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In the next European Football Championship, quality will not suffer due to quantity, UEFA President Michel Platini said on Monday.
After four years, not 16, but 24 teams will compete in the championship, according to the news agency AFP.
"I think we will have eight more teams with good qualifications. This will not affect the quality of the matches. It will not be a problem for the quality," he told journalists in Warsaw.
The final decision on the format of the championship taking place in France in 2016 has not yet been made, and M. Platini says that the proposals and recommendations of the championship commission still need to be listened to.
"24 teams are already competing in the World Cup. There are six groups of four teams. The top two go on to the next round, and the top four remaining third-placed teams go to the quarter-finals," he explained.
According to him, investments in future European championships will be more justified when there are more participants.
"How can you tell a city like Lviv (Ukraine), which built a new stadium and airport, 'That's it' after three matches?" he added.
"I mean that the city will always have a legacy and development, but the championship ends for it after three matches. When there are 24 teams, there will be more matches," he said.
M. Platini, who won the European Championship with the French national team in 1984, is still the player who scored the most goals - nine - during the tournament.
"If they don't improve my record in this championship in Poland and Ukraine, the UEFA president will kindly give them the opportunity to do so with 24 teams," he added with a smile.
