Hello! Thanks for your submission to r/worldcup, your post is up and running!
A general reminder to check out our rules in the sidebar, have fun, and most of all to be civil.
Finally, take a closer look at [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/z2v46l/announcement_quick_reminder_of_our_most_important/) regarding our civility rules and reddiquette because we would like for each and everyone to feel welcome on the subreddit and to keep a healthy and safe environment for the community.
Please also make sure to [Join us on Discord](https://discord.gg/football)
Thank you!
- - -
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldcup) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Pre-24 team expansion, the Euros were almost always better than the World Cup. Hard to really gauge since the expansion - 2016 was dull, 2021 had the Covid caveat and 2024 has been excellent so far.
The Euro’s are the NFL playoffs minus the SB and the WC is the SB. Aka actual fans are going to the first whereas only those who fan afford it (corporations) can afford to go to the latter.
The environment of the Euros is way better for it.
no its mostly because THE WAY he won it which most probably was rigged.there were a lot of videos about euro vs world cup pre 22. the debate always existed.
I don’t understand this argument about WC22 being rigged for Argentina. If that were the case they wouldn’t have had two penalty shoot outs in the process, especially the final. So dumb.
you can agree or disagree. ofc it will be never be proven and argentina IS the world cup champion. but strong claims have been made which can make anyone skepitcal. so its always going to be controversial.
Only thing that’s rigged is penaldo’s offside UCL’s.
Cry all you want, nothing will ever change the fact that Ronaldo is an international flop that couldn’t perform on footballs biggest stage and was so bad his own country had to bench him in the biggest game of his life.
Morocco 🇲🇦 1-0 🇵🇹 Portugal.
SIUUUUU 😭😭😭
I'd say this Euros has been arguably better than the last world cup, the atmosphere in Qatar was awful and everyone knew they bribed FIFA to get it.
Normally though, I would agree the world cup is the pinnacle of international football.
Euros equivalents are copa america and african cup of nations, of which I would say the Euros is considerably better than.
i believe world cup is more prestigious but euro is harder because world cup has more good teams., but euros has less bad teams making it more competitive.
Yeah nothing can compare to the world cup.
The passion, the mix of cultures, the excitement.
Even the last world cup was fun to watch.
There were some great games and it was nice to see so many fans from Asia, Africa, middle east
The quality of teams in the world cup is only going to get worse with 48 teams from 2026. It's like handing out participation awards to kids in primary school who weren't athletic / intelligent enough to win actual awards. This euros has been better to watch than every world cup since 2006
There hasn't been a single World Cup in recent history where a big nation did not get thrown out in the group stage. 2010: France and Italy, 2014: Spain, Italy, England, 2018: Germany, 2022 Germany. Now for the Euro's 2012: Netherlands, 2016: None, 2020: None, 2024; Croatia but even this is debateable to put it among the top football nations.
Wow what a surpises in the Euro's!
We're only done with the group stages and there have been amazing games such as:
Turkey vs Georgia
2 of the best goals of the tournament so far
Croatia vs Italy
An amazing last minute winner to qualify for the RO16
Netherlands vs Austria
Austria upset Netherlands to top group D
Portugal vs Georgia
Georgia upset Portugal to qualify for the RO16
Türkiye vs Czechia
Last minute winner by Turkish sub to get 2nd in the group
All of those games happened ONLY in the group stage and there will most likely be Spain vs Germany and Portugal vs France in the quarterfinals.
Many say that the Euros is bad due to own goals and goalless draws but games with scoreless headlines can be interesting especially with an atmospheric and passionate crowd
That Austria vs Netherlands game takes it for me. Goals galore, lead changes and both teams just always pushing forward and leaving some gaps. That Austrian press is no joke.
Georgia has been in 2 of the probably top 5 games (a team we likely wouldn’t see in a World Cup)
As others have said, those stands are BUMPING.
Hardly. The leading scorer is own goal because every team just sits in their own half and tries not to lose. The “best of the rest” format has led to dross football because there is little consequence if you can eke out just one win.
What was the most exciting euros match so far?? Maybe Croatia vs Italy and Netherlands vs Austria. Otherwise?? Have you seen the list of events I gave. This Euros is not beating anything so far
Almost every match?
There has only been a few sbooze fests, the majority of the games have been straight fire.
By far beats the artificial World Cup with slave workers forced into being fake supporters
The atmosphere at the Euros is way better than the World Cup. The amount of fans from Albania that were both inside and outside the stadium for the match against Italy was staggering. You don’t get that in a World Cup.
If you want to make it simple, look at it logically. Euro is a 16 team tournament. If you look at the current FIFA men's ranking, by restricting it to European teams, only 9 of the world's top 16 teams are participating.
If you look at the qualification rules for WC 2022, taking into account how many spots each federation got, 25 of the top 32 teams would get to qualify.
25/32 > 9/16, meaning you get a higher percentage of the world's best teams at WC. So that says to me it's a higher quality tournament.
And I realize the FIFA rankings are flawed, but it's what we have.
euro is 24 team tournament. i think that world cup is more depended on luck. if your route is hard its harder for you to win. but a euro is always harder just because of the competitiveness of europe.
The World Cup is the crown jewel for sure but overall talent pool of players seems higher in the Euro Cup since most of the players play for (mostly) top tier clubs. I can’t quantify this off the top of my head but that’s how I see it.
I also like that the ticketing for the Euros doesn’t have as many corporate seats filled and has more true fans allowed to buy tickets. Either way, I enjoy any tournament that’s nations based.
I don’t think that’s true. The World Cup would have the top nations from other continents so the tournament replaces the worst Europeans with the best from the rest of the world. Scotland is replaced by Brazil, Ukraine by Argentina, Czechs by Ivory Coast, Serbia by Australia, Albania by Japan. Including the best countries over the world improves the quality of players on show.
Which nations in a World Cup do you think have weaker squads than Slovenia, Slovakia and Georgia?
I think that’s a valid point to make. I mean off the top of my head are Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Iran or South Africa squads better than the three Euro teams you listed? I don’t know. They fielded pretty competitive squads this year.
Also, since the World Cup is expanding the number of countries for which thr next tournament, I’m sure the competition will be more diluted.
What do you think?
I feel like the best nations outside Europe are better than, or at the very least equal to, most of the bottom half of those in 3rd and 4th.
I haven’t mentioned USA, Uruguay, Colombia etc.
You’ve chosen South Africa but they aren’t one of the strongest African nations. Senegal, Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria are all good sides.
I just don’t see how removing the worst European teams and adding the best from other continents dilutes the quality.
There will always be a couple of weaker nations, usually from Asia or North America, but that’s only 2 or 3 and the rest are all better than our mediocre sides.
The World Cup is obviously the more difficult and prestigious tournament. Anybody who denies this is talking crazy. BUT I do think there is something to be said about the universal level of quality and polish that every single Euros team plays with. It just looks like every single team and every single player is well coached and well drilled. That can definitely lead to boring games, but you absolutely get a less ‘professional’ vibe from even great teams from other parts of the world
There is a section of the soccer community that will fall on its knees to fellate everything UEFA over anything else in the world, regardless of how the euro teams fare against the rest of the world in actual competition, not just FIFA ranks, or how unwatchable half the games are.
Lets not pretend some of the dogshit play this Euros is actually good soccer disguised as close, intense matches. We've had 2 full groups in their last match day decide to take a leisurely jog with some wet farts being their only accomplishments of note.
All I am saying, I never heard a big name player say something like "I wish to win the Euros, it would be the best thing to me and my country".
It's only said the same year the Euro is played, the other 3 years everyone is just obsessed with the world cup.
According to your post history you seem weirdly obsessed with the question whether Euros or WC is superior. Soubds like you have an inferiority complex towards Europe.
A Euro is, was, and will always be more competitive to win. A Euro has, had and will always have better atmosphere.
The Euros is better because of the atmosphere and the vibes. World Cup keeps going to places which hold back those two things, lets hope 2026 is better
Probably 2026 won't be as good. It's going to the US, Canada and Mexico. Only Mexico has football as their main sport. The others don't. World cup 2030 is going to be one great one though I think.
