February 24 – UEFA president Michel Platini has countered opposition to those who claim expanding the European Championship finals to 24 teams will water down the competition and reduce the quality and spectacle.
Before Sunday’s 2016 qualifying draw in Nice, Platini named England and Germany as the two main opponents of the decision that has conversely brought nothing but support from Europe’s middle-ranked teams who now stand a better than ever chance of reaching the finals.
The new ruling followed a UEFA Congress vote in 2009 on an expansion proposal put forward by Scotland and Ireland.
“If they don’t like it they shouldn’t play in that case,” Platini told reporters referring to critics of the new format. “It was a decision that was taken by the vast majority. Two or three such as England and Germany were not in favour but 50 supported the proposal. Even if England and Germany are not happy with it, that’s democracy.”
Platini insists the quality of both the qualifying tournament and the finals in France will be maintained.
“It is obvious you can have 24 very good teams and when I looked at the dry run draw this morning it is clear there is going to be a lot of pressure to qualify and that it is going to be just as difficult. The five or six biggest teams should have little problem but from the 15th to the 40th teams they will be fighting very, very hard.”
Under UEFA’s ‘week of football’ concept, with qualifiers taking place every day from the Thursday to Tuesday of double-header international weeks, England ended up finding themselves starting off on a Monday against main group rivals Switzerland.
Each country will have a two-day gap between matches, with eight to 10 qualifiers taking place each night. UEFA will also organise the fixtures to try to ensure that no more than two teams from the six top TV markets – England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Holland – are in action on the same day.
“This was a political decision to try to promote the football of national teams. Clubs play every day of the week but as a result national team football has been pushed out of the limelight,” Platini said. “We would like to see it take that limelight again.”
Meanwhile, Gibraltar coach Allen Bula insists his minnows should not be taken lightly after UEFA’s 54th and smallest member association were included in the draw for the first time alongside three-time champions Germany, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Scotland and Georgia.
“It really is a historic moment for us and the end of a very long 16-year journey. We have travelled a long road to get here,” he told Reuters after the draw. “But now everyone is waking up to the reality of what we are facing. The moment people saw us drawn with Germany they would have realised just how real this is. We are not living in a bubble any more. Of course it is going to be tough, but we are not coming along just to play. We are in a competition and obviously for us, to reach the playoffs would be excellent.”
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