The European Football Association (UEFA) announced – Thursday – that it will listen to the concerns of national team coaches regarding the number of players for each team in the 2024 European Championship scheduled in Germany.
UEFA had announced a return to before the Corona pandemic by setting the number of players for each team at 23 players, after the number was increased to 26 players in the 2020 European Championship and the 2022 World Cup, and coaches have expressed concerns in this regard.
A UEFA spokesman said: “We have learned of the comments of some national team coaches regarding the size of the teams for the 2024 European Championship. A workshop will be held with the participating teams on April 8, and UEFA will listen to the coaches’ opinions, and any idea in this regard will be studied and evaluated.”
England coach Gareth Southgate and Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman spoke about this issue during the recent international break.
“It is very strange not to choose from 26 players,” Koeman said after his team’s 2-1 defeat against Germany last Tuesday. “Going back to 23 players is ridiculous.”
He added, “We are dealing more with injury cases at the present time. It is related to the players’ ability to bear the burden.”
Southgate said he would choose an expanded preliminary list, and hoped to reverse UEFA’s decision.
He added, “We must choose a larger squad here, which is what we did before the European Championship (which was held in 2021), even though we were dealing with a squad of 26 players at the time. There is another meeting with UEFA where there is talk among some coaches about the possibility of increasing the number.”
Team coaches must submit their team formations to UEFA within a period ending on June 7, as the tournament will begin on the 14 of the same month.
The AFC had raised the maximum number of players in each team’s squad from 23 to 26 players for the Asian Cup, which started last January, while the African Nations Championship – which also started in January – witnessed the presence of 27 players in each team.
2024-03-29 07:53:18
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