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Kenya: Soccer - 16 Teams Line Up At Euro Finals After Long Battle
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The Nation (Nairobi)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Agencies
Nairobi
While co-hosts Austria and Switzerland qualified automatically, the remaining 14 teams competing at Euro 2008 had to finish as winners or runners-up in one of their seven respective qualifying groups.
The qualifying phase for the six groups of seven teams and one consisting of eight began in the autumn of 2006 with the groups drawn using a seeding system which was based on their performances in the preceding World Cup and Euro qualifying rounds.
The qualifying rounds were played in a group format, where each team played each other home and away, with the top two countries from each of the seven groups progressing to the June 7-29 finals.
The 16 participating teams were then divided equally into four groups of four teams by means of a seeded draw that took place on December 2 last year in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The four top-seeded teams were host nations Austria and Switzerland, reigning champions Greece and the Netherlands, who had the best points per game coefficient over the qualifying phase of the tournament and the previous World Cup qualifying.
Knockout system
The seeding format for the finals sees a return to the method used at Euro 1992 in Sweden and Euro 1996 in England, where the seeded team in each of the four groups will play all three of their group games in the same city. A knockout system prevails from the second round on and any match that is still level after normal playing time will see extra time and penalties, if necessary, to decide a winner.
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The 16 teams competing in Austria and Switzerland is a far cry from the four that battled it out in the inaugural European Football Championships in 1960 in France.
This number remained the same until 1976 with the host country selected from the four finalists. The modern tournament format was introduced in 1980 when Italy was chosen as host beforehand with seven other teams qualifying.
This number was doubled to its current 16 at Euro 1996 in England while the 2000 event in the Netherlands and Belgium was the first championship played in two countries.
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