I came across this article (and an interesting discussion below it) on the WSC website yesterday.

 

http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1197-june-2015/12576-smaller-euros-and-world-cup-would-save-international-football

 

Next year, 24 teams will take part in the European Championships. There is even talk of expanding the World Cup from a just-about-OK 32 to a ludicrous 48. The author reckons that the World Cup and European Championships are becoming increasing bloated in the search for ever more money, and that a smaller field would result in better quality and fewer boring group matches. He has a point. However, you also need to give enough countries a realistic chance of taking part. An 8-team EC would mean Wales and Scotland could more or less kiss goodbye to any chance of taking part.

 

Personally I found 16 teams for the Euros OK, but 24 won't work as it'll take two weeks to eliminate 8 teams, generating a lot of pointless matches. As I can never see UEFA members agreeing to whittle down the numbers again, I would suggest this: a 32-team, pure knockout tournament. The first round is carried out in a home/away format immediately before the tournament "proper", when the remaining 16 teams go to the host nation and the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are played. The last 16 teams automatically qualify for the next tournament, making qualifying a shorter affair yet still giving the likes of Luxembourg the chance to play a major team. Apart from completely eliminating "dead rubbers", this would give smaller nations a real shot at glory and make it easier to host by cutting down the number of matches  from 31 for the previous format (God knows what for 24 teams) to a more manageable 15, meaning that the whole thing could be held at just 4 stadia.

 

What do you all think?

i think im misreading this, they have agreed the increase already? that would be madness.

it works well as it stands.

It shouldn't change, don't break what does not need mending. It works fine, so I hope nothing changes.