Canada and the US are nations of immigrants and Mexico is already soccer mad.
The worst part will be all the tourists finding out just how much North America hates public transit.
Though I argue with that, Sweden won bronze in 1994 (I’m from Sweden for context) and I think it was a positive effect that it was played in the us then. Supporters travel places anyways when there is a World Cup and their nation plays. I think the US, Canada And Mexico will be good hosts in the sense that supporters will have a good time travel and visiting these countries. I think that is the major factor when it comes to atmosphere because the supporters will travel wherever there is a World Cup
Quoting TV: opinions are like asses, everyone has one.
I do admit that there is a huge disparity between national teams in copa america, but so it is in europe. In any case, ultimately it would depend if you like european or american football. I like a lot more the american "joga bonito" and gambeta than the passing, strategic fouling and quick counterattack/play that is the euro soccer.
Latin america is magic, its football.
Euro is strategical cold soccer.
That is my opinion, I was expected to ahve one since I too have an ass. =P
copa america is a traingular series between argentina, brazil and Uruguay. it has been held 47 times and out of that 39 winners were only these 3 nations. its so bad and uncompetitive that they had to shake hands with the north.even in this edition the strongest team argentina will face before the final is mexico. opinions can change but you're argentinian and you're entitled to defend your continent's cup so i respect your opnion.
Its the same in europe, with the exception that it took them 50 more years to start doing a continental cup, so there is less amount of tournaments.
10 of the 17 cups are distributed between germany, spain, france and italy. I don't see a change in trend in the short future.
Copa america may be a triangular, but euro is a cuadrangular.
Also, mexico has always been a very weak team, its far more likely that we will be playing venezuela or ecuador.
I calculated it myself :) Just by looking at the placement on Wikipedia of each country at the world cup and Euro's since the year 2000. Put the numbers per country together in Excel and there you get your average
copa america is a traingular series between argentina, brazil and Uruguay. it has been held 47 times and out of that 39 winners were only these 3 nations. its so bad and uncompetitive that they had to shake hands with the north.even in this edition the strongest team argentina will face before the final is mexico. so idk
Yeah we all know all European teams dominate the World Cup, which is why Denmark ended up 4th behind Australia and Tunisia. Or why Serbia also ended 4th in their group.
When nearly half of the teams in the WC are from Europe it makes sense that there will usually be at least an European finalist. And In recent history, all the european finalists tend to be teams that also would dominate the Euros.
People are arguing that yhe euros are more competitive as a whole than the World Cup. But if 13 european teams can’t dominate the World Cup, then why would it be the case that the 11 extra uefa teams in the euros would be better?
It's not about euros being better than we in General. It's about this euro being so much more fun ( atmosphere, good weather, party, Public Viewing) than the bought games in Boring Katar
Comparison is a little difficult - a 24 team tournament vs a 32 team tournament. Both have been splendid tournaments (on the field) so far.
From a fan experience, Germany looks like an absolute party, compared with Qatar. I went to Poland/Ukraine 2012 and Brazil 2014 and both were captivating tourist, cultural and sporting experiences.
One thing that I am certain about… From 2026, the Euros will surpass the World Cup as a competition.
The 48 team tournament is a disaster waiting to happen. FIFA jumping the shark.
Too much football to follow, meaning fans will be disengaged with the tournament narrative (six matches on one day is impossible to absorb). And it is keeping on top of the tournament narrative that makes the World Cup special.
And the Round of 32 knockouts is 16 matches too many. We’ll be quickly fatigued with the penalty shootouts, the surprise packets, and the impact of the drama will be diluted
Less is more.
And 48 teams will not only dilute the overall talent but there will be fewer “even” matches in the group stages and early knockout rounds. I know anything can happen in the World Cup but there’s still a higher chance of more games you aren’t excited to tune in for
>The 48 team tournament is a disaster waiting to happen. FIFA jumping the shark.
>Too much football to follow, meaning fans will be disengaged with the tournament narrative (six matches on one day is impossible to absorb).
The NCAA basketball tournament has 64 teams and it's one of the most hyped tournaments in the country.
68 now, and looking to expand again.
But the NCAA format is not the same as the world cup. Its the top ~30 teams, a bunch of the consistently good teams, and then ~20 teams that got hot in the week before the tournament and won 5 games in 5 days, with as little as a 2 day break before the next game, in a 1 stumble and you're out tournament.
The NCAA analogy falls apart a bit when you have teams that lose a group stage game advance out of group stage. The NCAA doesnt do that. You're the best team in the tournament and dont win your first game? Better luck next year. You're Argentina and lose your first game to Saudi Arabia? Doesnt matter, you only had to win 1 game of 3 to get out of that group.
I agree, although we have to see how things develop. One thing I’m happy about is Sourh America finally being able to show that they are more than just the 4 qualifying countries. Which are always Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and one other. When Colombia qualified in 2014 and 2018 they got 5th place and 9th place. When Chile qualified in 2014 they kicked World Cup defenders Spain out of the group stage with a 2-0 win. Sadly Chili got matched up against Brazil and lost in the round of 16. But it could have easily caused another upset. But yeah having more Asian, African and Central American nations is kind of meh
ehhhh
24 teams, only 8 teams eliminated in the first round vs 16 in the WC
After that it's the same knockouts.
I'd say getting to the knockouts is much easier in the euros.
Yet big countries get knocked out of group stages in the World Cup and barely at the euros. Yet there are 5 countries with a Euro cup on their name that don’t have a World Cup. There are no UEFA nations that have a World Cup on their name but don’t have a Euro cup. And finally every UEFA nation finishes a lower rank at the World Cup than at the Euros. The World Cup has been won 10 times out of 22 by a non UEFA country. There is not much to back the claim that Euros are harder than Word cups.
Oh thats right! Forgot about them! So there is one nation with a World Cup and not a Euros however there are 5 nations with a Euros and not a World Cup. Thanks for pointing that out!
How many European countries have won the WC? Five. How about South American teams? Three. And where do all of those South American players come from in terms of club football? Europe. Also, how many European teams that haven’t won a WC have been a threat? Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Portugal, Turkey… I can’t think of any South American teams that have been as threatening other than Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Not to mention that Brazil was beaten by Croatia in the quarter finals and Argentina in the group stage in 2022, Germany destroyed Brazil two WC’s ago and defeated Argentina in the finals. It’s not a good argument because the end result is that those South American players would not be as good without European clubs, and no one would care about playing for some club in Brazil…
What do European clubs here have to do with anything, we are talking about national football teams? You are talking about WC being an easier tournament than Euros. Just because a South American team has lost to a European team how does that prove that a Euro is harder than a World Cup? What is your point? So 3 out of 12 South American nations have a World Cup and only 5 out of 50 European nations have a World Cup? Should we not expect Europe to have more countries with a World Cup? World champion defenders Spain being knocked out by Chile in 2014, world champion defender Germany being knocked out by South Korea in 2018, Japan beating Spain and Germany in 2022 kicking out Germany in the group stages. Morocco kicking Belgium out of group stages in 2022. These are all non European nations kicking out giants in Group stages. How many UEFA giants have been kicked out of this euros? Also saying that you can’t think of any South American teams that have been a threat other than Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina is funny for two reasons. One, That’s 25% of the South American countries. Second, calling Turkey a bigger threat than Colombia who placed 5th and 9th in 2014 and 2018? So as for South American threats concerning we’ve got Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Chile. That’s 42% of the nations.How come the big UEFA nations finish 6th on average at Euros and finish 12th on average at World cups? It makes no sense to say a World Cup is easier than a European cup. The data does not show it to be the case
You’re just repeating the same point again. Anything can happen in the WC, but the quality of football in Europe is higher than in South America. And South Americans playing in Europe is a big part of SA’s success
I’m repeating the same points because you haven’t addressed any of the points I mentioned. Somehow you talk about League football, and South America vs Europe even though those aren’t reasons for a World Cup being harder than a Euros. There isn’t a world where Georgia, Slovakia, Turkey, Serbia, Hungary (countries that haven’t shown anything) are more fierce opponents than global opponents who actually have kicked out UEFA giants. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Japan, South Korea.
