October 10 – UEFA will not expand the European Championship to 32 teams from its current 24-team format in the foreseeable future.
Sky has reported that the European governing body felt it would be a step too far to expand its flagship national teams competition to 32 teams as it would mean devaluing the qualifying competition and require an overhaul of the tournament format.
UEFA had been exploring the idea of further expanding the finals after first introducing 24 finalists at Euro 2016.
At the last European Championship, the format proved to be a hit, but adding another eight teams to the tournament has been shelved for now.
Germany will stage Euro 2024 and next year UEFA will award the hosting rights for Euro 2028, with the UK and Ireland in a joint bid, and Euro 2032.
With its decision, UEFA is going against the trend.
FIFA expanded the World Cup to 48 teams with the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the first finals in that format in 2026. The group stage will have a convoluted template with 16 groups of three. Next year’s Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand will feature 32 teams for the first time with FIFA keen to capitalise on the success of the 24-team finals in France in 2019.
In 2019, Asia and Africa staged their first continental tournaments in a 24-team format, up from sixteen teams. Conmebol’s Copa America will see two groups of five contest the next tournament, meaning more group games will be added to the calendar. Concacaf expanded to a 16-team Gold Cup finals but added a qualifying competition for final slots that was played the week before the tournament proper.
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