From Euros organizers to players, there’s something to prove

LONDON (AP) — For some, just reaching the European Championship is enough. However, from the players to coaches and referees to administrators, many have something to prove in France.

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UEFA

There’s a lot riding on Euro 2016 for the tournament organizers. Purists reacted badly to UEFA adding another eight teams to make it a 24-team tournament for the first time. But this tournament has regularly evolved, since only four teams contested the finals until 1980.

A spate of drab first-round games in France could see calls for the expanded tournament format to be reassessed, especially with most third-place teams advancing from the four-team groups to the new round of 16.

But qualifying was more captivating than UEFA’s critics predicted, with a format designed to help smaller teams reach the finals still rigorous enough to see the Netherlands, World Cup semifinalists in 2014, miss out.

UEFA could always pin the blame on Michel Platini. Expansion was the brainchild of UEFA’s banned, outgoing president who pandered to smaller nations in the now 55-nation confederation.

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REFEREES

With Platini out of the picture, one of the first things UEFA did was approve the use of goal-line technology for the first time at one of its tournaments.

Yet, UEFA is persisting with deploying Platini’s five officials, with an extra assistant to the referees behind each goal. Since they are no longer relied on to judge if the ball crossed the line, the AARs (as few …

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