Euro 2016 came to an exhilarating end with Portugal being crowned the champions for the first time in their history. This edition of the Euros was perhaps the best so far where a number of unheralded teams like Iceland and Northern Ireland made their debut at a major tournament and some of them made it count.
However, one of the key reasons for the good performances of the lower ranked nations has been the expansion of the format from 16 to 24 teams. This expansion gave some of the middle-of-the-road nations a big chance to qualify but it has probably benefitted the underdog nations more than anyone else. Big teams like the Netherlands couldn’t make it in spite of the format expansion and instead, teams like Iceland, Albania and Northern Ireland made it to the final tournament.
This change also allowed four third-placed teams from each group to qualify for the knockout rounds and this rule turned out to be a boon for some teams. Let’s take a look at some of the teams that benefitted from the expansion of the tournament format.
1) Portugal
When a top-notch team like the Netherlands was not even able to qualify for the final tournament with the format expansion, it’s no surprise that Portugal hobbled into the knockout stages by virtue of being one of the best third-placed teams in the group stages after all their group games ended in a draw.
Portugal cashed on this opportunity in the best way possible as they went on to beat Croatia, Poland, Wales and France in the final to win the tournament. In the World Cups which have featured the 24-team format, Argentina and Italy ended third in their respective groups and eventually ended up as runners-up in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups respectively.
However, Portugal bettered that and became the first team to win a major tournament without winning a single match in the group stages. Their journey will surely inspire many teams in the future and might produce another new champion.
2) Slovakia
After a decent performance at their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2010, Slovakia’s form dipped in the next few years as they couldn’t qualify for Euro 2012 or the 2014 World Cup. However, with the possibility of a third-placed team making it to at least the play-off rounds in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Slovakia’s qualifying chances were given a huge boost.
Slovakia had a pretty good qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 where they beat Spain once and ended their group in second position which granted them automatic qualification. In the finals, Slovakia were handed a tricky group which included England, Wales and Russia. The side were considered to be outsiders in their group and did not have a good start to the tournament with a 2-1 loss at the hands of Wales.
They bounced back by beating Russia by the same scoreline in their second game before holding England to a goalless draw in their final group game. Slovakia ended third in their group and had the best record amongst all third-placed teams in the group stages which helped them qualify for the round of 16 where they were beaten 3-0 by Germany.
Had this been the earlier format of the competition, Slovakia would have been dumped out in the group stages due to their third placed finish and even though they were knocked out by Germany, there is no shame in losing to the World champions.
3) Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland have been another team who have benefitted from the format expansion as they qualified for their first major tournament in three decades and qualified from the group stages for the first time since the 1982 World Cup.
Drawn in perhaps the weakest of groups in qualifying, Northern Ireland qualified for their first European Championship by topping their group above Romania and Hungary. The team were handed a tough draw in the final tournament as their group consisted of World Champions Germany alongside Poland and Ukraine.
However, Northern Ireland fared better than most had expected as they shockingly beat Ukraine 2-0 and lost to Germany and Poland by only a one-goal margin.
Northern Ireland were fourth among the third-placed teams and with a superior goal difference above Albania and Turkey, qualified for the round of 16 where they put up a tough fight against Wales before an unfortunate own goal by Gareth McAuley ended their tournament hopes.
The format expansion has been a morale booster for Northern Ireland and they will surely be an opponent to be wary of in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
4) The Republic of Ireland
At one stage during the Euro qualifiers, the Irish were fourth in their group and were staring at a failed qualifying campaign before they won three of their last four games which included a win against Germany to qualify for the playoffs where they surprisingly beat a resurgent Bosnia and Herzegovina to qualify for their second successive Euros.
In the final tournament, Republic of Ireland were placed in the Group of Death which comprised of Italy, Belgium and Sweden. However, they had a decent outing in the group stages as they beat Italy 1-0 and drew against Sweden to end their group in third position and qualified for the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed teams.
In their round of 16 match against France, Ireland had taken the lead in the 2nd minute and were able to keep the French at bay for almost an hour before Antoine Griezmann struck twice to snatch the game away from Ireland.
Euro 2016 was Ireland’s best performance at the European Championship as they went past the group stages for the first time ever and they will be looking to put up a similar showing at the World Cup qualifiers.
