The phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ could certainly be applied when it comes to some of soccer’s biggest international tournaments.
Take the UEFA European Championship for example; a tournament held every four years, comprised of solely European national teams, in a World Cup style format. From 1996 until this year, the tournament had been made up of the perfectly symmetrical number of 16 teams. The tournament had four groups of four. The top two in each group advanced to make the quarterfinals, which led to knockout rounds up until the final. Simple.
For this year’s tournament, the structure was changed, things were complicated and competition was diluted.