blue b4 the moon said:
24 teams off to the finals way too many for me but what's wrong with 12 groups and top 2 to the finals?
Is it just the UK that is pissed off my International footie?
The idea of expanding is a bit strange, but you have to be fair to UEFA about this one. The reason they've gone with 8 groups and top 3 qualify (including play-offs) is two-fold - for one, a 12-group system wouldn't work bearing in mind France gets an automatic place and therefore there can only be
23, not
24, teams go through. Secondly, UEFA has an obligation to arrange a certain amount of international matches for its FAs, and eight groups of six makes for almost twice as many matches than 12 groups of four.
I know that most people's natural response is going to be "but I
want there to be less internationals. Well, I don't think UEFA agrees, and they are the ones who set the rules.
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
Vienna_70 said:
jazzy said:
Another Plattini fuck up 24 teams is 8 too many, some right shite will qualify I am including england in the right shite catogry
It's all a money-making exercise for UEFA, isn't it?
54 FAs make up Europe. 51 voted for this. Us, the Chairmans, and ANOther voted against. I think it is Platini's strategy of endearing himself to as many FAs as he can if JokeBlatter decides to go and Platini thinks that he is the one who can save football!
Supposedly it's actually Platini trying to undermine FIFA's influence - he and Blatter have fallen out as of some time ago. Platini has been in some papers a few months back claiming that he wants to expand the Euros to 32 teams in future, and to invite the top teams from other confederations to join. Basically he is trying to supplant and replace the World Cup entirely.
BoyBlue_1985 said:
Matty said:
BoyBlue_1985 said:
It's hardly a disgrace but I was thinking they are safe because Gibraltar cant make it to a tournament where only luck could keep them apart then
It's not the only pairing that are intentionally kept apart, Azerbaijan and Armenia are also kept apart for political reasons. This is the first qualifying that Russia and Georgia were free to draw each other, previously they too had been kept apart.
I think on UEFA?FIFA's part its a matter of making sure fan violence isnt an almost certainty like when Poland played Russia in Euro 2012. They dont want to play politics as such more not drag fans into a fire from the frying pan
Partly this, and partly to prevent Spain's FA from kicking up an almighty fuss. The first time Gibraltar tried to enter UEFA (2007) the reason that they didn't get in was because Spain basically held UEFA to ransom by saying "if Gibraltar enters, we leave" - and that wouldn't just mean Spain wouldn't enter the Euros, remember, it would also mean no Barca and Real in the Champions League. The Spanish Government are really angry that Gibraltar exists in the first place, and there's no guarantee that if Gibraltar had to play a match on Spanish territory that Spain wouldn't try doing something subtle - like making it impossible for fans to attend the game, having the police "accidentally" intercept the team bus to unsettle the players/delay the game, or fill the stadium with insulting banners before claiming that it was the fans' fault. Of course, it's possible that nothing would happen and everything would be dandy, but the Spanish government can be very spiteful when it wants to be, and they really, really hate Gibraltar.
