Euro 2016 Qualifying Thread
Judio
Posts: 11,795 Forum Member
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Draw : Sunday, 23 February 2014, 11h00 (start of show)
All the Details
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Draws/02/04/64/31/2046431_DOWNLOAD.pdf
The Relevant bits for TV Rights
9 groups: 8 groups of 6 teams (Groups A-H) and 1 group of 5 teams (Group I);
League system on home and away basis;
For TV reasons, England, Germany, Italy, Spain and the
Netherlands shall be drawn into groups of 6 teams.
The last team to be drawn among the remaining teams in Pot 1 will be allocated to Group I
composed of 5 teams.
There is also a change to the Euro 2016 fixture schedule, with qualifying matches being spread over six days of the international weeks rather than just being played on Fridays and Tuesdays, as they have been previously.
Uefa also revealed that every day of the international weeks would feature eight to 10 matches, rather than 20 to 30 fixtures on the same evening.
All the Details
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/Draws/02/04/64/31/2046431_DOWNLOAD.pdf
The Relevant bits for TV Rights
9 groups: 8 groups of 6 teams (Groups A-H) and 1 group of 5 teams (Group I);
League system on home and away basis;
For TV reasons, England, Germany, Italy, Spain and the
Netherlands shall be drawn into groups of 6 teams.
The last team to be drawn among the remaining teams in Pot 1 will be allocated to Group I
composed of 5 teams.
There is also a change to the Euro 2016 fixture schedule, with qualifying matches being spread over six days of the international weeks rather than just being played on Fridays and Tuesdays, as they have been previously.
Uefa also revealed that every day of the international weeks would feature eight to 10 matches, rather than 20 to 30 fixtures on the same evening.
0
Comments
Their addition to the group-stage draw will create nine pools of six teams, yet the games will be "centralised friendlies" with no points awarded.
Uefa's new rule is outlined in Euro 2016 regulation article 21.02, which reads: "The teams drawn into the group of five teams will have France added to their group for the purpose of playing."
they would have been playing games during the international windows anyway. or do you think they would be playing no games at all until the finals start in the summer 2 years from now?
They'd probably still have played meaningless friendlies against teams from other continents during international weeks. Maybe they'll try to break the legs of players from the best teams in the group.
24 teams qualifying is a terrible idea. As others have noted it makes the qualifiers less important, and means the finals will be watered down, so we'll have matches in which the worst teams do nothing but try desperately for 0-0.
And then four years later they have the brilliant "no one is the host/everyone is the host" tournament. Platini manages to sully his legacy as a player with every stupid decision he makes.
I can see a few issues being raised as well with the fact games are to be played throughout the week...
How will that work and who do they decide will play when?
Could see a few clubs managers having issues with it.
Thursday/Sunday
Friday/Monday
Saturday/Tuesday
Obviously the big Countries will have a gap, smaller ones may have to play Friday/Sunday to fit in !!!
Sounds like UEFA will set the schedule once the draw has been made. There are three day blocks when the teams play, e.g. 9-11 October (Thurs-Sat), and 12-14 October (Sun-Tues). The teams in each group all play on the same days. I would imagine they'll mix it up so some weeks e.g England and the teams in their group will play on a Thursday then a Sunday, other times Friday then Monday, etc.
Presumably this is being done to generate additional TV income so e.g fans in England can watch England one night, Germany/Spain/Italy/France/Portugal/whomever the other nights.
Almost ;-)
1 France (1 Side)
2 Top 2 in 9 Groups plus The Best 3rd Place side (19 Sides)
3 The Remaining 8 3rd Teams will play in a play off (4 Sides)
They start with 24 Teams and 16 will Qualify for Knockout Stages>:(
So Basically you cant lose in the Group Stages
All the 3rds go into the play-offs (except the best 3rd). Qualifiers are :
9 winners and runners-up = 18
Best 3rd = 1
Other eight 3rds play-off = 4
Hosts = 1
Total = 24
From a British perspective it's actually potentially more interesting with the games for everyone apart from England being much more meaningful - as Scot/Wal/NI/ROI will all have much more chance of qualifying.
However for England the games are obviously less meaningful.
Some of the Top sides will probably qualify after 6
4 more meaningless games to play !!!
All England games - ITV
All Scotland, Wales, NI and ROI games - Sky (***)
(***) Subject to caveat below
Games not featuring a British country:
MD1 to MD8: 1st pick - ITV, all other games - Sky
MD9 and MD10: 1st pick - Sky, 2nd pick - ITV, all other games - Sky
If England drawn in same group as another British country:
England home leg - ITV only
England away leg - ITV and Sky simulcast
ITV and Sky can both show highlights of the other's live games.
The more I think about it, the top national and club sides probably don't mind that, same for the TV companies that show the qualifying and finals.
The best national teams will be virtually guaranteed qualifying, so you won't see the likes of England missing Euro 2008, France missing WC 1994, etc. The TV companies probably welcome all the top teams qualifying, and of course more matches in the finals, even if there will be more dud games. And the TV companies in the countries that wouldn't have qualified with 16 teams but do with 24 will be especially pleased.
The clubs will probably welcome the top national teams qualifying with several matches to go so they can lobby them to rest their star players.
Don't worry - it's only going to get worse: the Euro 2020 Final Tournament is going to be played across Europe.
Going over old ground I know, but how can itv claim to be a UK (well English and Welsh at least) broadcaster by getting England rights only, rather than first pick of the Thurs - Sat or Sun - Tue (which would have allowed them to show say a crucial qualifier involving Wales, or potentially Scotland or NI).
England games will get bigger ratings than any other UK nation, and to be honest, the only games that'd come close to England game ratings would be games such as Spain v Germany.
Sadly in the current rights climate ITV doesn't have the money to compete against Sky and BT. This deal is actually pretty good for the UK viewer: all home nations' games are being shown live, and unlike in the past where they are not live on FTA TV, they are at least all on the same channel... not like home games on Sky, away games on Setanta for example.
In addition, there are free to air highlights of all home nations' games available to the whole of the UK.
It's over 20 years since that was true.
It wouldn't make sense for ITV to choose a Wales game that would attract only a tiny amount of viewers compared to a game involving England, even if it was a game that Wales needed to win to qualify whilst England faced a team like the Faroe Islands.
Will bookings/Sendings off count?
Is there any sense in this?
So what that basically means is UEFA will choose the friendly matches France play rather than the French themselves?
I envisage it devaluing the tournament, which as someone already said is highly competitive at the moment due to the fact nearly all 16 teams competing are top teams. Why do UEFA feel the need to change everything all of the time?!