Euro 2016, which concludes on Sunday when hosts France play Portugal at the Stade de France, has seen 24 teams compete for the first time, with the four best third-placed nations making it through the group stages.
The format saw sides like Northern Ireland, Albania and Slovakia involved for the first time in their history, but others have claimed that more teams have reduced the quality and created negative football.
Despite criticism from players, managers and pundits alike though, Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis confirmed that the expanded format would remain for the next tournament, while 2024 could see another change.
''The decision has been made to go for 24 and all the preparations for 2020 are with 24 teams,” he said (via Sky Sports).
''For 2024, it is wide open and it will be a proposal that is a very interesting discussion because there are pluses and minuses for every format. If you ask me about 32, I am confident that we have more than 32 very competitive teams in Europe, but a format of 32 would kill the qualifiers so it is balance, you have to consider a little bit of everything.”
Leading the complaints of the format has been Germany manager Joachim Low, whose side were beaten 2-0 by France in the semi-finals on Thursday night.
With third place likely to be enough to secure progression into the last 16, in theory three goalless draws would’ve sent teams through, so therefore negative, defensive football was rewarded.
Low claimed the quality suffered as a result, while Germany defender Mats Hummels said, as reported by the Guardian: ''There were many teams who didn’t want to do anything with the ball and just packed men behind the ball.”
Another Germany player, Lukas Podolski, went a step further calling out Uefa for doing “some stupid things with the system” after they reached the last 16.
Former England striker Alan Shearer agreed, telling BBC Sport: “In the final set of group games especially, we saw lots of teams defend very deep just to get a point so they could get through, like Slovakia against England for example.
''That’s what happens when you have third-placed sides getting out of groups. I don’t think the quality so far has been as high as previously but, with an extra eight teams here, that has not surprised me.”
Ultimately expanding the game, trying to inspire inclusion and increasing commercial opportunities need to be balanced against providing an entertaining spectacle for the fans to enjoy.
The system for Euro 2016 may have caused problems and seemed convoluted, but it’s here to stay for the competition’s next incarnation.
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