Intra-match competitive balance and intensity in UEFA men’s national team competitions: the impact of recent changes in formats

Figures & data

Table 1. Information related to UEFA men’s national team competitions over the 2010–2020 period

	Euro 2012	Euro 2016	Euro 2020	Nations League 2018–2019
	Qualifying round
Format	51 teams (Poland and Ukraine already qualified) 6 groups of 6 teams 3 groups of 5 teams 8 to 10 games per team Teams ranked 1^st and best 2^nd qualified Other 2^nd in playoffs	53 teams (France already qualified) 8 groups of 6 teams 1 groups of 5 teams 8 to 10 games per team Teams ranked 1^st, 2^nd and best 3^rd qualified Other 3^rd in playoffs	55 teams (no team automatically qualified) 5 groups of 6 teams 5 groups of 5 teams 8 to 10 games per team Teams ranked 1^st and 2^nd qualified, with incentive to be among teams 1–6, 7–12 and 13–18 overall	55 teams 12 teams in Leagues A and B 4 groups of 3 teams 15 teams in League C 4 groups of 3 or 4 teams 16 teams in League D 4 groups of 4 teams 4 to 6 games per team 1^st qualified, last relegated (except in League D)
Percentage of qualified and relegated teams	27.5%	43.4%	37.0%	58.2%
Percentage of positions with sporting prizes	35.3%	50.9%	37.0%	58.2%
Number of team situations*/Number of teams per group (average)	52.9%	50.9%	54.5%	87.3%
Number of different sporting prizes	3	3	5	2
	Final round (group stage)
Format	16 teams 4 groups of 4 teams 3 games per team 1^st and 2^nd qualified with 1^st playing against 2^nd in quarter-finals	24 teams 6 groups of 4 teams 3 games per team 1^st, 2^nd and 4 best 3^rd qualified with games for round of 16 depending on ranking at the end of the group stage		No group stage
Percentage of qualified teams^#	50%	66.7%		-
Number of team situations/Number of teams per group (average)	75%	91.7%		-
Number of different sporting prizes	2	3		-

* Team situations are as follows: qualified for the final round, qualified for the final round as first in group if impact different from second (e.g. better pot for the draw for the final round), qualified for the final round as second if impact different from first, qualified for playoffs, not qualified/not relegated, relegated.

^#For the final round, the percentage of positions with sporting prizes is equal to the percentage of qualified teams.

Table 2. Competitive balance and intensity in the Euros 2012 and 2016: comparison between qualifying and final rounds for each edition

		Competitive balance	Competitive intensity
	Observations*	Intra-game competitive balance	Intra-game competitive intensity	Half-dead intra-game competitive intensity
Euro 2012
Qualifying round	247	80.1% (26.6%)	72.3% (33.5%)	68.3% (35.1%)
Final round	31	86.8% (20.9%)	86.8% (20.9%)	83.6% (22.4%)
Final round significantly better than qualifying round?^#		Yes (p = 0.09)	Yes (p< 0.01)	Yes (p< 0.01)
Euro 2016
Qualifying round	266	81.3% (25.6%)	74.8% (32.1%)	70.0% (33.8%)
Final round	51	90.8% (19.8%)	90.5% (20.0%)	87.1% (21.8%)
Final round significantly better than qualifying round?^2		Yes (p< 0.01)	Yes (p< 0.01)	Yes (p< 0.01)

Average percentage for each indicator, standard deviation in brackets.

* 247 games instead to 248 for the Euro 2012 qualifying round due to Italy–Serbia awarded as a 3–0 forfeit win to Italy; 266 games instead to 268 for the Euro 2016 qualifying round due to Montenegro–Russia awarded as a 3–0 forfeit win to Russia and Serbia–Albania awarded as a 3–0 forfeit win to Albania.

Extra time is not included for knockout stages.

^#Independent one-tailed t-tests.

Table 3. Competitive balance and intensity in the Euros 2012 and 2016 qualifying rounds: comparison between the two Euros

		Competitive balance	Competitive intensity
	Observations	Intra-game competitive balance	Intra-game competitive intensity	Half-dead intra-game competitive intensity
Euro 2012	247	80.1% (26.6%)	72.3% (33.5%)	68.3% (35.1%)
Euro 2016	266	81.3% (25.6%)	74.8% (32.1%)	70.0% (33.8%)
2016 significantly better than 2012?^1		No (p = 0.30)	No (p = 0.21)	No (p = 0.29)
Euro 2016 without Gibraltar	256	83.0% (24.3%)	77.0% (31.1%)	71.8% (33.1%)
2016 without Gibraltar significantly better than 2012?*		Yes (p = 0.0997)	Yes (p = 0.07)	No (p = 0.13)

Average percentage for each indicator, standard deviation in brackets.

* Independent one-tailed t-tests.

Table 4. Comparison between competitive balance and intensity in the Euros 2008, 2012 and 2016 final rounds^*.

		Competitive balance	Competitive intensity
	Observations	Intra-game competitive balance	Intra-game competitive intensity	Half-dead intra-game competitive intensity
Euro 2012	31	86.8% (20.9%)	86.8% (20.9%)	83.6% (22.4%)
Euro 2016	51	90.8% (19.8%)	90.5% (20.0%)	87.1% (21.8%)
Euro 2016 final round significantly better than Euro 2012 final round?^#		No (p = 0.20)	No (p = 0.22)	No (p = 0.25)
Euro 2008	31	88.1% (18.2%)	76.2% (31.2%)	74.4% (32.3%)
Euros 2008 and 2012	62	87.5% (19.6%)	81.5% (27.1%)	79.0% (28.2%)
Euro 2016 final round significantly better than Euros 2008 and 2012 final rounds?^2		No (p = 0.18)	Yes (p = 0.02)	Yes (p = 0.046)

Average percentage for each indicator, standard deviation in brackets.

* Extra time is not included for knockout stages.

^#Independent one-tailed t-tests.

Table 5. Number and percentage of games ‘associated’ to UEFA men’s national team competitions in the 2014–2016 and 2018–2020 cycles under the hypothesis of the same number of games as a whole

	2014–2016		2018–2020
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Euro qualifying round	268	52.0%	250	48.5%
Euro final round	51	9.9%	51	9.9%
Nations League	-	-	154	29.9%
Friendly games	196	38.1%	60	11.7%
Total	515	100%	515	100%