The Euro 2008 Football Championships: Austria And Switzerland [Vienna]

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has been organizing European Football Championship continuously since 1960. The UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as European Football Championship or Euro Cup, is men’s football competition held after every four years. It is counted the second chief game among nations beside the FIFA World Cup

The first UEFA European Football Championship or Euro 1960 was hosted by France, and the Euro 2004 was hosted by Portugal. The next championship is scheduled for 2008. The ‘Euro 2008,’ officially referred to as 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, will be co-hosed by Austria and Switzerland. The championship will be played from 7 June to 29 June 2008.

Total 16 teams will take part in the competition. Austria and Switzerland will automatically be eligible as hosts. This is the first time when Austria will be making its first appearance in the competition. The rest 14 teams will be decided through qualifying matches started in August 2006.

The Euro 2008 matches will be played at several cities of the hosting countries. The Euro 2008 matches will be played at the cities of Innsbruck (Tivoli-Neu Stadion), Klagenfurt (Wörthersee Stadion), Salzburg (Wals Siezenheim Stadium), Vienna (Ernst Happel Stadion) in Austria, and at the cities of Basel (St. Jakob-Park), Berne (Stade de Suisse Wankdorf), Geneva (Stade de Genève), and Zürich (Letzigrund Stadion) in Switzerland.

The St. Jakob-Park in Basel will host the opening match of the championship, two group stage matches, two Quarter-Finals and one Semi-Final. BSC Young Boys' Stade de Suisse in Wankdorf, Bern will host three group stage matches, the same as Servette FC's Geneva Stadium and FC Zürich's Letzigrund Stadion.

The Tivoli-Neu Stadion in Innsbruck will host three group stage matches, the same as FC Karnten’s Worthersee Stadion and Salzburg’s Wals Sievenheim Stadion, while three group stage matches, two quarter-finals and one semi-final will be hosted at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadion.

The first semifinal will be played on 25 June in Basel (St. Jakob-Park) in Switzerland. The second semifinal will be played on 25 June 2008 in Vienna (Ernst Happel Stadion) in Austria. The final will be played at Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna, Austria on 29 June 2008.

The teams who desire to be a part of the UEFA European Football Championship tournament will be going through a group-type exclusion phase. The teams will be parted into seven different groups – six groups will have seven opposing teams whereas one group will have eight competitors.

After playing in their elected clusters, all the groups will be given ranks as per to the points gained in the qualifying phase. The top-level teams form the qualifying stage in addition to the host country’s team will become the 16 teams to play in the tournament proper. The 16 teams will be parted into four different groups, and the top two teams of every group will act in the knock-out style quarter finals. The four remaining teams play in the knock-out style semi-finals and, finally, the two prevailing teams will battle it out for the championship.

The official logo for EURO 2008 was designed by the British firm, English & Pockett, and was launched in Vienna on June 7, 2005. The logo evokes Switzerland and Austria’s mountain scenery and also bears the red and white colors common to both countries’ national flags.

Orson Johnson writes for Holiday Velvet, a website providing listings for Vienna Euro 2008 accommodation, villas, hotels and Luxury apartments in Vienna