Why didn't EURO 2016 include a third-place playoff?

(Baonghean.vn) - Of the three biggest football tournaments on the planet – the World Cup, the Euro, and the Copa America – only the Euro maintains the principle that the main objective of this continental football festival is to find a champion. This means that the two teams that lose in the semi-finals will compete for third place. EURO 2016 is no different!

If there were a poll to determine the most "conservative" organization in the Old Continent, UEFA would undoubtedly receive a large number of votes from football fans. It's very difficult for this organization to change its decisions, even if those changes would increase fairness for the teams, such as the persistent use of sensors to determine if the ball has crossed the goal line.

The EURO was first held in 1960 in France, at the suggestion of the General Secretary of the French Football Federation, Henri Delaunay. That time, the continental tournament was organized in a knockout format with only 17 teams participating. The four semi-finalists included three Eastern European representatives: the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, along with the host nation, France. Czechoslovakia defeated France 2-0 to win third place. In the next five EURO tournaments in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980, held in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Yugoslavia, and Italy, each also featured a third-place playoff. The third-place teams were Hungary, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia.

Starting with EURO 1984 in France, UEFA argued that holding a third-place playoff was unnecessary for two main reasons: after losing in the semi-finals, no team was enthusiastic about competing for third place, and few spectators were keen to attend the match or watch on television to see this "match between two defeated teams." Clearly, UEFA officials viewed this match more from an economic than a professional perspective; with indifferent spectators, it would be difficult to attract sponsorship and advertising. Many small nations, whose dreams of winning the European Championship were always distant, repeatedly requested the resumption of this "consolation" third-place playoff. These countries cited the fact that third-place matches were very common in other international tournaments such as the World Cup, Confederations Cup, CAN, or Copa America. But UEFA's answer was: No, who would want to go there to participate (?!). Even the then-President of UEFA, Jacques Georges of France, stated that almost every team that reached the semi-finals only dreamed of winning the championship. The main task of the EURO was to find the champion, not to rank the European teams.

An Thanh