The first official competition for European football (soccer) teams was played in 1960, with four participating teams. This format remained unchanged for 20 years until the 1980 Euros, where twice as many nations played. This lasted for 12 additional years, but from 1996 onward, 16 and later 24 teams would come to play at the Euros. But what if the expansion never occurred? Finding a "good" reason for UEFA not to expand it (from their point of view) is nearly impossible, but this TL is more about examining how these hypothetical tournaments would pan out. I'm too unfamiliar with how the AH Wiki works to use it in my first thread. But I will surely start using it once I get the hang of it. If you know any good guides for football Wiki AH specifically, please let me know.
Methodology
When it comes to determining who qualifies, I will include the seven best-performing teams in the qualification in OTL plus the host who automatically qualifies as the top seed. Group winners will always be prioritized in qualification, even if runners-up have more points. Arguably unfair, but it's how UEFA usually conducts this. In cases where a qualification group(s) have more teams than another, results against the bigger group's bottom-placed team will not be taken into account. If you think this is unfair, blame UEFA, because it's how they do it. Co-hosts are not a thing ITL, since it's unlikely UEFA would ever use that as a concept of an international tournament with just eight teams. In these cases, I will use one of the co-hosts from OTL as a single host ITL, based on probability. This means that Euro 2000, hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium in OTL, would just be hosted by the Netherlands ITL. The group stage draws will be conducted in accordance with how UEFA does it, but with fewer balls and more randomly generated numbers. When it comes to predicting scorelines, results in OTL will always have priority. In other cases, it will be based on team's recent competitive performances and the overall quality of the squad.
UEFA Euro 1996 With Eight Teams
Teams are (un)seeded based on how they would have been (un)seeded in OTL.
Seeded
Group A
England 1-1 Switzerland
Croatia 0-3 Portugal
England 2-0 Croatia
Switzerland 0-1 Portugal
Portugal 0-1 England
Switzerland 0-1 Croatia
Group B
Spain 1-2 Czech Republic
Russia 0-3 Germany
Spain 2-1 Russia
Czech Republic 0-2 Germany
Germany 1-1 Spain
Czech Republic 3-3 Russia
Knockout Stage
Thank you for reading. I hope my humble first thread was enjoyable. Once again, as I learn the Wiki, I will try to make it more visually appealing. Thanks for understanding. I plan on doing this TL up to and including Euro 2020, and I have three bigger ATL's planned for the future. But first things first.
Methodology
When it comes to determining who qualifies, I will include the seven best-performing teams in the qualification in OTL plus the host who automatically qualifies as the top seed. Group winners will always be prioritized in qualification, even if runners-up have more points. Arguably unfair, but it's how UEFA usually conducts this. In cases where a qualification group(s) have more teams than another, results against the bigger group's bottom-placed team will not be taken into account. If you think this is unfair, blame UEFA, because it's how they do it. Co-hosts are not a thing ITL, since it's unlikely UEFA would ever use that as a concept of an international tournament with just eight teams. In these cases, I will use one of the co-hosts from OTL as a single host ITL, based on probability. This means that Euro 2000, hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium in OTL, would just be hosted by the Netherlands ITL. The group stage draws will be conducted in accordance with how UEFA does it, but with fewer balls and more randomly generated numbers. When it comes to predicting scorelines, results in OTL will always have priority. In other cases, it will be based on team's recent competitive performances and the overall quality of the squad.
UEFA Euro 1996 With Eight Teams
Teams are (un)seeded based on how they would have been (un)seeded in OTL.
Seeded
- England (Hosts)
- Spain
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Portugal
- Russia
- Switzerland
Group A
England 1-1 Switzerland
Croatia 0-3 Portugal
England 2-0 Croatia
Switzerland 0-1 Portugal
Portugal 0-1 England
Switzerland 0-1 Croatia
Group B
Spain 1-2 Czech Republic
Russia 0-3 Germany
Spain 2-1 Russia
Czech Republic 0-2 Germany
Germany 1-1 Spain
Czech Republic 3-3 Russia
Knockout Stage
Thank you for reading. I hope my humble first thread was enjoyable. Once again, as I learn the Wiki, I will try to make it more visually appealing. Thanks for understanding. I plan on doing this TL up to and including Euro 2020, and I have three bigger ATL's planned for the future. But first things first.
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