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The New Bloated European Championship Format Is Rife with Problems
Published: February 21, 2014
The qualification draw for the next European Championships will be held at the Palais des Congres Acropolis in Nice at 12 p.m. local time (11 a.m. GMT), with some of the biggest names in football turning out to see 54 UEFA member nations divided into nine groups.
With Euro 2020 set to be held across 13 European cities to "celebrate" the 60th anniversary of the competition, UEFA appear to be bracing us for radical change by revamping the formula of the tournament.
Some of the changes are positive. For example, qualification will now be held in a "week of football" format.
Typically, around 20 to 30 European qualifiers are held on the same evening but in the new system these games will be spread from Thursday to Tuesday, with eight to 10 games per day instead. It also means a greater proportion of matches will be played at the weekend.
This might be the best idea Michel Platini's organisation has come up with in recent memory. It means that fans who would usually only watch their own nation's qualifiers will be able to see a much wider variety of football—imagine the mirth of an English Premier League fan who now gets to see his or her favourite players in action for Germany or Spain, instead of having to swallow just a portion of whatever the Three Lions serve up!
The primary force behind the change, of course, is money, but the knock-on effect of UEFA's coffers getting filled by increased broadcast revenues is that European federations will get more money too.
The qualification and tournament formats, however, are not uniformly being changed for the better.
A glaring issue is that hosts France will have their name in the draw on Sunday. Les Bleus will be taking part...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football
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