There are teams in Europe that will almost never make it to any tournament…all they do is make the numbers and thus increase the number of games competitive countries have to play.
In Asia and Africa, they already have different stages of qualification, although it’s a different setup to what I think Europe needs.
My take is the countries with the lowest FIFA ratings should play a two-legged knockout fixture (or a one-off could be a better idea) and then proceed to the main qualifying round.
What’s your take on that?
Tbh there are also teams in the actual tournament that exist to make up the numbers. Like idk what teams like Switzerland, Sweden, or Austria do besides existing as filler teams for some guy on YouTube to make a highlight video of the best player from the opposing team. I specifically highlighted these teams because they’re usually okay in Group Stages but always lose in the Ro16 by any semi-decent team.
It’s kind of necessary to have the bad teams in the tournament because that means more games which means more money even if you don’t like it.
Where are you from? What teams like Switzerland, Sweden and Austria “do” is playing for their fans in the biggest stage representing their nation, and doing well at that.
As you highlighted this teams, Switzerland in the last euros didn’t lose to any semi-decent team in the round of 16. They eliminated the world champions France and then proceeded to take Spain to penalties.
Probably made a lot of people happy.