By Andrew Warshaw
January 24- Euro 2016 hosts France are to play in the competition’s qualifying competition — but with a guarantee of their place in the finals secure.
The rule change from UEFA means the draw on February 23 will feature nine pools of six teams, yet the games involving France will be termed “centralised friendlies” with the results of their group matches not counting towards any team’s points total.
The top seeds, confirmed at a post-executive committee news conference today, will be Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia and Bosnia.
Uefa’s new rule, designed to allow the hosts to play worthwhile warmup games, will see France become the first host nation ever to take part in a Euro qualification phase.
“These are friendlies but at least France will be able to play against teams that exist rather than look for teams and no-one being available,” said Uefa president Michel Platini. “It’s been organised for convenience and it;s a very good idea. The French federation will not have to look for people all over the world to play against.”
Organisers are also considering a radical proposal for electronic tickets to be used at the Euro 2016 finals rather than the traditional paper tickets.
Euro 2016 president Jacques Lambert: “We are looking whether to have e-tickets or paper tickets. This is a decision that cannot be taken without in-depth strudy and looking at issues of security. There is still a lot fo work to do before the decision is taken.”
Lambert said the teams in the finals would have group matches spread all over France rather than based around a single city.
“The idea is to have them rotate among different stadia and this system was very much appreciated in the 1998 World Cup because it allowed foreign fans the possibility to enjoy this event with a tourist aspect to it as well as football, and it allowed for people in France to see all the differnt teams.”
Meanwhile, Platini refused to be drawn on fellow Frenchman Jerome Champagne’s declaration this week that he will run for FIFA president.
Platini has insisted he will not decide himself whether to run until after the World Cup. “In all honesty I didn’t see it or read a great deal about it and all I can say is ‘best of luck’,” he said.