Basle, Switzerland  - Europe's governing football body will decide before the end of the year whether to increase the number of European championship participants from 16 to 24, UEFA General Secretary David Taylor said on Friday.

"The decision will have to be taken later this year," Taylor told a press conference in Basle.

He said that the bid process for the 2016 competition was starting in autumn and potential host countries needed do know how many participants there will be.

Currently France is the favourite to host the competition.

UEFA has been discussing the issue for several months and at the last congress in Zagreb in January, the issue of increasing the number to 20 or even 24 was shelved for a later date.

The 2012 tournament in Ukraine and Poland is unlikely to see 24 teams because the bid was based on 16 teams.

UEFA president Michel Platini has not yet said whether he thinks the number should be increased. One of the reasons why it could be increased is an economic one, while it would also enable more of the 53 member-states to participate at the highest level.

Counting against an increase, however, is the difficulty of organizing a tournament format with 24 countries.

This competition in Austria and Switzerland is only the fourth time that 16 teams are participating. From 1960 to 1976 just four countries participated at the finals, from 1980 to 1992 it was eight. (dpa)