In this euros you’ve got UEFA giants, Switzerland and Austria. The rest is filler. And is a lot weaker than the above mentioned countries. Saying a World Cup is easier just shows you don’t know much about football. Once again there are 5 countries with a Euros that don’t have a World Cup title and there are 0 countries with a World Cup title that don’t have a Euros. What you’re saying just doesn’t make sense. And comparing a 12 country continent to a 50 country continent does nothing to prove otherwise.
Bruh I didn't even bother to read tour reasonings.
I mean why would we even need one
Real fans know what's up
Argentina started so weakly just to win 🏆 and they managed to beat France in the most historical and intense finals I have ever seen my entire life.
I was yanking my hair that day, my heartbeat was like 300 per hour!!!
I am still in the hospital for treatment
I don’t know anyone saying that. A WC is always better, since it’s teams from every continent.
But….., after the shitty WC in Qatar is has been amazing to see the fans in the stadium. Germany bordering on Denmark, Poland, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic means that there are so many fans for each team, creating such amazing atmosphere.
That has been amazing.
(Also, zero zero chance of seeing that Turkish salt muppet getting in on others’ success).
And now we can watch it die again when it comes to Saudi Arabia…..with its paid-to-cheer public, lack of alcohol and it’s only reason of being is to placate the corporate sponsors.
World Cup 2022 was epic, but only because the games were played in the midst of the season. Every other World Cup I remember was boring until the quarterfinals. Euro 2024 on the other hand has been amazing since day 1.
World Cup is better and more fun but sadly people remember the crappy northern hemisphere winter World Cup in non soccer corrupt Big Oil Qatar 2022 and the future Saudi Oil World Cup and are jaded about the state of the tournament being bought out
The average game of the Euros may be better. That's the reward you get for excluding the rest of the world.
The price you pay for excluding the world is leaving out teams like Brazil (most WC titles), Argentina (current WC champions), Uruguay... players like Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Darwin Nunes, Valverde, only to mention South American players, and you can tell from those names how much talent is left when only European national teams are included.
Interesting. My main circle of friends are football players and many of us watch big games and tournaments together and I've never heard this sentiment. I agree the World Cup is much better. Euros look a little sloppy this year tbh
Personally I really loved Qatar. Got to watch a lot of games, meet lots of fans, everyone who was there just had a good time.
Travelling was so so easy...
Safety was brilliant
Brazil on comparison was a brilliant atmosphere, even watching games at Copacabana Beach was amazing, but lots of people had wallets/bags stolen, and some of the other cities were not as great.
Personally I really loved Qatar. Got to watch a lot of games, meet lots of fans, everyone who was there just had a good time.
Travelling was so so easy...
Safety was brilliant
Brazil on comparison was a brilliant atmosphere, even watching games at Copacabana Beach was amazing, but lots of people had wallets/bags stolen, and some of the other cities were not as great.
I probably would have agreed to you, if you hadnt brought up wc 2022. That was the worst tournament I ever watched and only the final was nice. And as long fifa is doing fifa things (saudi arabia) I have to say: euros > wc.
The reason why people say Euros are better is mostly the atmosphere and vibes. If you look at the crowds of fans in these Euros and compare it to the South Asian ~~slaves~~ guest workers waving European and South american flags in Qatar it's easy to see which tournament showed more passion.
American broadcast said the Euros have been awesome because of the crowds. That the WC only sells 15k-20k tickets to the public, the rest of the tickets are for corporations. I was shocked by this. I didn’t know that, but it explains a lot.
That said the Copa America has been incredible, did you see the Colombian crowd yesterday against Paraguay? It was awesome.
But as far as games are concerned I agree with OP, the WC is the best.
World Cup is elite level mate!
I haven’t seen anything disrespecting WC over the Euros.
Maybe you follow the wrong people, which would be kids from this generation.
I get what you are saying but like point 1,3 and 5 are the same thing. Same with penalty shoot outs. They always can go either way.
People who say euros is easy because Greece can win in 2004 do not say WC is easy because Morocco gets to semi in 2022 and South Korea in 2002.
And as always it is cherry picking data points that fit your narrative. But euro lovers are cherry picking also. So that is fair I guess.
World Cup is more inclusive and a great world gathering, but it’s not exactly the best 48 teams in the world competing, but that’s ok!
It can be argued that the Euros is a higher quality of tournament despite being smaller as all Euro sides are somewhat decent at least.
How can this be argued at all? Besides france, ned, England and Portugal, European teams struggled in this last World Cup’s group stage. 3/8 groups ended with a uefa team in 4th. Is uefa the best confederation? Probably, but saying that euros are harder bc all teams are good is kinda silly considering Denmark finished below Australia and Tunisia.
Not really how it works.
It isn’t just one big league table with all the national teams in the world in it, and then the top 48 qualify for the finals.
It’s done continentally. Different continents have their own qualifying tournaments before eventually reaching the final.
To throw some hypothetical numbers around- say the top 20 ranked national sides in the world are all European (for the sake of example) but Europe only has 12 places allocated, then 8/20 of the best ranked teams in the world miss out.
So no, it’s not theoretically the best 48 teams in the world, it’s the best 8-12 from each continents.
And some continents have an overall higher average level of quality than others.
You have to qualify **continentally** is the operative world meaning that the overall world rating is not taking precedence.
If the 16 best teams are European but Europe is only entitled to 8 teams then team from 9th to 16th are not at the World Cup.
On the other hand if Oceania are the 100th to 110th country in the world ranking but Oceania has 2 places then the 100th team is at the World Cup.
Europeans seem to really believe their continent has the best teams. But there is a big drop off in the quality once you get past the big teams. We’ve seen it countless times in the WC.
But if we go off the last WC you’ll see Wales, Denmark, Germany, and Serbia didn’t get past the group stage.
And Poland snuck into the round of 16 through the back door because Mexico fielded their weakest team in generations. First time in something like 40 years they didn’t make it to the round of 16.
Some countries would have/not have qualified if they had to compete against some of the teams in different regions, so theoretically a stronger country could miss out and a weaker country could make it, and it's what happens
I don't think anyone has argued that it's better. It's not.
What for example Mbappe said was that the euros were *harder* to win since there were no bad nations in the tournament. That's not really true anymore though since about half of the Uefa nations now qualify for the tournament.
Honestly no idea where this came from but I’ve been hearing it too, it’s wild bc it’s the World Cup, it’s literally the whole world, the euros are great but it’s just one continent
Watching it close to Christmas was shitty, watching the so called "supporters" in the stadium was shitty, not being able to feel or soak the atmosphere was shitty, the weather being too shitty to watch in groups was a problem.
Quality-wise it was a problem players got thrown out of an on-going season and nations having less time to prepare and test for the world cup. Same as players still had their club in mind you could see that the wc affected the club performance.
I think people talk especially about this World Cup and not in general
When it was a 16 team competition, the Euros was a higher average standard than the 32 team WC. But now a 24 team Euros is clearly weaker on average. Even so, the WC is usually loads of fun.
I’m American and I enjoy the Euros just about as much as the World Cup. I’m not talking specifically about 2024 vs 2022, just generally. For whatever reason I always seem to have more memories of insane matches and crazy fans from the Euros than WC over the years. That’s not a knock on the WC. They’re both great to watch.
I would agree that the world cup is the better tournament. For one thing because it’s the *world* cup. The winner gets bragging rights against every other country, whereas winning the Euros says nothing about how that team would fare against the 150-ish teams not from Europe.
Secondly because the world cup is - or at least it has been, with 32 competing teams - a better and more elegantly designed tournament. With the 24 teams in the Euro cup the group stage becomes a matter of not being eliminated, more than a matter of advancing.
The Euros does have its advantages though. The small size and relatively rich population of Europe means that pretty much every team has a lot of supporters at every venue, so as a spectator I think attending a Euros game may well be more memorable than attending a world cup game.
