As hosts, France could surely expect a benefit or two.
Didier Deschamp’s men beat us fair and square during the Euro 2016 second round clash in Lyon.
Irish fans had few complaints with the outcome but there were plenty of grumbles about the fact that France had six days to recover from their 0-0 group stage draw with Switzerland. Ireland, on the other hand, had three days.
Acting UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis has spoken with Reuters about the competition’s new 24-team format and admitted the situation benefits some teams while harming others. ESPN writer Mark Rodden has noted Uefa’s admission that Ireland were one of the unfortunate teams.
Re last Tweet – nice that Uefa put on record that 6 day break (France) vs 3 day break (Ireland) was not ideal
— Mark Rodden (@MRodden) June 29, 2016
Theodoridis is delighted that Iceland and Wales have made the last eight and likened their Euro 2016 journeys to ‘Cinderella stories’. He continued:
“At the end of the day you have eight more countries that have strongly helped develop football in their countries,” he said. “You’ve raised the competitiveness and raised the possibilities for people to dream.
“But the 16-team format was simpler. There were cases like that of Albania, who had to wait three days to know if they had qualified for the last 16, there was also the difference in recovery time of three days between France and Republic of Ireland.”
Any chance of €5m Theodore? €5m soothes a lot of grievances.
