
History:
The European soccer championship football is the most important football competition of the men of the national football teams governed by UEFA. Held every four years since 1960, in the even numbered years between World Cup tournaments, it was originally the name of the European Nations Cup, to change name to the European soccer championship in 1968. Specific championships are often mentioned in the form of “Euro 2008″ or any year is appropriate.
The Henri Delaunay trophy, awarded to the winner of the European soccer championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first Secretary-General of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre Delaunay was the person charged with making the trophy. Since the first tournament was awarded to the winning team to hold for four years until the next tournament.
For the 2008 tournament, the trophy was slightly renovated making it larger. The European football championship 2008, commonly known as Euro 2008, will take place in Austria and Switzerland from June 7 to June 29, 2008. It is the second successful joint bid in the competition’s history, following the UEFA Euro 2000, organized by Belgium and the Netherlands. The 2012 competition from Poland and Ukraine is scheduled for the third jointly organized tournament.
A total of 16 teams will participate in the tournament. Austria and Switzerland are automatically qualified as hosts, while the remaining 14 teams are determined through qualifying, which in August 2006. Austria and Poland will make their first appearance in the tournament. The winner of the UEFA Euro 2008 will at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, unless Italy wins the tournament, in which case the runner-up will be introduced, such as Italy have already been registered as winners of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Venues:
Switzerland will play all its group-stage matches in Basel, and Austria will play all its group-stage matches in Vienna.
In 2004, the Zurich place was a problem for the organizers. Originally, the Hardturm stadium was renovated and used as the city instead, delay, but legal challenges of the plan to a point that would not have allowed the area to be used in 2008. This created a problem, as the agreement between UEFA and the organizers determined that the four sites would be used in each country. The problem was solved when the organizers proposed renovation Letzigrund place, UEFA approved the revised plan in January 2005. The Letzigrund stadium hosted their first match on 23 September 2007.
Here are list of venues:
- Vienna- Ernst Happel Stadion
- Klagenfurt- Hypo-Arena
- Salzburg-Wals Siezenheim Stadion
- Innsbruck-Tivoli Neu
- Basel- St. Jakob-Park
- Berne- Stade de Suisse
- Geneva- Stade de Genève
- Zurich- Letzigrund
Qualified teams:
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Poland
- Portugal
- Italy
- France
- Greece
- Turkey
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Croatia
- Russia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Romania
- Netherlands
Groups:
Group: A
- Switzerland
- Czech Republic
- Portugal
- Turkey
Group: B
- Austria
- Croatia
- Germany
- Poland
Group-C
- Netherlands
- Italy
- Romania
- France
Group-D
- Greece
- Sweden
- Spain
- Russia
The game ball for the finals was unveiled during the ceremony. Produced by Adidas and the name of the Europass, it is a 14-panel ball in the same building as the Teamgeist, but with a revised draft surface. A version called the Europass Gloria will be used in the final.
The slogan for the UEFA Euro 2008 was elected on January 24, 2007: Expected Emotions.
The UEFA president Michel Platini said: “It describes in a nutshell what the UEFA Euro 2008 has to offer: all kinds of emotions joy, disappointment, relief or high voltage until the final whistle.”
The two official mascots for UEFA Euro 2008, were appointed after a vote of the public of the two host countries, the options were:
- Zagi and Zigi
- Flitz and Bitz
- Trix and Flix
After receiving 36.3% of the votes, Trix and Flix were chosen. “I am sure the mascots and their names will become an essential component of the concept of the whole event,” said Christian Mutschler, who was tournament director for Switzerland.
Prize money:
UEFA announced that a total of €184 million has been offered to the 16 teams competing in this tournament, increasing €129 million in the previous tournament. The distributions, as indicated below:
- Participating fee: €7.5 million
Extra payment based on teams performances:
- Group stage (per match):
- Win: €1 million
- Draw: €500,000
- Quarter-finals: €2 million
- Semi-finals: €3 million
- Runner-up: €4.5 million
- Winner: €7.5 million
If the winner of the tournament wins all three matches in the group stage, they will receive a total prize of €23 million.