Soccerphile Editorial - July 2012
It's the end of the European Championship as we know it
Spain’s 4-0 demolition of Italy in the Euro 2012 final in Kiev was a fitting end to an entertaining European Championship. It was also, in many ways, the end of an era. Spain's continuing domination of international football is open to debate, but there's little doubt UEFA's decision to expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams in 2016 will dilute the quality of football on show.
UEFA first announced the decision to expand the European Championship finals to 24 teams just three months after Spain won the Euro 2008 tournament. At the time, UEFA President Michel Platini assured fans the decision would not impact on technical standards at Europe’s popular money-spinning jamboree. "I'm sure that (expanding the competition) will not change the technical level," Platini said at the time. "In addition to the 16 qualifiers, there are eight other teams just as good."
Critics of Ireland’s recent performances at Euro 2012 might beg to differ. Finishing second behind Russia in a qualifying group which also contained Armenia, Slovakia, Macedonia and Andorra, the Republic crushed Estonia in the play-offs to reach Euro 2012 finals. Sadly for Irish fans, Giovanni Trapattoni’s team failed to pick up a single point in Poland, conceding nine goals in the process and scoring just one in return.
"Let's not just go along for the sing-song every now and again," former Republic captain Roy Keane famously complained after Ireland’s 4-0 group-stage mauling at the hands of Spain, but in essence that's exactly what UEFA's latest proposal is about.
Of the teams who finished in the play-off positions during Euro 2012 qualification - Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Estonia and Montenegro - only three were present at Euro 2004. Those who narrowly missed out on a play-off place included Scotland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and Belgium – all proficient teams, but hardly world beaters.
Yet it's clear the decision to turn to a 24-team tournament is rooted in allowing as many of UEFA's constituents to play in the finals as possible, even if it not only dilutes the quality of finals but also takes much of the competitive sting out of qualifying.
Indeed, Euro 2012 tournament director Martin Kallen admitted as much. "At the moment we have the best teams here, but there are great teams who are not - such as Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovenia and Norway," Kallen said. That he then admitted wanting to see Scotland take part in the finals - "for atmosphere" - suggests a good old-fashioned sing-song is very much high on UEFA's agenda.
It's ironic then that Platini's most recent suggestion – made as Euro 2012 was in full swing – was one which virtually guaranteed an adverse tournament experience for fans. Already criticised for awarding the Euro 2016 tournament to France instead of Turkey, Platini was evidently surprised by the reluctance of any major European nations to bid for the hosting rights of Euro 2020.
Thus the former French midfielder devised a grand plan; instead of a single European nation hosting the finals, Platini suggested matches could be staged all over Europe.
Perhaps Platini's suggestion should not have come as such a surprise. At a Euro 2012 co-hosted by two of Europe's largest nations, Spanish and Italian fans in the midst of a severe economic downtown were each expected to travel more than 700 kilometres from their semi-final host cities to attend the final in Kiev. Clearly when UEFA talks about fans creating "atmosphere," they aren't necessarily referring to the same group of fans turning up at each and every game.
And therein lies one of the fundamental differences between the experience fans want and the experience UEFA is prepared to offer. Already the World Cup has been commercialised and sanitised to the point many serious football fans have turned their backs on it.
Now for the sake of political expediency, UEFA is suggesting a greater number of casual fans can attend the European Championships at the expense of the tournament's more traditional, tight-knit travelling support. The ethics of the decision may be debatable, but what is clear is that future editions of the European Championship will look and feel very different to the tournament just passed.
It should be stated that for all UEFA's politicking, the decision to expand the tournament to 24 teams was voted on unanimously by its 53 member nations. And with the cost benefits of hosting major sporting events increasingly coming into question, there's every chance UEFA's membership may also warm to the idea of hosting a multinational tournament.
But whatever the outcome, the future of the European Championship looks very different indeed. Just four teams contested the finals in 1960, making the 24-team tournament set to take place in France in 2016 look positively bloated indeed.
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