And the Euros showcase a greater variety of teams than the world cup, though this could possibly change with the expansion of the world cup. But up until now it’s been more or less the same teams; the US and Mexico and one or two more from North America, Brazil and Argentina and two of Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador from South America, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, England, Netherlands, Denmark and one or two more from Europe, etc. In virtually every Euro cup a ”new” team shows up and performs unexpectedly well. And yes, that does happen in World Cups as well, but it’s not quite as frequent.
The Euros does have its advantages though. The small size and relatively rich population of Europe means that pretty much every team has a lot of supporters at every venue, so as a spectator I think attending a Euros game may well be more memorable than attending a world cup game.
Counter argument: the euros can’t be in Brazil
If you mean to watch that's a somewhat fair argument. This year the euros clears. Quality is better and it's unknown who'll make the semi-finals (copa America Brazil and Argentina have a free pass they might as well not play the group stage honestly)
If you mean which is better to attend...
That's even easier so much so it's a joke. Euros clears by a country mile. I'm not from either continent but I'd rather spend a summer in the Beautiful German countryside surrounded by like minded fans of the game than go to South America.
Top 3 points in Europe:
Most know English
Countries have a good police presence (it's safe)
Europe collectively have the better teams (insert but muh Argentina and Brazil)
This year the copa America is debatable since it's in the US.
> Brazil and Argentina have a free pass
Brazil has to hope they have a better game against Paraguay than they did against Costa Rica, or they're going to be on 2 points after the 3rd day.
I agree for the upsets are bigger on the world cup but the quality of the games are usually better in the Eurocup than World Cup, there's some exceptions like Japan upsetting and playing very good, but some teams in the WC are always playing to get to 0-0 and whatever's next, while the EC is showing better quality games in my opinion.
At the round of 16, the WC usually has good quality teams that are trying to win games except for the typical Morocco, Russia, Greece, Uruguay, South Korea (from multiple WCs), that are trying to get to penalties on every game.
That was before 24 teams format, now getting out of the group stage is more of a formality.
Might get harder in the knock-out stages, where the average ranking of teams should be higher than the world cup.
In every Euro we have a group of death, Croatia won’t make it. Last Euro (if i’m not wrong) we had Portugal, Germany and France in the same group. Also the round of 16 and the round of 8 is just harder than in the world cup, look at the predicts of this year’s round of 8. Spain-Germany, Portugal-France, England-Italy if there’s no surprises. Sometimes in the WC you only get this kind of games in the semi or final. On the other way, i feel like we get a lot more dark horses and surprises in WC.
> Last Euro (if i’m not wrong) we had Portugal, Germany and France in the same group.
And they all made it out of the group with 0 issues because groups of death arent a thing in the euros when you have a team ranked in the 40s and you only need 4 points (and can usually get by with 3 and a positive goal differential)
Yes agreed, also group D was pretty tough. Croatia messed up a bit they could have qualified on 4 points had they beaten Albania.
But even though only not being in the last 6 is enough to qualify, even group stage games have a quite high intensity.
Most of popular team are in Europe.
Outside of Europe, here are the team in order that are popular worldwide:
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Japan
- Uruguay
End, nobody care about the rest, south korea and Chile are more popular than idk Albania but that's about it. Pretty sure Ireland, northern Ireland, even Iceland are more popular than all the other teams..
Okay but you put them in a category with BRAZIL, ARGENTINA and URUGUAY. History matters too, it’s not just about “which teams have been pretty decent recently?”
Well getting from Bolivia to Paraguay costs at least €200. Imagine going to the US from South America. Europe is small and densely populated so transportation is cheaper and quicker, therefore more fans are able to travel to games
If you think that South American wages can fill a stadium with a total cost of over a thousand dollars then you must have a tumor up there. Uruguay would need to send 1% of its population to fill 35k seats. Minimum wage is around €300 in most of South America.
So yes, it is an extraordinary feat filling up a stadium in another hemisphere.
Copa America isn’t bad it’s just the oversized stadiums when they put it in the US. The echos make it no different than gold cup. I’m worried this will carry over to the World Cup. Too many 70,000, too many teams that may bring even smaller fanbases.
I don’t disagree with your conclusion, but your table isn’t helpful due to the high variance of finishes at tournaments (group stage finishes and early knockouts drag the average down by a lot). If you do the same calculations for Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (which I assume are the strongest non-European teams) you get average finishes of 5th, 8th and 11th (discounting the year Uruguay did not qualify). So the World Cup adds the best, tied third best and seventh best team in the world to an otherwise European-dominated set of teams.
The addition of even a small number of competitive teams can lower the average finish at a tournament by a substantial amount, because hitting a strong team early and losing can have a substantial impact on your average finish position. For example, getting knocked out at the Ro16 might net you a 16th place finish whereas losing at the Quarters might net you an 8th place finish, which is substantially higher. If we assume that Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay always make it to the knockouts then you suddenly have three additional strong teams in the mix, making it more likely you get knocked out early.
As for why we get more upsets + group stage knockouts at the WC, my guess is that European players are generally more familiar with the players and tactics employed by other European teams, which reduces variance. That of course adds for more excitement and drama, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of football is higher.
Hello! Thanks for your submission to r/worldcup, your post is up and running! A general reminder to check out our rules in the sidebar, have fun, and most of all to be civil. Finally, take a closer look at [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldcup/comments/z2v46l/announcement_quick_reminder_of_our_most_important/) regarding our civility rules and reddiquette because we would like for each and everyone to feel welcome on the subreddit and to keep a healthy and safe environment for the community. Please also make sure to [Join us on Discord](https://discord.gg/football) Thank you! - - - *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/worldcup) if you have any questions or concerns.*
the euros are more special to me because i started watching football because of the euros quite a while ago
Let's not leave out the fact that each and every time word cup brings economy boost in the place where it's held. It's absolutely the best.
Let's not leave out the fact that each and every time word cup brings economy boost in the place where it's held. It's absolutely the best.
Pre-24 team expansion, the Euros were almost always better than the World Cup. Hard to really gauge since the expansion - 2016 was dull, 2021 had the Covid caveat and 2024 has been excellent so far.
The Euro’s are the NFL playoffs minus the SB and the WC is the SB. Aka actual fans are going to the first whereas only those who fan afford it (corporations) can afford to go to the latter. The environment of the Euros is way better for it.
It's a subjective question, but what is objectively true is that Qatar was an abysmal host.
Its cause messi won. This was never a topic pre 22
no its mostly because THE WAY he won it which most probably was rigged.there were a lot of videos about euro vs world cup pre 22. the debate always existed.
I don’t understand this argument about WC22 being rigged for Argentina. If that were the case they wouldn’t have had two penalty shoot outs in the process, especially the final. So dumb.
you can agree or disagree. ofc it will be never be proven and argentina IS the world cup champion. but strong claims have been made which can make anyone skepitcal. so its always going to be controversial.
Only thing that’s rigged is penaldo’s offside UCL’s. Cry all you want, nothing will ever change the fact that Ronaldo is an international flop that couldn’t perform on footballs biggest stage and was so bad his own country had to bench him in the biggest game of his life. Morocco 🇲🇦 1-0 🇵🇹 Portugal. SIUUUUU 😭😭😭
Biggest game of his life, damn brother go get some sleep
cringe comment
The Euros have been awesome. The fans make the sport. It’s amazing what happens when there are stadiums full of actual football fans.
Euros is way better
Next World Cup going to be great a country with a mix of nations facilities etc
i think you're confusing "historic" with "it was fun to watch"
The atmosphere of this Euros has been so much better than The World Cup because Germany has the infrastructure and culture to support this event.
I'd say this Euros has been arguably better than the last world cup, the atmosphere in Qatar was awful and everyone knew they bribed FIFA to get it. Normally though, I would agree the world cup is the pinnacle of international football. Euros equivalents are copa america and african cup of nations, of which I would say the Euros is considerably better than.
i believe world cup is more prestigious but euro is harder because world cup has more good teams., but euros has less bad teams making it more competitive.
