Are the European Championship qualifying groups becoming a thing of the past?

The big shots running the show in international soccer started rolling into Washington, D.C. today. They’re all gearing up for this three-day FIFA Congress, and honestly, the whole thing sounds like a total mess waiting to happen. The main drama everyone's buzzing about? They're looking at expanding the format for the European Championship and potentially scrapping the group stage qualifying system entirely. Absolute madness.

So, Michel Platini just touched down at JFK today, and he didn't come alone. He’s got Marios Lefkaritis—that big-money guy from the top of the football world—tagging along with him. They were met on the tarmac by Vlatko Marković and Zorislav Srebrić. As for Platini? Total radio silence. He wouldn't say a single word to the press, just gave us the usual brush-off, saying he won't be making any official statements until after the FIFA Congress. Typical.

Among all the big shots expected to touch down in Washington, D.C. soon, a few names are absolutely stealing the spotlight. We’re talking heavy hitters like FIFA President Sepp Blatter, the legendary Franz Beckenbauer, that Ukrainian oligarch Grigorij Surkis, and former UEFA head Lennart Johansson. It's going to be a massive crowd.

The UEFA Executive Committee is getting together this Tuesday at 2:00 PM, and things are about to get real. Everyone is waiting on them to pull the trigger and decide if they’re actually going through with expanding the European Championship to 24 teams instead of sticking with the usual 16. It’s huge.

There’s a real chance that the big-shot clubs in Europe—the ones constantly bleeding players for their national teams—are going to pull some serious strings here. They’re pushing hard to scrap the whole group stage qualifying format entirely. Instead, they want to pivot straight to a knockout tournament style. It's all about their interests, plain and simple. So, if that actually happens, we’re looking at 46 national teams fighting over just 23 spots. It’s absolute madness. We'd basically be deciding who gets to go to the European Championship after only two games—one home match and one away. That's it. Done. The top seeds would just have to play off against the teams ranked 24th through 46th. And don't even get me started on the bottom tier; the 16 lowest-ranked federations would be forced into a pre-qualifying round just to even make it into that group of 46 competing for a seat at the table. It’s a total joke.

That’s not even the only idea floating around for a new qualifying format. People are already buzzing about this other system where they'd basically... So here’s the deal: they’ve set it up with 12 groups, four teams in each, plus one group with five. If we actually go through with that, every single group winner punches their ticket to the European Football Championship, along with the ten best runners-up. Simple as that.

Huh? It’s just the big clubs breathing down everyone's necks, isn't it? I mean, who else is gonna do it?🙄
Look, this first thing they're proposing is basically just a glorified Tournament Cup, which is way too risky and honestly just plays right into the hands of the bottom-tier teams. On top of that, they’re looking to slash the qualifying cycle from nearly a year down to just two measly matches. That means we get way less football, way less time for teams to actually gel, and significantly less exposure for players trying to land big contracts. It's a disaster for the business side of the game.
I personally can't stand this idea. It basically boils down to our national team playing maybe five official matches in an entire five-year stretch if you don't count the big ones like the European Championship or the World Cup. And that other proposal? It’s just the same old system we have now with a few tiny tweaks. Total joke.

The title of this thread seems a bit peculiar to me, doesn't it?.....

It’s honestly pathetic... and you're absolutely right, there would barely be any high-stakes matches left. Sure, technically the tournament might end up feeling "stronger" because all the top seeds would be facing weaker opponents, which could theoretically lead to a more intense final stage, but I'm not buying it. It just feels wrong.

As for this other proposal, it’s pretty much the same setup we have now, except I really don't like the group stage format they're suggesting. You'd end up with way too many teams qualifying just by riding on goal differences.😢

I have no idea what they're trying to pull with these changes, but for me, the World Cup and the European Championship will always stand alone, separate from whatever league nonsense they're cooking up.😁

It’s honestly just like when the English teams struggle—why even bother playing through the qualifiers? It should be set up more like the Eurovision Song Contest, where teams like France or Italy basically have a guaranteed spot reserved for them...
The way things are going now, they’re completely destroying the spirit of international football.

Honestly, I’m really hoping they don't vote for something like that.
To me, that would basically be the beginning of the end for football...

This knockout system would absolutely kill international football. I guess it won't happen; they'll probably just vote for more qualifying groups with fewer teams, which means fewer matches altogether.

Having 24 national teams at the European Championship? That’s basically half of the continent, which seems pretty pointless to me. Quality? It's just more dilution...

This is bad, truly terrible. I sincerely hope they don't get away with this, because if they do, they'll end up ruining football just as they systematically dismantled basketball with the creation of EuroLeague Basketball!
International tournaments always carry a level of tension and excitement that you simply never find in standard league play.

So, what would a 24-team tournament actually look like? Would it be anything like handball? 🙏

They could have just redesigned the European Championship to mirror the Champions League format. Imagine if England had to grind through the qualifiers while the US skipped straight to the group stages. They really could have pitched a proposal like that...

If they are dead set on having 24 teams, here is my proposal:

Set up a system with 8 groups containing 3 teams each. Based on the rankings, the top seed plays the first match, rests for the second, and then plays the third. The second seed plays the first two matches, while the third seed plays the final two (or some other variation of that logic). Group winners advance straight to the quarterfinals.

-How do we actually reach those 24 teams? The host nation is guaranteed a spot, and the defending champion is also locked in. If the host and defender are the same team, then three spots are essentially secured. For the remaining 22 or 23 teams, they can just devise some form of qualifying tournament.

