After the huge success of Euro 2008 there have been calls to extend the number of teams participating in the finals. What a completely ridiculous idea! Why is it that no one on this planet realises when they are on to a good thing?

It's the American attitude of making things bigger, better, faster and supposedly more entertaining. Sixteen teams in the finals of a continent with 47 countries and assorted territories and dependencies is more than enough. The qualification process would be laughable if FIFA upped the numbers competing in the final stages to the World Cup equivalent of 32. It would devalue it and make the European Championships one huge bore.

Now, it's more than acceptable to have 32 teams from across the globe competing in the World Cup - it's a simple numbers game - but somebody, somewhere always wants to start tweaking and messing around with something that simply isn't broken.

Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, England and Spain are the only European countries to have held World Cups. When the Swiss and the Swedes hosted, there were only 16 teams competing and it wasn't until Spain in 1982 that the number of countries competing went up to 24. If you take Sweden and Switzerland out of the equation, the remaining countries are really the only ones with the facilities to accommodate a 32-team World Cup, the first of which was in France in 1998.

Even a 24-team European Championship would mean that many of the smaller countries in Europe (of which there are many) would not be given the chance to host one of the biggest tournaments on the planet. Switzerland and Austria have just enjoyed a thrilling and financially superb three weeks of footballing fun. Why deny many more up-and-coming countries in Europe the chance to hold a glamour event? It just would not make sense.

The standard of football on display at future championships if this extension occurred would drop significantly and the global interest would not be as intense in the earlier rounds with lower attendances also being a factor. Remember what happened when the Champions League briefly extended to include two separate group stages?

Europe is a small continent but a varied and multi-cultural one that is generally open and receptive to everyone. It is unique - as is the European Championships, where it is the elite playing against the elite. With longer seasons and a massive World Cup every four years anyway, what good would it do the players to have even more games during the summer?

I hope this one idea that sinks as quickly as it surfaced.