UEFA refuses to expand the Euro final to 32 teams

Broadcasters and sponsors against boring matches

UEFA is about to abandon plans to expand the final part of the European Championship 2028 to 32 teams.

According to the British edition of the Daily Mail, 24 teams will play in the final stage of the tournament, as it was before.

The expansion of the final stage from 16 to 24 teams took place at Euro 2016. It was planned that the increase in the number of finalists to 32 teams would take place in 2028. However, this initiative caused heated debate. The UEFA working group tasked with studying the changes has raised serious concerns about the impact of the number of participants in the final round on the cost of television rights and the interest of the audience in television broadcasts of the matches of the main football tournament in Europe.

The Daily Mail has learned that European broadcasters have told UEFA that the qualifier, which will see 32 out of 55 participating teams qualify for the final, will have little commercial value due to the predictability of many groups and the number of “weak” teams and uninteresting matches.

UEFA considered other options for hosting the EURO finals, such as switching from traditional qualifying groups to a knockout series, but this proposal also did not find support from commercial and broadcast partners of the European football association.

On the one hand, UEFA’s decision to refuse to increase the number of finalists may become disadvantageous for the potential host country of the tournament. The venue for Euro 2028, like Euro 2032, will be announced in September 2023 at the UEFA Congress.

On the other hand, such a decision will be welcomed by leading European clubs and football players, who have previously expressed concern about the increase in the number of international matches at the expense of national championships and the increased fatigue of players from more frequent flights and transfers in connection with calls to the national teams.

It is expected that the final decision on the format of the UEFA EURO 2028 finals will be made in the near future, taking into account the recommendations of the UEFA working group and the wishes of its TV partners and sponsors.