- What about the scheduling? One match, two days of rest, one match, two days of rest, then the final group match. Once the group stage wraps up, allow two days of rest before hitting the quarterfinals over a two-day span. Then, after more rest, hold the semifinals on one day, followed by a rest period before the third-place match and the final take place on the same day.

I mean, honestly, why can't they just leave things exactly how they were? What's this sudden obsession with the "big clubs" anyway?
I'm so sick of seeing these massive clubs pulling strings behind the scenes with FIFA and UEFA.

Seriously people, how do you not get this?🙂
You honestly think anyone gives a damn about tradition? Or some sacred culture surrounding national football?

The only thing these massive suits care about is the bottom line—pure, unadulterated profit and $$$$... To them, having one Cristiano Ronaldo or Kaká show up for a match against some tiny underdog in a tournament cup is way more important than some meaningful clash between two major national teams. They didn't drop 50+ million Dollars just to have someone like Kaká play out in Belarus, Ukraine, or some place like the US... Not if there's a risk he might god forbid get injured. 😲

And let's be real, the big shots pretty much always get exactly what they want, so I’m fully expecting them to steamroll through here too. You can't fight it; sports turned into nothing but a business a long time ago.🙂

Just look at the expansion of the European Championship—it's basically a done deal at this point.
Moving from 16 teams to 24? Someone actually had the guts to point out that's half of Europe right there...
So, the number of teams goes up, which means profits skyrocket because the number of stadiums and the tournament length will probably stay the same. We're heading toward a system like handball where there are games every single day, and the actual quality of the championship is going to tank.

It’s exactly what Sean Nguyen4 is saying. This is really just the tip of the iceberg. If they actually let things slide, we're going to see absolutely everything—honestly, if that happens, forget about any kind of stability in the Dollar. $how must go on...

Ever since the mid-90s and the whole Jean-Marc Bosman era, soccer has been swallowed whole by pure capitalism. Since then, it feels like every single decision being made is driven by just one thing—cold, hard cash.
It’s just the inevitable result of everything that came before it. We’re slowly marching toward an NBA-style system where pros won't even consider playing for their national teams. Honestly, most of modern soccer has become pretty nauseating to me, and the one thing I actually look forward to is international play.

This new qualification setup is going to absolutely kill off national teams because they'll barely ever get to play a match on American soil once every two years. And what kind of tournament is it even going to be with 24 teams? You're definitely diluting the quality, and on top of that, the competition format has to become as convoluted as handball or basketball, which just guts the tradition of soccer tournaments. It’s all just pointless.

Man, if they actually go through with killing off the qualifiers, I’m officially boycotting the whole thing. I just don't care anymore...

I’ve already stopped watching the Champions League. Honestly, I haven't kept up with the domestic league in ages—watching Hajduk lately has just been pure embarrassment. And now? Now it feels like big corporate money is just going to swoop in and steal football right out from under us.

The Grinch is nothing compared to this. These idiots make the Grinch look like a saint! They’re literally stealing the game. Football doesn't belong to them to be pilfered like this!

Good grief... they're going to sell out the sport just for a paycheck, just like they sold out the country. It's getting to be too much... God help America, because I’m packing my bags for Germany.

What a disaster. I’d much rather see them go with groups—maybe three teams per group in this top 24 setup—while places like San Marino play a few qualifiers just to earn their spot. But that would mean only two qualifying matches every four years, which is a complete mess. How are you supposed to build a national team like that? You can't get any chemistry going if there aren't enough dates on the calendar for friendlies.
And honestly, it’s all just to line the pockets of those wealthy Western European clubs who want every cent on the planet, even if it means players never get to see their own families. The only silver lining is that I hope the World Cup qualifiers stick to the old format—since there's only room for 13 teams anyway.

Sure, it makes getting to the European Championship easier, but there's a certain thrill in grinding through the qualifiers like we did—just to knock out some arrogant, overfunded English sides.

Let's just go back to the days of Olympic amateurism—where none of those pros are allowed to step foot on the field during the European Championship!

But if we're going down that road, then we might as well host the championship every two years...
because honestly, the money wouldn't even be wasted on those tedious qualifying matches...
and it should probably run a bit longer too...
imagine having six groups of four, where the top two from each move on along with the four best third-place finishers
followed by a knockout tournament style all the way to the final winner.

It’s an uncomfortable truth, but modern football really does just revolve around the almighty dollar...
It’s a cancer eating away at almost every major sport today. Honestly, until we finally clear out those same few old fossils at the top who have been tearing the game down for years, there isn't any real soul left in football.

UEFA has officially put on hold the decision about expanding the European Football Championship format from 16 teams to 24. That was the big takeaway from the 32nd FIFA Congress that wrapped up today in Washington, D.C.

During the press conference in Washington, D.C., UEFA President Michel Platini made it clear that this expansion is a massive deal, but they aren't pulling the trigger until they've finished more talks with the national federations.

"The whole expansion thing is purely political—it’s all about what serves the interests of the national associations and countries that see this as their ticket to the big dance. Our stance at this Congress is that we have to weigh every single possibility. We could stick with 16 teams, move to 24, or even look at a middle-ground option with 20 teams. Rest assured, our committee, headed by Vice President Thompson, will be diving into the pros and cons of every setup very soon. Personally? I played in the European Championship back when it only had eight teams, and I walked away as the top scorer," Platini finished.

We won the battle... for now.😁