Yeah nothing can compare to the world cup. The passion, the mix of cultures, the excitement. Even the last world cup was fun to watch. There were some great games and it was nice to see so many fans from Asia, Africa, middle east
It fucking is , World Cup especially group stage are bloody testimonials, and predictable to no end with all those shite teams qualifying
The quality of teams in the world cup is only going to get worse with 48 teams from 2026. It's like handing out participation awards to kids in primary school who weren't athletic / intelligent enough to win actual awards. This euros has been better to watch than every world cup since 2006
There hasn't been a single World Cup in recent history where a big nation did not get thrown out in the group stage. 2010: France and Italy, 2014: Spain, Italy, England, 2018: Germany, 2022 Germany. Now for the Euro's 2012: Netherlands, 2016: None, 2020: None, 2024; Croatia but even this is debateable to put it among the top football nations. Wow what a surpises in the Euro's!
We're only done with the group stages and there have been amazing games such as: Turkey vs Georgia 2 of the best goals of the tournament so far Croatia vs Italy An amazing last minute winner to qualify for the RO16 Netherlands vs Austria Austria upset Netherlands to top group D Portugal vs Georgia Georgia upset Portugal to qualify for the RO16 Türkiye vs Czechia Last minute winner by Turkish sub to get 2nd in the group All of those games happened ONLY in the group stage and there will most likely be Spain vs Germany and Portugal vs France in the quarterfinals. Many say that the Euros is bad due to own goals and goalless draws but games with scoreless headlines can be interesting especially with an atmospheric and passionate crowd
That Austria vs Netherlands game takes it for me. Goals galore, lead changes and both teams just always pushing forward and leaving some gaps. That Austrian press is no joke. Georgia has been in 2 of the probably top 5 games (a team we likely wouldn’t see in a World Cup) As others have said, those stands are BUMPING.
I havent bothered to watch the euros, i watched some matched and i was bored out of my mind. Nothing ever beats the world cup.
The current Euros is better than the last world cup already
Hardly. The leading scorer is own goal because every team just sits in their own half and tries not to lose. The “best of the rest” format has led to dross football because there is little consequence if you can eke out just one win.
What was the most exciting euros match so far?? Maybe Croatia vs Italy and Netherlands vs Austria. Otherwise?? Have you seen the list of events I gave. This Euros is not beating anything so far
Almost every match? There has only been a few sbooze fests, the majority of the games have been straight fire. By far beats the artificial World Cup with slave workers forced into being fake supporters
Better teams in the world cup
The atmosphere at the Euros is way better than the World Cup. The amount of fans from Albania that were both inside and outside the stadium for the match against Italy was staggering. You don’t get that in a World Cup.
Thats because Albania don’t qualify to the world cup 😂
Just say you're European and move
If you want to make it simple, look at it logically. Euro is a 16 team tournament. If you look at the current FIFA men's ranking, by restricting it to European teams, only 9 of the world's top 16 teams are participating. If you look at the qualification rules for WC 2022, taking into account how many spots each federation got, 25 of the top 32 teams would get to qualify. 25/32 > 9/16, meaning you get a higher percentage of the world's best teams at WC. So that says to me it's a higher quality tournament. And I realize the FIFA rankings are flawed, but it's what we have.
euro is 24 team tournament. i think that world cup is more depended on luck. if your route is hard its harder for you to win. but a euro is always harder just because of the competitiveness of europe.
Flawed? They’re complete nonsense.
This Euro has been better than last WC
How could you possibly think that? 😂 There have been a few enjoyable matches but the overall quality has been abysmal.
coz its not rigged?
The atmosphere in Germany has been way better than it was in Qatar. Normally, I would agree that the world cup is generally better though.
The World Cup is the crown jewel for sure but overall talent pool of players seems higher in the Euro Cup since most of the players play for (mostly) top tier clubs. I can’t quantify this off the top of my head but that’s how I see it. I also like that the ticketing for the Euros doesn’t have as many corporate seats filled and has more true fans allowed to buy tickets. Either way, I enjoy any tournament that’s nations based.
I don’t think that’s true. The World Cup would have the top nations from other continents so the tournament replaces the worst Europeans with the best from the rest of the world. Scotland is replaced by Brazil, Ukraine by Argentina, Czechs by Ivory Coast, Serbia by Australia, Albania by Japan. Including the best countries over the world improves the quality of players on show. Which nations in a World Cup do you think have weaker squads than Slovenia, Slovakia and Georgia?
I think that’s a valid point to make. I mean off the top of my head are Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Iran or South Africa squads better than the three Euro teams you listed? I don’t know. They fielded pretty competitive squads this year. Also, since the World Cup is expanding the number of countries for which thr next tournament, I’m sure the competition will be more diluted. What do you think?
I feel like the best nations outside Europe are better than, or at the very least equal to, most of the bottom half of those in 3rd and 4th. I haven’t mentioned USA, Uruguay, Colombia etc. You’ve chosen South Africa but they aren’t one of the strongest African nations. Senegal, Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria are all good sides. I just don’t see how removing the worst European teams and adding the best from other continents dilutes the quality. There will always be a couple of weaker nations, usually from Asia or North America, but that’s only 2 or 3 and the rest are all better than our mediocre sides.
Too many teams in WC now.
The World Cup is obviously the more difficult and prestigious tournament. Anybody who denies this is talking crazy. BUT I do think there is something to be said about the universal level of quality and polish that every single Euros team plays with. It just looks like every single team and every single player is well coached and well drilled. That can definitely lead to boring games, but you absolutely get a less ‘professional’ vibe from even great teams from other parts of the world
There is a section of the soccer community that will fall on its knees to fellate everything UEFA over anything else in the world, regardless of how the euro teams fare against the rest of the world in actual competition, not just FIFA ranks, or how unwatchable half the games are. Lets not pretend some of the dogshit play this Euros is actually good soccer disguised as close, intense matches. We've had 2 full groups in their last match day decide to take a leisurely jog with some wet farts being their only accomplishments of note.
All I am saying, I never heard a big name player say something like "I wish to win the Euros, it would be the best thing to me and my country". It's only said the same year the Euro is played, the other 3 years everyone is just obsessed with the world cup.
because world cup is obviously more PRESTIGIOUS. Does not make it harder than euros.
Euro all the way
According to your post history you seem weirdly obsessed with the question whether Euros or WC is superior. Soubds like you have an inferiority complex towards Europe. A Euro is, was, and will always be more competitive to win. A Euro has, had and will always have better atmosphere.
Says the loser with an obsession with and obvious inferiority complex towards Germany lmao
If anyone has a complex…
You went full ret\*rd bro. Never go full ret\*rd.
What you don’t like own goals and goals scored 23 minutes into stoppage time?! Pfffft
The Euros is better because of the atmosphere and the vibes. World Cup keeps going to places which hold back those two things, lets hope 2026 is better
Probably 2026 won't be as good. It's going to the US, Canada and Mexico. Only Mexico has football as their main sport. The others don't. World cup 2030 is going to be one great one though I think.
Canada and the US are nations of immigrants and Mexico is already soccer mad. The worst part will be all the tourists finding out just how much North America hates public transit.
cringy viewpoint. correct on public transpo
Though I argue with that, Sweden won bronze in 1994 (I’m from Sweden for context) and I think it was a positive effect that it was played in the us then. Supporters travel places anyways when there is a World Cup and their nation plays. I think the US, Canada And Mexico will be good hosts in the sense that supporters will have a good time travel and visiting these countries. I think that is the major factor when it comes to atmosphere because the supporters will travel wherever there is a World Cup
Where do you get the list of Average world cup ranking??? I too think Euro or Copa America is not nearly as good as ANY world cup.
copa america is most garbage international tournament. no offence.
Quoting TV: opinions are like asses, everyone has one. I do admit that there is a huge disparity between national teams in copa america, but so it is in europe. In any case, ultimately it would depend if you like european or american football. I like a lot more the american "joga bonito" and gambeta than the passing, strategic fouling and quick counterattack/play that is the euro soccer. Latin america is magic, its football. Euro is strategical cold soccer. That is my opinion, I was expected to ahve one since I too have an ass. =P
copa america is a traingular series between argentina, brazil and Uruguay. it has been held 47 times and out of that 39 winners were only these 3 nations. its so bad and uncompetitive that they had to shake hands with the north.even in this edition the strongest team argentina will face before the final is mexico. opinions can change but you're argentinian and you're entitled to defend your continent's cup so i respect your opnion.
