By the time you read this, the draw may well have taken place, but briefly ignoring who we actually have drawn, here's my main question; why is there no pre-qualifying?
Having 24 countries qualify instead of 16 is bad enough, not just how it affects the FInals, but also qualifying. How can they let more teams go through, without reforming the qualifying too? We know France are through, and to be realistic most of the teams in Pots 1 and 2 will qualify. So that's 19 of the 24 pretty much decided. I don't think that's arrogance or being presumptious, but European football is pretty predictable.
The next question is which teams will win in the playoffs. From Pot 3, some of Serbia, Poland, Romania, Austria etc.... Maybe Scotland or Wales from Pot 4 have a chance, depending on the draw. Traditionally, the playoffs is a back-door route to the FInals for larger nations who have messed up in qualifying too.... (History or Geography experts, are Turkey or Israel actually properly in the competition?) How about a system without playoffs? Fewer groups could mean all placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd go through. Then again, in 5 and 6 teams groups this seems a bit insane. Though it almost happens currently, 9 x 2, plus one 3rd placed side through via best record, then 8 play each other for 4 spots.
I don't think international football benefits from a succession of pretty rubbish international games involving the minnows of European football. By rubbish, I mean ultra-defensive, one sided and usually predictable in terms of outcome. I get pretty bored of watching Andorra put 11 men behind the ball against England, and now even Gibraltar are in the draw. Gibraltar? Really? It really is not a contest to see a top side versus a set of novices. This article talks about how Gibraltar previously played Orkney and TIbet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26265137 Hmmmmm.
Two suggestions.
A; In future, UEFA should reduce each group to a maximum of 5 teams, meaning 8 qualifying games each instead of 10.
To achieve this, insert a pre-qualifying round, with one bye, and then 8 games between the smaller nations, and suddenly, the qualifying proper would start with 45 teams instead of 53. Admittedly, not the most radical change, but a step in the right direction. This could be a stop gap whilst they consider further reforms.
B: If we are going to have 24 teams at the tournament, why not go a step further and have 32 or even 64 and a straight knockout tournament? Seed the top 8 or top 16, and abandon qualifying! Granted there are only 54 at this point, but by the time of Euro 2020 who knows?! Let's welcome Orkney Islands, Isle of Man, whoever to make up the numbers eh? More seriously, just put a few bigger teams through round 1 with a bye (holders, hosts, semi-finalists...)
I don't expect things to change much. International football seems well out of date. When do fans get consulted? To a degree that wouldn't matter if there was some explanation, some signs of progress, and some strategy, whereby there's an improved format each year. But as it is, no sign of progress evident, and for me, another reason not to bother with the international game.