UEFA is set to expand the squad size for Euro 2024 from 23 players to 26 after the competing nations voted in favour of the expansion.
The one-year delayed Euro 2020 allowed 26 players to be named in squads as a special mid-covid measure, mindful of the compressed schedule the competitors had endured in the preceding schedule and the greater risk of injury or illness as a result of the covid pandemic.
UEFA had planned to revert to the usual 23-man squad size for this year’s edition of the tournament, but those plans now look like they will be revised.
Gareth Southgate welcomes change to 26-man squads
(Image credit: Lukas Schulze – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Sky Sports News report that the change was mooted at a meeting between the 24 managers in Germany a couple of weeks back, with delegates voting in favour of the suggestion at a UEFA national competitions committee meeting on Monday.
They caution that is not a binding vote since it would also need to be approved by the UEFA executive committee next month (as you will know if you have your Football Governing Body Structural Wallchart up on your living room wall, as we do), but it is likely they will just wave it through.
England head coach Gareth Southgate had spoken out in favour of the change, saying on his selection dilemmas ahead: “We have got to make the best decisions with what we know and some of those currently are going to be medical decisions
“We’ve been able to get those right in the previous [two] tournaments, we’ve been able to give people time [to shake of niggles] – but with 23 that’s definitely more difficult.”
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