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*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Grzegorz Gilewski]]
*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Grzegorz Gilewski]]
*{{flagicon|POR}} [[Olegario Benquerenca]]
*{{flagicon|POR}} [[Olegario Benquerenca]]
*{{flagicon|SCO}} [[Craig Thomson]]
*{{flagicon|SCO}} Craig Thomson
*{{flagicon|SLO}} [[Damir Skomina]]
*{{flagicon|SLO}} [[Damir Skomina]]



Revision as of 23:21, 13 January 2008

Template:Future-sport Template:Infobox Football European Championship The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2008, will take place in Austria and Switzerland, from 7 to 29 June 2008. It is the second in a series of three successful joint bids in the competition's history, alongside the UEFA Euro 2000, hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands and the 2012 competition in Poland and Ukraine.

A total of 16 teams will participate in the tournament. Austria and Switzerland will automatically qualify as hosts; The remaining 14 teams have been determined through qualifying matches which started in August 2006. Austria and Poland will be making their first appearance in the tournament. The winner of Euro 2008 will represent the UEFA at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Bid process

The two countries jointly bid to host the games, and faced major competition from Greece/Turkey, Scotland/Ireland, Russia, Hungary, Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina and a 4-way Nordic bid from Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland. Austria had already bid with another country before, which was Hungary for Euro 2004. They had eventually lost to Portugal.

Austria/Switzerland, Greece/Turkey, and Hungary were recommended before the final vote. Greece and Turkey were rejected and let Hungary and Austria/Switzerland battle for the win.

Venues

Switzerland will play all of its group-stage matches at Basel, and Austria will play all of its group-stage matches at Vienna.

In 2004, the Zürich venue became a problem for the organisers. Originally, the Hardturm stadium was to be renovated and used as the city's venue, but legal challenges delayed the plan to a point that would not have allowed the ground to be used in 2008. This created a problem, as the agreement between UEFA and the organizers stipulated that four venues would be used in each country. The problem was solved when the organizers proposed renovating Letzigrund instead; UEFA approved the revised plan in January 2005. The Letzigrund stadium hosted its first football match on 23 September 2007.[1]

Switzerland

City Stadium Capacity Host Club Matches
Basel St. Jakob-Park 42,500 FC Basel Switzerland v Czech Republic, Switzerland v Turkey,
Switzerland v Portugal, two quarter-finals, semi-final
Berne Stade de Suisse Wankdorf 32,000 BSC Young Boys Netherlands v Italy, Netherlands v France,
Netherlands v Romania
Geneva Stade de Genève 32,000 Servette FC Portugal v Turkey, Czech Republic v Portugal,
Turkey v Czech Republic
Zürich Letzigrund Stadion 30,000 FC Zürich Romania v France, Italy v Romania, France v Italy

Austria

City Stadium Capacity Host Club Matches
Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion 53,000 Austria (FK Austria Wien and SK Rapid Wien only in European competitions) Austria v Croatia, Austria v Poland, Austria v Germany,
two quarter-finals, semi-final and final
Klagenfurt Wörthersee Stadion 32,000 SK Austria Kärnten Germany v Poland, Croatia v Germany, Poland v Croatia
Salzburg Stadion Wals-Siezenheim 31,000 Red Bull Salzburg Greece v Sweden, Greece v Russia, Greece v Spain
Innsbruck Tivoli-Neu Stadion 30,000 FC Wacker Innsbruck Spain v Russia, Sweden v Spain, Russia v Sweden

New trophy

File:Football European Cup.svg
Pictorial representation of the trophy

A new trophy will be awarded to the winners of the Euro 2008 tournament.

The new version of the Henri Delaunay Trophy, created by Asprey London,[2] is almost an exact replica of the original designed by Arthus-Bertrand. A small figure juggling a ball on the back of the original has been removed, as has the marble plinth. The silver base of the trophy also had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plinth have now been engraved on the back of the trophy, which is made of sterling silver, weighs 8 kilograms and is 60 centimetres tall.

Qualifying

The draw for the qualifying round took place in Montreux, Switzerland on 27 January, 2006 at 12:00 CET.

The qualifying process commenced a month after the 2006 World Cup. Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified for the tournament finals as host nations.

The qualifying format was changed compared to previous tournaments. The winners and runners-up from seven groups automatically qualified for the Championship, with the hosts filling the other two slots in the 16-team tournament. The change means there were no play-offs between teams finishing in second place in the groups - they qualified directly for the finals. Teams that finished in third place didn't have any further opportunity to qualify. Six of the qualifying groups contained seven teams, and the other, Group A, contained eight.

