with the dust finally settling on euro 2020, now is as good of a time as any to have a look at the upcoming tournament in 4 years and see what improvements could be made to ensure a better championship for all. the shortcomings this time around have been debated to death already, but i’ll revisit them and propose some changes for 2024.
one host - i think most people are clear that having one host will really help get people into the spirit of the tournament and level the paying field. with games played in spain, germany, italy, denmark and england it was no surprise to see some nations went deeper into the tournament than expected (france, germany, spain.) this gave a real unfair advantage to these sides. it also meant a lot of smaller teams had no skin in the game towards the latter stages of the tournament. host the tournament in germany and the germans have more interest/less bitterness towards the footballing world when they get knocked out of the competition. a real no brainer and one i’m certain uefa will get behind.
shake up the teams - england suffered/benefited from having an easy draw. maybe it meant they weren’t as sharp as they needed to be at the business end of the tournament, maybe it meant they had an advantage as less was taken from the tank before they got there. either way this was due to the likes of france, spain, belgium and the netherlands getting difficult draws against the likes of switzerland or the czech republic and ending up in the wrong side of the draw or being knocked out with consummate ease. a lot of the teams had to go behind to try and make a game of it. some gave themselves too much to do, like croatia. next time round i think these teams won’t make the same mistakes and will just steamroll opposition, making for a boring tournament. i think it’s imperative that we look at replacing the likes of france, spain, belgium, netherlands, germany with more competitive teams that would really benefit the tournament and would stop the likes of england getting an easy run to the final/warm them up for a real challenge.
better var - with pickford clearly diving off his line to save penalties, which could have had an impact on the tournament winner, alongside certain red card decisions for the likes of jorginho being over looked that definitely effected the outcome of the tournament, what should and shouldn’t be in var’s remit should be clarified and sorted. in cricket, the third umpire now has sole charge of spotting no balls, it didn’t make sense for the onfield umpire to look in two places at once, so a change was made. maybe var should have sole charge of all yellow and red card decisions or have the ability to highlight anything the ref missed (ala rugby,) to the ref, regardless of where it happened on the pitch.
ban fans and viewership - one thing is for sure, fans let football down this year, whether it was italian men honking italian random breasts in celebration. or scottish fans invading london for their match against england and being arrested in their droves. or the french racially abusing mbappe for missing a penalty. or the english celebrating the end of lockdown, there was not a single instance of any positive fan interaction this tournament. euro 2024 should therefore be played behind closed doors, without any cameras in attendance. the general public will be informed of the outcome of the tournament via the newspapers a full 3 weeks after the tournament that’s finished. this will ensure all the scum that watch football have nothing to argue about.
one host - i think most people are clear that having one host will really help get people into the spirit of the tournament and level the paying field. with games played in spain, germany, italy, denmark and england it was no surprise to see some nations went deeper into the tournament than expected (france, germany, spain.) this gave a real unfair advantage to these sides. it also meant a lot of smaller teams had no skin in the game towards the latter stages of the tournament. host the tournament in germany and the germans have more interest/less bitterness towards the footballing world when they get knocked out of the competition. a real no brainer and one i’m certain uefa will get behind.
shake up the teams - england suffered/benefited from having an easy draw. maybe it meant they weren’t as sharp as they needed to be at the business end of the tournament, maybe it meant they had an advantage as less was taken from the tank before they got there. either way this was due to the likes of france, spain, belgium and the netherlands getting difficult draws against the likes of switzerland or the czech republic and ending up in the wrong side of the draw or being knocked out with consummate ease. a lot of the teams had to go behind to try and make a game of it. some gave themselves too much to do, like croatia. next time round i think these teams won’t make the same mistakes and will just steamroll opposition, making for a boring tournament. i think it’s imperative that we look at replacing the likes of france, spain, belgium, netherlands, germany with more competitive teams that would really benefit the tournament and would stop the likes of england getting an easy run to the final/warm them up for a real challenge.
better var - with pickford clearly diving off his line to save penalties, which could have had an impact on the tournament winner, alongside certain red card decisions for the likes of jorginho being over looked that definitely effected the outcome of the tournament, what should and shouldn’t be in var’s remit should be clarified and sorted. in cricket, the third umpire now has sole charge of spotting no balls, it didn’t make sense for the onfield umpire to look in two places at once, so a change was made. maybe var should have sole charge of all yellow and red card decisions or have the ability to highlight anything the ref missed (ala rugby,) to the ref, regardless of where it happened on the pitch.
ban fans and viewership - one thing is for sure, fans let football down this year, whether it was italian men honking italian random breasts in celebration. or scottish fans invading london for their match against england and being arrested in their droves. or the french racially abusing mbappe for missing a penalty. or the english celebrating the end of lockdown, there was not a single instance of any positive fan interaction this tournament. euro 2024 should therefore be played behind closed doors, without any cameras in attendance. the general public will be informed of the outcome of the tournament via the newspapers a full 3 weeks after the tournament that’s finished. this will ensure all the scum that watch football have nothing to argue about.