16 to 24 teams

[kevo]

I must admit I'm a fan of extending it. It's good to see teams like Iceland, Albania and Northern Ireland with a chance of making it through to the knockout stages. The way it's done as well means that most final games in the groups still have something important riding on them. Some of the games have been a bit dull, but that is always the case. The knockout stages should be much more entertaining.

 

[Windsor_seagull]

I'm in favour of them expanding it too - most teams traditionally find it as hard to qualify for the Euros (their local regional tournament) as they do for the World Cup. That doesn't make sense to me. Teams like Wales should qualify a large number of Euro's, while finding it a challenge to get to the World Cups.

That said, I think the system is wrong. Having a third place has made the final round of group games less interesting as for some teams there is no need to go all out attack as they have third place as a back up. Also, having teams play on different days (so they effectively know what they need to do to qualify) doesn't make sense either. No pretending I know the answer but the system isn't quite right yet.

 

[heathgate]

It only expanded from 8 to 16 when we held the finals here in 1996....

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[Paul Reids Sock]

Yes they did but lawro has a point. That was an appalling display by Slovenia.

They just didn't show up did they?

 

[Postman Pat]

It does stop a lot of the dead rubber games you see in the world cup where one team is already out so don't bother, they get tonked and it skews the table.

All 4 teams could have still qualified last night with the right result, as with most of the groups. It makes more competitive football, if not as entertaining.

 

[Two Professors]

As long as they don't go Eurovision on us and start importing non-European teams,the more the merrier.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I must admit I'm a fan of extending it. It's good to see teams like Iceland, Albania and Northern Ireland with a chance of making it through to the knockout stages. The way it's done as well means that most final games in the groups still have something important riding on them. Some of the games have been a bit dull, but that is always the case. The knockout stages should be much more entertaining.

This is a big positive.