UEFA puts Euro expansion to 32 teams on hold

October 10 - UEFA will not expand the European Championship to 32 teams from its current 24-team format for the foreseeable future.

Sky has signaled that the European governing body believes it would be going too far to expand its flagship national team competition to 32 teams, as it would devalue the qualifying competition and require an overhaul of the tournament format .

UEFA had explored the idea of ​​expanding the finals further after introducing 24 finalists for the first time at Euro 2016.

At the last European Championship, the format proved to be successful, but the addition of eight more teams to the tournament has been shelved for now.

Germany will host Euro 2024 and next year UEFA will award the hosting rights for Euro 2028, with the UK and Ireland in a joint bid, and Euro 2032.

With its decision, UEFA is going against the grain.

FIFA has expanded the World Cup to 48 teams with the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the first finals in this format in 2026. The group stage will have a convoluted model with 16 groups of three. Next year's Women's World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, will feature 32 teams for the first time, with FIFA keen to capitalize on the success of the 24-team final in France in 2019.

In 2019, Asia and Africa staged their first continental tournaments in a 24-team format, up from sixteen teams previously. Conmebol's Copa America will see two groups of five contest the next tournament, meaning more group matches will be added to the schedule. Concacaf expanded to a 16-team Gold Cup final, but added a qualifying competition for the final places which was played the week before the tournament proper.

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