Germany’s head coach, Joachim Löw, and defender Mats Hummels have criticised the expanded format for the European Championship, saying the quality has suffered as a result.
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Speaking after Germany were eliminated by France in the semi-finals on Thursday night, Löw proposed a return from 24 to 16 nations in future to ensure more excitement.
“I think 24 teams are too many,” he said on sport1.de. “The World Cup’s going to be increased to 40 teams and it’s getting more and more, and that’s a problem in the long term. Sometimes you get the feeling it’s not doing football any good. The quality is suffering.”
Germany faced Ukraine, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Italy on their way to the semi-finals while France took on Romania, Albania, Switzerland, Republic of Ireland and Iceland on their way into the last four. According to Hummels, that meant too many games against inferior opponents who limited themselves to trying to defend a goalless draw, three of which could have been enough to qualify for the last 16.
“The level at this European Championship was not what we had hoped for,” said Hummels. “There were many teams who didn’t want to do anything with the ball and just packed men behind the ball.”