Qualified teams

Country Qualified as Date qualification was secured Previous appearances in tournament1
 Austria 00Co-hosts 0012 December 2002 01 (debut appearance)
  Switzerland 01Co-hosts 0112 December 2002 21 (1996, 2004)
 Poland 02Group A winners 0917 November 2007 00 (debut appearance)
 Portugal 03Group A runners-up 1421 November 2007 4 (1984, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Italy 04Group B winners 0617 November 2007 60 (1968, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 France 05Group B runners-up 0717 November 2007 61 (1960, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Greece 06Group C winners 0317 October 2007 23 (1980, 2004)
 Turkey 07Group C runners-up 1221 November 2007 22 (1996, 2000)
 Czech Republic 08Group D winners 0517 October 2007 62 (19602, 19762, 19802, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Germany 09Group D runners-up 0213 October 2007 9 (19723, 19763, 19803, 19843, 19883, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Croatia 10Group E winners 0817 November 2007 20 (1996, 2004)
 Russia 11Group E runners-up 1521 November 2007 8 (19604, 19644, 19684, 19724, 19884, 19925, 1996, 2004)
 Spain 12Group F winners 1117 November 2007 71 (1964, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004)
 Sweden 13Group F runners-up 1321 November 2007 30 (1992, 2000, 2004)
 Romania 14Group G winners 0417 October 2007 31 (1984, 1996, 2000)
 Netherlands 15Group G runners-up 1017 November 2007 70 (1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004)
Participating countries
1 Bold indicates champion for that year

Seeding

The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2007, beginning at 12:00 CET. The draw, which was held at Culture and Convention Centre in Lucerne, was conducted by the following people.[3]

In a return to the format used at Euro 92 and Euro 96 the games in each group will be held at just two stadia, with the seeded team remaining in the same city for all three matches. As was the case at the 2000 and 2004 finals, the finalists were divided into four seeding pots, based on average points per game in the qualifying phases of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008, with each group having one team from each pot. Switzerland and Austria, as co-hosts, and Greece, as defending champions, were seeded first automatically.[4][5] The Netherlands were seeded based on their UEFA coefficient in the Euro 2008 finalists ranking.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

Match officials

Twelve referees and twenty four assistants were selected for the tournament:[6]

There will be a further eight referees who will act as fourth officials:[7]

Warm-up matches

Group stage

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)

Euro 2008 wall chart

Group A

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Switzerland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Czech Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Portugal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Turkey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0





Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Austria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Croatia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Germany 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Poland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0





Group C

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Romania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0





Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Sweden 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Spain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Russia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0





Knockout stage

The knockout stage is different from that of past tournaments. Teams in groups A and B will be separated from teams in groups C and D until the final.

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
19 June - Basel
 
 
Winner Group A
 
25 June - Basel
 
Runner-up Group B
 
Winner of QF1
 
20 June - Vienna
 
Winner of QF2
 
Winner Group B
 
29 June - Vienna
 
Runner-up Group A
 
Winner of SF1
 
21 June - Basel
 
Winner of SF2
 
Winner Group C
 
26 June - Vienna
 
Runner-up Group D
 
Winner of QF3
 
22 June - Vienna
 
Winner of QF4
 
Winner Group D
 
 
Runner-up Group C
 

Quarter-finals

Winner of Group AvRunner-up of Group B

Winner of Group BvRunner-up of Group A

Winner of Group CvRunner-up of Group D

Winner of Group DvRunner-up of Group C

Semi-finals

Winner of Quarter-final 1vWinner of Quarter-final 2

Winner of Quarter-final 3vWinner of Quarter-final 4

Final

Winner of Semi-final 1vWinner of Semi-final 2

Match ball

The match ball for the finals was unveiled at the draw ceremony. Produced by Adidas and named the Europass, it is a 14-panel ball in the same construction as the Teamgeist, but with slightly modified surface structure.[8]

Slogan

The slogan for UEFA Euro 2008 was chosen on 24 January 2007: Expect Emotions.

The UEFA President Michel Platini stated "It describes in a nutshell what the UEFA Euro 2008 has to offer: all kinds of emotions — joy, disappointment, relief or high tension — right up to the final whistle."[9]

Mascots

File:Trix and Flix.jpg
Trix and Flix, the official mascots for the UEFA Euro 2008 competition

The two official mascots for UEFA Euro 2008, were named after a vote from the public of the two host nations, the options were:

  • Zagi and Zigi
  • Flitz and Bitz
  • Trix and Flix

After receiving 36.3% of the vote, Trix and Flix were chosen. "I am sure the mascots and their names will become a vital part of the understanding of the whole event," said Christian Mutschler, who is the tournament director for Switzerland.[10]

Prize money

UEFA announced that total of €184 million has been offered to the 16 teams competing in this tournament, increasing from €129 million in the previous tournament. The distributions as below:[11]

  • Participating fee: €7.5 million

Extra payment based on teams performances:

  • Group stage (a match):
    • Win: €1 million
    • Draw: €500,000
  • Quarterfinals: €2 million
  • Semifinals: €3 million
  • Runner-up: €4.5 million
  • Winner: €7.5 million

If the winner of tournament win all the three matches in the group stage, they will receive total prize of €23 million.

Broadcasting rights

Many of the worlds national broadcasters have secured broadcasting rights of the tournament, as of September 24, 2007.[12]

References

  1. ^ Zurich - Letzigrund Stadion
  2. ^ New trophy announced at UEFA site
  3. ^ "Draw sets up heavyweight contests". uefa.com. 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  4. ^ Format from UEFA Website
  5. ^ UEFA Euro 2008 Information
  6. ^ UEFA Euro 2008 referees
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ "adidas "EUROPASS" – the match ball with "goose bumps" for UEFA EURO 2008™". Lucerne/Herzogenaurach: adidas. 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-12-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Expect Emotions at Euro 2008
  10. ^ Official Mascot Naming
  11. ^ UEFA raises 2008 prize money
  12. ^ UEFA Euro 2008 Broadcasting Rights

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