016

Comment: 24 Teams is too much

The Experiment has failed. The 24 Teams bloated EURO 2016 is not exciting, but arbitrary than previous tournaments. Less is more, says DW sports reporter Jefferson Chase.

A lot of games, not always voltage – the preliminary round of the Euro 2016

Two weeks of EM, and 36 games are behind us. However, just eight of the 24 Teams were sorted out. The new, larger EM so far is one thing: longer. But not better. Had to be? UEFA would have to keep to a simple wisdom: You don’t want to fix what is broken.

In contrast, write some commentators, has opened the inflation of the tournament for the small Teams, no new opportunities. Because two of the Underdogs have qualified for the tournament (Wales and Northern Ireland), even if this would have been discharged as before, only with 16 teams. Beneficiaries of the EM-extension were in the qualifiers, Teams like Turkey, Ukraine or Sweden – all of which means great football Nations of Europe that have not made it to the second round. And also also excreted Albania and Romania would not have been in the normal qualifying mode, probably to France.

A preliminary round as a qualification

DW sports reporter Jefferson Chase: “Less is sometimes more”.

Admittedly, Some of the “additional” qualified Teams such as Hungary, Iceland and Ireland have shown strong performance. The
to have celebrated Icelanders managed according to human judgment, their captivating football but also to a 16er-EM. And one thing is clear: Northern Ireland and Wales are not without reason in the knockout Phase of the tournament. They have set themselves against larger Nations – new mode.

In retrospect, the was
EM-preliminary round as a qualification. Teams that could not muster team unity and/or individual qualities, were sorted out. With right from the start 16 teams, we would have suspected the same constellation as it is now.

Skew in the K. o.-Phase

A new development, which is everything else as well. France, Germany, Spain and Italy are all on one side of the tournament tree, Belgium and the Underdogs on the other. This inclined position by the unexpected defeats of some of the great Teams were created in the preliminary round, but also by the arbitrary mode: Some of the group winners play against group second, the other winner will play against group a third party. So England for example, in Iceland, both of which are group second. But Italy gets it to do with Spain – group first and group second.

The lot that the groups are created, is never 100 percent fair. But with the expansion of the tournament to 24 Teams, UEFA has created an additional factor of arbitrariness. In addition, the creators have created this game plan for a Situation in which some Teams that have later played out, knew exactly what result they needed in order to avoid certain opponents in the first knockout round. In the last minutes of the previously exciting game of Hungary against Portugal, you could see on the grass that both of them were with the result, though.

Thus, only a Central reason for the increase in the Europe to keep the championship: the money. More games mean more revenue. For the UEFA. The side effects of this plastic surgery are obvious. And they don’t do the tournament.

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