The 24-team group stage is cumbersome and unfair – even 32 would be better

TFour-man team competitions don’t work. They are not fair. They lead to conservative football and disparities. With the group stage over, we can see it now. This is the poorest format for an international competition. It needs to be changed.

Scotland stunk up the place, of course. But they were also operating at a huge disadvantage. Just like Hungary. Croatia, which concluded its campaign the next day, fared better, but only slightly. And Hungary and Croatia were the two third-placed teams that were eliminated. No surprise there. Since the European Championship became a 24-team competition, two-thirds of the third-placed teams have come from Groups A and B, the first to play. No third-placed team has ever failed to get out of Group F,