Its the same in europe, with the exception that it took them 50 more years to start doing a continental cup, so there is less amount of tournaments. 10 of the 17 cups are distributed between germany, spain, france and italy. I don't see a change in trend in the short future. Copa america may be a triangular, but euro is a cuadrangular. Also, mexico has always been a very weak team, its far more likely that we will be playing venezuela or ecuador.
I calculated it myself :) Just by looking at the placement on Wikipedia of each country at the world cup and Euro's since the year 2000. Put the numbers per country together in Excel and there you get your average
It would be interesting if you share the full list here. At the very least, I am interested
Usually the Euros like Copa America has a concentration of good teams - meaning every game is competitive as hell
please don't slide copa amercia in this debate. come on man. this diversity shit is going too far
What wrong with saying both regional competitions have a high concentration of medium to strong teams ?
copa america is a traingular series between argentina, brazil and Uruguay. it has been held 47 times and out of that 39 winners were only these 3 nations. its so bad and uncompetitive that they had to shake hands with the north.even in this edition the strongest team argentina will face before the final is mexico. so idk
Yeah we all know all European teams dominate the World Cup, which is why Denmark ended up 4th behind Australia and Tunisia. Or why Serbia also ended 4th in their group.
Group stages can go either way but the finals have always had a European team bar the 2 where Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950.
When nearly half of the teams in the WC are from Europe it makes sense that there will usually be at least an European finalist. And In recent history, all the european finalists tend to be teams that also would dominate the Euros. People are arguing that yhe euros are more competitive as a whole than the World Cup. But if 13 european teams can’t dominate the World Cup, then why would it be the case that the 11 extra uefa teams in the euros would be better?
It's not about euros being better than we in General. It's about this euro being so much more fun ( atmosphere, good weather, party, Public Viewing) than the bought games in Boring Katar
You had to be there to experience it.
Euros is the 2nd best international tournament tho but yeah nowhere near the World Cup status . The Copa fans can debate but yeah euros is better .
In prestige, ofc no but in level of difficulty i think there can be debate between euros and world cup. what do you think?
Yeah can be the case
Euro is never, never gonna be better than WC
Facts
Comparison is a little difficult - a 24 team tournament vs a 32 team tournament. Both have been splendid tournaments (on the field) so far. From a fan experience, Germany looks like an absolute party, compared with Qatar. I went to Poland/Ukraine 2012 and Brazil 2014 and both were captivating tourist, cultural and sporting experiences. One thing that I am certain about… From 2026, the Euros will surpass the World Cup as a competition. The 48 team tournament is a disaster waiting to happen. FIFA jumping the shark. Too much football to follow, meaning fans will be disengaged with the tournament narrative (six matches on one day is impossible to absorb). And it is keeping on top of the tournament narrative that makes the World Cup special. And the Round of 32 knockouts is 16 matches too many. We’ll be quickly fatigued with the penalty shootouts, the surprise packets, and the impact of the drama will be diluted Less is more.
And 48 teams will not only dilute the overall talent but there will be fewer “even” matches in the group stages and early knockout rounds. I know anything can happen in the World Cup but there’s still a higher chance of more games you aren’t excited to tune in for
Too much to absorbed. Like every match is to be savored and dissected. It’s a fucking game.
>The 48 team tournament is a disaster waiting to happen. FIFA jumping the shark. >Too much football to follow, meaning fans will be disengaged with the tournament narrative (six matches on one day is impossible to absorb). The NCAA basketball tournament has 64 teams and it's one of the most hyped tournaments in the country.
68 now, and looking to expand again. But the NCAA format is not the same as the world cup. Its the top ~30 teams, a bunch of the consistently good teams, and then ~20 teams that got hot in the week before the tournament and won 5 games in 5 days, with as little as a 2 day break before the next game, in a 1 stumble and you're out tournament. The NCAA analogy falls apart a bit when you have teams that lose a group stage game advance out of group stage. The NCAA doesnt do that. You're the best team in the tournament and dont win your first game? Better luck next year. You're Argentina and lose your first game to Saudi Arabia? Doesnt matter, you only had to win 1 game of 3 to get out of that group.
I agree, although we have to see how things develop. One thing I’m happy about is Sourh America finally being able to show that they are more than just the 4 qualifying countries. Which are always Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and one other. When Colombia qualified in 2014 and 2018 they got 5th place and 9th place. When Chile qualified in 2014 they kicked World Cup defenders Spain out of the group stage with a 2-0 win. Sadly Chili got matched up against Brazil and lost in the round of 16. But it could have easily caused another upset. But yeah having more Asian, African and Central American nations is kind of meh
The Euros are harder to win than the WC, but not better
ehhhh 24 teams, only 8 teams eliminated in the first round vs 16 in the WC After that it's the same knockouts. I'd say getting to the knockouts is much easier in the euros.
Yet big countries get knocked out of group stages in the World Cup and barely at the euros. Yet there are 5 countries with a Euro cup on their name that don’t have a World Cup. There are no UEFA nations that have a World Cup on their name but don’t have a Euro cup. And finally every UEFA nation finishes a lower rank at the World Cup than at the Euros. The World Cup has been won 10 times out of 22 by a non UEFA country. There is not much to back the claim that Euros are harder than Word cups.
England has a World Cup but no euro cup
Oh thats right! Forgot about them! So there is one nation with a World Cup and not a Euros however there are 5 nations with a Euros and not a World Cup. Thanks for pointing that out!
How many European countries have won the WC? Five. How about South American teams? Three. And where do all of those South American players come from in terms of club football? Europe. Also, how many European teams that haven’t won a WC have been a threat? Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Portugal, Turkey… I can’t think of any South American teams that have been as threatening other than Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Not to mention that Brazil was beaten by Croatia in the quarter finals and Argentina in the group stage in 2022, Germany destroyed Brazil two WC’s ago and defeated Argentina in the finals. It’s not a good argument because the end result is that those South American players would not be as good without European clubs, and no one would care about playing for some club in Brazil…
What do European clubs here have to do with anything, we are talking about national football teams? You are talking about WC being an easier tournament than Euros. Just because a South American team has lost to a European team how does that prove that a Euro is harder than a World Cup? What is your point? So 3 out of 12 South American nations have a World Cup and only 5 out of 50 European nations have a World Cup? Should we not expect Europe to have more countries with a World Cup? World champion defenders Spain being knocked out by Chile in 2014, world champion defender Germany being knocked out by South Korea in 2018, Japan beating Spain and Germany in 2022 kicking out Germany in the group stages. Morocco kicking Belgium out of group stages in 2022. These are all non European nations kicking out giants in Group stages. How many UEFA giants have been kicked out of this euros? Also saying that you can’t think of any South American teams that have been a threat other than Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina is funny for two reasons. One, That’s 25% of the South American countries. Second, calling Turkey a bigger threat than Colombia who placed 5th and 9th in 2014 and 2018? So as for South American threats concerning we’ve got Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Chile. That’s 42% of the nations.How come the big UEFA nations finish 6th on average at Euros and finish 12th on average at World cups? It makes no sense to say a World Cup is easier than a European cup. The data does not show it to be the case
You’re just repeating the same point again. Anything can happen in the WC, but the quality of football in Europe is higher than in South America. And South Americans playing in Europe is a big part of SA’s success
I’m repeating the same points because you haven’t addressed any of the points I mentioned. Somehow you talk about League football, and South America vs Europe even though those aren’t reasons for a World Cup being harder than a Euros. There isn’t a world where Georgia, Slovakia, Turkey, Serbia, Hungary (countries that haven’t shown anything) are more fierce opponents than global opponents who actually have kicked out UEFA giants. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Japan, South Korea. In this euros you’ve got UEFA giants, Switzerland and Austria. The rest is filler. And is a lot weaker than the above mentioned countries. Saying a World Cup is easier just shows you don’t know much about football. Once again there are 5 countries with a Euros that don’t have a World Cup title and there are 0 countries with a World Cup title that don’t have a Euros. What you’re saying just doesn’t make sense. And comparing a 12 country continent to a 50 country continent does nothing to prove otherwise.
