Re: *Official Euro 2008 Qualifying Thread*
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However results wise you can say that the Euros is much tougher than the World Cup.
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In the prelims, absolutely. Once you get to the knockout stage, I think WC>Euros. If not in the round of 16, then definitely in the round of 8.
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Here were the 16 teams in the 2006 WC round of 16:
UEFA
Germany
Sweden
Italy
Switzerland
Ukraine
England
Portugal
Netherlands
Spain
France
Conmebol
Argentina
Brazil
Ecuador
Other:
Mexico
Australia
Ghana
Compare that to the 16 teams that qualified for Euro 2008:
Austria
Switzerland
Poland
Portugal
Italy
France
Greece
Turkey
Czech Republic
Germany
Croatia
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Romania
Netherlands
Getting rid of like teams you have:
World Cup -
Ukraine
England
Argentina
Brazil
Ecuador
Mexico
Australia
Ghana
Euro:
Austria
Poland
Greece
Turkey
Czech Republic
Croatia
Russia
Romania
Comparing those two pools of 8 teams, I would say the World Cup group is stronger overall with the two best teams. IMO the two worst teams are Australia and Ecuador even though Ecuador beat Poland 2-0 in the last World Cup finals. Mexico is arguably as good or better than all of those European sides.
Where the European Championship excels IMO is the group stage. The most lopsided possible matchup is Italy versus Austria I guess. Compare that to Spain against Saudi Arabia or England versus Trinidad and Tobago which were actual matches (Brazil vs Trinidad and Tobago would be the biggest gap possible probably). Debating this is like debating conferences where one is significantly better top to bottom while another has a couple of great teams at the top and some terrible teams.
I personally prefer the European Championship because there tend to be only a couple of matches that on paper you wouldn't really want to see. The WC is obviously a bigger spectacle.
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