Or how the UEFA wants to kill the game.

A couple of days ago UEFA announced that they are going to expand the final tournament of European Championship from 16 to 24 teams from the 2016 edition.

To start, let's hear from the UEFA President, Michel Platini himself who said, “One can give a considerable number of reasons [for a 24-team EURO].” OK, so where are these reasons? UEFA General Secretary David Taylor comes up with one, "National-team football is unbeatable in terms of TV rankings and the interest that it generates – why not increase the number of teams?” Now I get it. So it's all about the money! More games (51 instead of 31) means more money from TV right, adverts, admissions, etc. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of a commie that considers striving for profit as the worst sin. On the contrary. But I just disapprove of these kind of bullshit. If it's about the money why can't they just say so? Do they really have to come up with such things as, "One thing we have also seen which gives us comfort is that there are now at least 24 teams of the required strength to compete effectively in a final tournament,” as Taylor said. What are the requirements then? And if there are at least 24 teams of required strength so why only 24 will be allowed, why not 32? Isn't it supposed to be a tournament for the elite? And mind you, UEFA has 53 member associations. 24 out of 53? 45%. That's almost a half. So why bother with the traditional qualifying structure, with groups of six and five teams? How about a nice one-round two-legs round robin? Based on the FIFA ranking, the highest ranked will get the lowest ranked team, and so on. And we could have the final tournament every year! Wouldn't it be wonderful? Actually, it would get boring, just like the Champions League. Cause the situation is parallel, not directly though. A few years ago they changed the formula. From 16, through 24, to 32 teams. From champions only, to up to fourth placed teams as well. One can argue that the constant presence of bigger clubs improved all the aspects of the competition but it also killed the spirit of the game, not to mention pure unfairness of the whole thing.

But back to the Euro. I feel it's no longer about the best teams participating (after all the preliminary round has it's purpose in selecting the teams currently being in the best form) – it's about the right teams participating (i.e. those that would guarantee the highest revenues possible). What is going to be next? Manually picking teams to play in the European Championship? Or maybe, just as in the CL, guaranteed spots for certain teams? Because, obviously, some deserve the place more than the others, even if they cannot prove it on the pitch. All animals are equal, but some are more equal; doesn't it sound familiar? But that's a thing of the future (hopefully not but who knows). As for now the situation looks exactly like in the system of education – problem: too few students pass their tests (is it really a problem that's another matter); solution: lower the passing score. Everyone's happy because more people graduate, yet no one seems to notice that the level of education is gradually declining.

Source: http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=754190.html