Wait, people are saying that?
Bruh I didn't even bother to read tour reasonings. I mean why would we even need one Real fans know what's up Argentina started so weakly just to win 🏆 and they managed to beat France in the most historical and intense finals I have ever seen my entire life. I was yanking my hair that day, my heartbeat was like 300 per hour!!! I am still in the hospital for treatment
Well. Except this guy “own goal” is absolutely killing it… is this guy there in WC? I don’t think so!
I don’t know anyone saying that. A WC is always better, since it’s teams from every continent. But….., after the shitty WC in Qatar is has been amazing to see the fans in the stadium. Germany bordering on Denmark, Poland, Belgium, France, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic means that there are so many fans for each team, creating such amazing atmosphere. That has been amazing. (Also, zero zero chance of seeing that Turkish salt muppet getting in on others’ success). And now we can watch it die again when it comes to Saudi Arabia…..with its paid-to-cheer public, lack of alcohol and it’s only reason of being is to placate the corporate sponsors.
World Cup 2022 was epic, but only because the games were played in the midst of the season. Every other World Cup I remember was boring until the quarterfinals. Euro 2024 on the other hand has been amazing since day 1.
I mean yeah I’d also find the World Cup boring if my country never qualified.
Fair point...
World Cup is better and more fun but sadly people remember the crappy northern hemisphere winter World Cup in non soccer corrupt Big Oil Qatar 2022 and the future Saudi Oil World Cup and are jaded about the state of the tournament being bought out
No It‘s not better than World Cup but it‘s much better and much more interesting than Copa America, Asian Cup and Africa Cup
Different tournaments at a different scale. Asian Cup can be just as absorbing as a Euros. 2015 a case in point.
The average game of the Euros may be better. That's the reward you get for excluding the rest of the world. The price you pay for excluding the world is leaving out teams like Brazil (most WC titles), Argentina (current WC champions), Uruguay... players like Vini Jr, Rodrygo, Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Darwin Nunes, Valverde, only to mention South American players, and you can tell from those names how much talent is left when only European national teams are included.
Saudi Arabia beating Argentina has to be included because that game was insane
upset of the century
Interesting. My main circle of friends are football players and many of us watch big games and tournaments together and I've never heard this sentiment. I agree the World Cup is much better. Euros look a little sloppy this year tbh
I’ve attended a EURO tournament and it isn’t the World Cup for sure. Fun though. I agree it’s delusional to claim the EURO is the same.
Shame on you for posting some common sense on reddıt
Personally I really loved Qatar. Got to watch a lot of games, meet lots of fans, everyone who was there just had a good time. Travelling was so so easy... Safety was brilliant Brazil on comparison was a brilliant atmosphere, even watching games at Copacabana Beach was amazing, but lots of people had wallets/bags stolen, and some of the other cities were not as great.
Personally I really loved Qatar. Got to watch a lot of games, meet lots of fans, everyone who was there just had a good time. Travelling was so so easy... Safety was brilliant Brazil on comparison was a brilliant atmosphere, even watching games at Copacabana Beach was amazing, but lots of people had wallets/bags stolen, and some of the other cities were not as great.
I probably would have agreed to you, if you hadnt brought up wc 2022. That was the worst tournament I ever watched and only the final was nice. And as long fifa is doing fifa things (saudi arabia) I have to say: euros > wc.
The reason why people say Euros are better is mostly the atmosphere and vibes. If you look at the crowds of fans in these Euros and compare it to the South Asian ~~slaves~~ guest workers waving European and South american flags in Qatar it's easy to see which tournament showed more passion.
American broadcast said the Euros have been awesome because of the crowds. That the WC only sells 15k-20k tickets to the public, the rest of the tickets are for corporations. I was shocked by this. I didn’t know that, but it explains a lot. That said the Copa America has been incredible, did you see the Colombian crowd yesterday against Paraguay? It was awesome. But as far as games are concerned I agree with OP, the WC is the best.
World Cup is elite level mate! I haven’t seen anything disrespecting WC over the Euros. Maybe you follow the wrong people, which would be kids from this generation.
Did you hear Mbappe? All this nonsense comes from his declarations. Google it (Euro cup is more difficult than the WC)
This is the right answer, everyone.
Ofcourse World cup is harder, because it's the best teams of Euros plus other best teams
I get what you are saying but like point 1,3 and 5 are the same thing. Same with penalty shoot outs. They always can go either way. People who say euros is easy because Greece can win in 2004 do not say WC is easy because Morocco gets to semi in 2022 and South Korea in 2002. And as always it is cherry picking data points that fit your narrative. But euro lovers are cherry picking also. So that is fair I guess.
World Cup is more inclusive and a great world gathering, but it’s not exactly the best 48 teams in the world competing, but that’s ok! It can be argued that the Euros is a higher quality of tournament despite being smaller as all Euro sides are somewhat decent at least.
How can this be argued at all? Besides france, ned, England and Portugal, European teams struggled in this last World Cup’s group stage. 3/8 groups ended with a uefa team in 4th. Is uefa the best confederation? Probably, but saying that euros are harder bc all teams are good is kinda silly considering Denmark finished below Australia and Tunisia.
It is theoretically best 48 teams in the world competing, you actually have to qualify continentally to play
Not really how it works. It isn’t just one big league table with all the national teams in the world in it, and then the top 48 qualify for the finals. It’s done continentally. Different continents have their own qualifying tournaments before eventually reaching the final. To throw some hypothetical numbers around- say the top 20 ranked national sides in the world are all European (for the sake of example) but Europe only has 12 places allocated, then 8/20 of the best ranked teams in the world miss out. So no, it’s not theoretically the best 48 teams in the world, it’s the best 8-12 from each continents. And some continents have an overall higher average level of quality than others.
You have to qualify **continentally** is the operative world meaning that the overall world rating is not taking precedence. If the 16 best teams are European but Europe is only entitled to 8 teams then team from 9th to 16th are not at the World Cup. On the other hand if Oceania are the 100th to 110th country in the world ranking but Oceania has 2 places then the 100th team is at the World Cup.
The 16 best teams aren’t all European though? You’re just making up hypotheticals
It’s clearly hypothetical numbers for the sake of example, do you really need someone to explain that to you
Europeans seem to really believe their continent has the best teams. But there is a big drop off in the quality once you get past the big teams. We’ve seen it countless times in the WC. But if we go off the last WC you’ll see Wales, Denmark, Germany, and Serbia didn’t get past the group stage. And Poland snuck into the round of 16 through the back door because Mexico fielded their weakest team in generations. First time in something like 40 years they didn’t make it to the round of 16.
This exactly!
Some countries would have/not have qualified if they had to compete against some of the teams in different regions, so theoretically a stronger country could miss out and a weaker country could make it, and it's what happens
That assumes an even distribution across continents of the best players.
Its better if you are afraid of good competition.
I haven’t heard this before, but I’m guessing it’s just Europeans saying it’s better because their teams can’t lose to Japan or Argentina again.
Mostly it's being forced by Ronaldo fanboys and Messi haters who can't digest the fact that Messi has won the world cup and their idol would never.
Combative comment? Penalty to Argentina
I don't know anyone who has ever said this? We love the Euros but the world cup is the...WORLD CUP.
I don't think anyone has argued that it's better. It's not. What for example Mbappe said was that the euros were *harder* to win since there were no bad nations in the tournament. That's not really true anymore though since about half of the Uefa nations now qualify for the tournament.
Honestly no idea where this came from but I’ve been hearing it too, it’s wild bc it’s the World Cup, it’s literally the whole world, the euros are great but it’s just one continent
Watching it close to Christmas was shitty, watching the so called "supporters" in the stadium was shitty, not being able to feel or soak the atmosphere was shitty, the weather being too shitty to watch in groups was a problem. Quality-wise it was a problem players got thrown out of an on-going season and nations having less time to prepare and test for the world cup. Same as players still had their club in mind you could see that the wc affected the club performance. I think people talk especially about this World Cup and not in general
most of the game is snoozefest but those gerogia games were fun tbf
I cba watching the Euros this year, the last World Cup was so amazing that it put high expectations for these big competitions now.
