UEFA are at it again — another idea to change the format of international football. This time, they’re apparently looking at a Champions League-style system for European Championship qualifying. No more endless groups with England and Germany steamrolling San Marino and Malta for the hundredth time — instead, one big league with teams playing a mix of opponents based on seeding. Sounds interesting on paper… but does qualifying even need fixing?
Let’s be honest — European qualifiers aren’t exactly thrilling, are they? The same big nations breeze through every time, with the odd hiccup if someone forgets to turn up in Prague or Reykjavik. England haven’t lost a qualifier in 16 years. Sixteen! That’s an entire generation of kids who’ve grown up never seeing us sweat against a so-called minnow. It’s hard to get excited about a game when you can predict the score before kick-off.
So maybe UEFA’s onto something. A new format could mean more meaningful matches, more jeopardy, and even a few fresh faces at tournaments. Imagine seeing a smaller nation get a genuine shot instead of just making up the numbers in qualifying. From a fan’s point of view, that sounds like a win.
But let’s not kid ourselves about what’s driving this. It’s not about the “integrity of the competition” or “giving smaller nations a fair go.” It’s TV money. Every change in modern football seems to have that same fingerprint — more viewership, more broadcast deals, more clicks. The Nations League was meant to fix the friendlies problem, and… well, does anyone actually care about the Nations League? You can’t even remember who won it, can you?
The truth is, most people only tune in for the big tournaments. We all go mental for the World Cup or the Euros, but qualifying games? They’re just background noise. Wembley still sells out, sure, but the atmosphere’s flat. You get more energy from the paper planes in the stands than the crowd itself. Compare that to somewhere like Turkey — a home qualifier there is chaos in the best way. Flares, songs, genuine passion. Maybe we’ve just become too entitled as a fanbase. We expect to beat everyone, so when we do, it barely registers.
And maybe that’s the heart of it — international football will always play second fiddle to the club game. Even though we’d all give our right leg to see England lift the World Cup, we spend most of our footballing energy obsessing over our clubs. That’s not changing anytime soon, no matter what format UEFA cooks up.
Still… I’ll admit, a shake-up wouldn’t be the worst thing. The current system’s stale. If this new “league” idea can give us more competitive games and make qualifying feel like it actually matters, then sure — let’s give it a try. Just don’t pretend it’s for the fans’ benefit.