LONDON – The European Football Association is investigating a possible expansion of the UEFA European Championship to 32 teams from 2028, according to a media report.

The continental union is beginning to review the feasibility, the AP news agency reported. The review of the EM format is part of the bidding process to host the European Championship in seven years. The host is to be determined in late 2023. The next European Championship will be in Germany in 2024, with 24 teams participating, as in 2016 and this year.

Should the 32 teams expand, more than half of the current 55 UEFA member associations will be there initially. The current format has been criticized repeatedly because in six groups, each consisting of four teams, the four third-placed teams qualify for the Round of 16. This led to waiting times for the third parties in which they did not know whether they would be in the knockout rounds. The Executive Committee will have to decide on the extension of the European Championship, with Rainer Koch, currently the interim president of the DFB, and Karl-Heinz Rummenig, sitting on the committee as representatives of the European Club Association ECA.

The arena was recently extended at the World Championships. Qatar will have 32 teams next year, as was the case last time. There are 48 teams in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.