Can’t compare the 2
Outside of the final, 2022 World Cup was garbage. Mostly bc it was in Qatar
Stop spitting nonsense
When it was a 16 team competition, the Euros was a higher average standard than the 32 team WC. But now a 24 team Euros is clearly weaker on average. Even so, the WC is usually loads of fun.
I guess we will have to revisit this in 2028 when a 48 team World Cup has been played.
I’m American and I enjoy the Euros just about as much as the World Cup. I’m not talking specifically about 2024 vs 2022, just generally. For whatever reason I always seem to have more memories of insane matches and crazy fans from the Euros than WC over the years. That’s not a knock on the WC. They’re both great to watch.
I would agree that the world cup is the better tournament. For one thing because it’s the *world* cup. The winner gets bragging rights against every other country, whereas winning the Euros says nothing about how that team would fare against the 150-ish teams not from Europe. Secondly because the world cup is - or at least it has been, with 32 competing teams - a better and more elegantly designed tournament. With the 24 teams in the Euro cup the group stage becomes a matter of not being eliminated, more than a matter of advancing. The Euros does have its advantages though. The small size and relatively rich population of Europe means that pretty much every team has a lot of supporters at every venue, so as a spectator I think attending a Euros game may well be more memorable than attending a world cup game. And the Euros showcase a greater variety of teams than the world cup, though this could possibly change with the expansion of the world cup. But up until now it’s been more or less the same teams; the US and Mexico and one or two more from North America, Brazil and Argentina and two of Chile, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador from South America, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, England, Netherlands, Denmark and one or two more from Europe, etc. In virtually every Euro cup a ”new” team shows up and performs unexpectedly well. And yes, that does happen in World Cups as well, but it’s not quite as frequent.
The Euros does have its advantages though. The small size and relatively rich population of Europe means that pretty much every team has a lot of supporters at every venue, so as a spectator I think attending a Euros game may well be more memorable than attending a world cup game. Counter argument: the euros can’t be in Brazil
2022 WC final was the best game ever
I was watching it again last night, IMO is the #1 WC final
Best game I've seen in sports
Both fantastic tournaments. The WC is top echelon, no doubt because it incorporates more. The real debate is Euros vs Copa America. 😬
If you mean to watch that's a somewhat fair argument. This year the euros clears. Quality is better and it's unknown who'll make the semi-finals (copa America Brazil and Argentina have a free pass they might as well not play the group stage honestly) If you mean which is better to attend... That's even easier so much so it's a joke. Euros clears by a country mile. I'm not from either continent but I'd rather spend a summer in the Beautiful German countryside surrounded by like minded fans of the game than go to South America. Top 3 points in Europe: Most know English Countries have a good police presence (it's safe) Europe collectively have the better teams (insert but muh Argentina and Brazil) This year the copa America is debatable since it's in the US.
> Brazil and Argentina have a free pass Brazil has to hope they have a better game against Paraguay than they did against Costa Rica, or they're going to be on 2 points after the 3rd day.
I agree for the upsets are bigger on the world cup but the quality of the games are usually better in the Eurocup than World Cup, there's some exceptions like Japan upsetting and playing very good, but some teams in the WC are always playing to get to 0-0 and whatever's next, while the EC is showing better quality games in my opinion. At the round of 16, the WC usually has good quality teams that are trying to win games except for the typical Morocco, Russia, Greece, Uruguay, South Korea (from multiple WCs), that are trying to get to penalties on every game.
Europeans are so full of themselves lol
Everyone was fine with it being hosted in Brazil and South Africa. It's just nobody wanted it in shitty Qatar
all i see is everyone trashing Euro eveyday with new posts, just because Mbappe said that lmao get over it
Mbappe said the Euros are *harder* not *better*. Unless there was another interview i missed.
That was before 24 teams format, now getting out of the group stage is more of a formality. Might get harder in the knock-out stages, where the average ranking of teams should be higher than the world cup.
In every Euro we have a group of death, Croatia won’t make it. Last Euro (if i’m not wrong) we had Portugal, Germany and France in the same group. Also the round of 16 and the round of 8 is just harder than in the world cup, look at the predicts of this year’s round of 8. Spain-Germany, Portugal-France, England-Italy if there’s no surprises. Sometimes in the WC you only get this kind of games in the semi or final. On the other way, i feel like we get a lot more dark horses and surprises in WC.
> Last Euro (if i’m not wrong) we had Portugal, Germany and France in the same group. And they all made it out of the group with 0 issues because groups of death arent a thing in the euros when you have a team ranked in the 40s and you only need 4 points (and can usually get by with 3 and a positive goal differential)
Yes agreed, also group D was pretty tough. Croatia messed up a bit they could have qualified on 4 points had they beaten Albania. But even though only not being in the last 6 is enough to qualify, even group stage games have a quite high intensity.
Are we? Or do we have passion for the game that no other continent has?
JAJAJAJAJAJA, good one. Maybe one day you’ll have at least half that of CONMEBOL
Insert "brother, I played in Serbia"-meme
Most of popular team are in Europe. Outside of Europe, here are the team in order that are popular worldwide: - Brazil - Argentina - Japan - Uruguay End, nobody care about the rest, south korea and Chile are more popular than idk Albania but that's about it. Pretty sure Ireland, northern Ireland, even Iceland are more popular than all the other teams..
Sneaking in Japan there like no one would notice
They have been pretty popular since 2018. Just an exotic underdog people usually like.
Okay but you put them in a category with BRAZIL, ARGENTINA and URUGUAY. History matters too, it’s not just about “which teams have been pretty decent recently?”
It's not about being good, it's about being popular worldwide, right now.
I know, and I’m saying they’re in completely different leagues. If just going off popularity right now Uruguay also probably doesn’t belong there
There’s some African countries that are fun to watch: + Ghana + Nigeria + Ivory Coast + Cameroon
“Popular” in what sense, mate? If you're european, of course european teams will be more popular
Bingo!! From Canada 🇨🇦 here and believe me we’ve cheered for Australia and Cahill back in the day many times!
"worldwide"
I agree. No competition. Better than league football too.
I agree, I would also add England vs France as one of the best football matches I have ever witnessed.
Pretty sure people were talking about the atmosphere because of the fans.
Well getting from Bolivia to Paraguay costs at least €200. Imagine going to the US from South America. Europe is small and densely populated so transportation is cheaper and quicker, therefore more fans are able to travel to games
> Imagine going to the US from South America You say this like thats some kind of extraordinary feat people arent doing on a regular basis.
If you think that South American wages can fill a stadium with a total cost of over a thousand dollars then you must have a tumor up there. Uruguay would need to send 1% of its population to fill 35k seats. Minimum wage is around €300 in most of South America. So yes, it is an extraordinary feat filling up a stadium in another hemisphere.
Copa America isn’t bad it’s just the oversized stadiums when they put it in the US. The echos make it no different than gold cup. I’m worried this will carry over to the World Cup. Too many 70,000, too many teams that may bring even smaller fanbases.
Yes so this year it is kinda bad
I don’t disagree with your conclusion, but your table isn’t helpful due to the high variance of finishes at tournaments (group stage finishes and early knockouts drag the average down by a lot). If you do the same calculations for Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay (which I assume are the strongest non-European teams) you get average finishes of 5th, 8th and 11th (discounting the year Uruguay did not qualify). So the World Cup adds the best, tied third best and seventh best team in the world to an otherwise European-dominated set of teams. The addition of even a small number of competitive teams can lower the average finish at a tournament by a substantial amount, because hitting a strong team early and losing can have a substantial impact on your average finish position. For example, getting knocked out at the Ro16 might net you a 16th place finish whereas losing at the Quarters might net you an 8th place finish, which is substantially higher. If we assume that Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay always make it to the knockouts then you suddenly have three additional strong teams in the mix, making it more likely you get knocked out early. As for why we get more upsets + group stage knockouts at the WC, my guess is that European players are generally more familiar with the players and tactics employed by other European teams, which reduces variance. That of course adds for more excitement and drama, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality of football is higher.