Click Here To Read More About “Kevin Kuranyi will be at Euro 2008.”

Leo Beenhakker announced today, 16.04.2007, an extended Poland team for Euro 2008. This is the initial list containing 31 Poland players:
Click Here To Read More About “Poland’s Squad For Euro 2008 [First Draft].”

Spain coach Aragones says he will keep coaching after Euro 2008 despite his age.
Click Here To Read More About “Spain coach Aragones says he will keep coaching after Euro 2008.”

Get for free Uefa Euro 2008 PC game and Euro 2008 Wall Chart.

1. Get your copy of UEFA Euro 2008 PC game for free. Via (gigawarez.com)

2. Get Your Free Euro 2008 Wall Chart from worldcupblog.org

Czech Republic coach Karel Bruckner will retire from soccer after this year’s European Championship. The 68-year-old Bruckner said he will end his coaching career after the tournament, which his team begins with a first-round group containing Switzerland, Turkey and Portugal.

“I’ve decided to retire after the championship. Thirty four years of coaching are 34 years. That was enough” Bruckner said Thursday while announcing his squad for a friendly at Denmark next week.
Click Here To Read More About “Karel Bruckner announced his retirement after the champs.”

Three breweries in Upper Austria’s Mühlviertel are preparing to quench fans’ thirst in the run-up to and during Euro 2008 this June in a special way. The breweries Stift Schägl, Braucommune Freistadt and Hofstetten will offer cartons of beer in 16 0.33 liter bottles, each of which will have the flag of a different Euro 2008 team on its label.

The breweries will present the new offering at the Mühlviertel Beer Festival on April 11-12 in Freistadt. The beer will have an alcohol content of 5% and a “light but rich” taste. The breweries have been cooperating for some ten years.

Southampton striker Marek Saganowski fears he won’t go to Austria after not being elected amongst the 30-man squad for the forthcoming friendly against USA on 26 March. Poland’s coach, Leo Beenhakker omitted the 29 year old despite playing him 4 times in the qualifying matches.

“Now I know what my situation is and I can safely book holidays in June,”Saganowski told Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

“It looks like I do not match the expectations of the coach. There still are two months until the start of the training camp for the Euro 2008 but I am losing hope.”

“I will try to convince the coach that I can be useful but I will probably not travel to the final tournament. I am neither surprised nor disappointed.” Click Here To Read More About “Saganowski fears he won’t make the Euro 2008 squad.”

The Portuguese defender Jorge Andrade had surgery on his left knee on Thursday and is likely to miss the European Championship finals.The operation was performed by a Portuguese medical team headed by Antonio Martins and attended by the Juventus Torino’s doctor.

It gave no indication of how long it would take the 29-year-old to recover but said the Juventus defender will be out of Euro 2008, co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria from June 7-29. The centre-back, who joined Juventus from Deportivo Coruna this season also missed the 2006 World Cup in Germany after knee surgery.

France winger Franck Ribery wants to play like Zidane and win the Ballon D’or. Leading France to victory this summer would go some way to helping him toward those goals. I, for one, am a big, big fan of the player. In the post-Zidane era, he has just about looked like France’s best player. Reports coming out of Germany have it that he’s just about the best player in the Budesliga. With Ribery in his best form, France will be very imposing in at least one of the 11 positions.

Another no-brainer for Domenech has to be Karim Benzema. Bernard Laporte metioned Benzema in his recent quotes. Laporte was also talking about Ribery’s comments that he didn’t fancy playing in France again. Laporte is far from alone in his interest in Benzema. The player is of the highest quality, and should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ribery leading France to glory this summer.
Click Here To Read More About “Watch out for Ribery!.”

The 28-year-old Werder Bremen forward has been included in his country’s squad to face Scotland next month. Klasnic who had a successful kidney transplant operation in March last year returned to Bundesliga football last November and proved his fitness for top-flight action with two goals in Bremen’s 5-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in December.

Croatia’s star striker Eduardo has been sidelined for nine months after suffering a horrific leg injury playing for Arsenal in a Premier League game against Birmingham last month.Klasnic has not represented his country since October 2006 and was delighted to receive his call-up for the March 26 friendly, which strengthens his chances of playing in June’s Euro 2008 tournament.

“This is a fantastic acknowledgement for me“, he said on the Bremen Web site. “A return to football, and then to the national team, has always been my target during this difficult phase in my life.”
Click Here To Read More About “Good news for Croatia! Klasnic is back!!!.”

   Analysts at Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS are predicting that the Czech Republic will win the Euro 2008 Football Championships. They are basing this on financial models that correctly tipped Italy to win the World Cup.

Dr Daniel Kalt, head of economic research at UBS wealth management research and one of the authors of the report says:

“We used the ranking of the national teams, not the official FIFA ranking, but another better suited one called ELO ranking, how many times a a team has qualified, how many times they reached the semis, the home team advantage and another series of factors that contributed to this outcome”

While the Czech fans are enthusiastic about the prediction, many people seem reluctant as UBS also says Switzerland will beat Germany to reach the semifinals.

Franz Beckenbauer, who coached Germany to the 1990 World Cup title and won the 1974 title as a player said the Germany squad needs to improve in order to succeed in their Euro campaign.

“They have to reach form now to play at the level they were at during the 2006 World Cup and the following months.” The German team managed to reach the semifinals of the World Cup and coasted past the preliminaries but failed to impress in the late friendlies.

Beckenbauer hopes the Germans make a good game in the upcoming friendly (March 26th) against Euro co-host Switzerland in their road towards winning their fourth European Championship.
Click Here To Read More About “Beckenbauer speaks about Germany’s chances.”

Interviewed by the Spanish sports paper Don Balon Roberto Donadoni, Italy coach, talked about the players he is considering for his Euro 2008 squad and revealed that the door is open for every player who deserves to come along.

So even Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano, who were both excluded in the most recent matches, should not feel left out already.

“Everyone still has a chance, so they [Del Piero and Cassano] do as well“, said Donadoni. “It depends only on them. I assure you that if until the Euros a player plays frequently and trains with his team, the door of the national team is open.”
Click Here To Read More About “Hope for Del Piero and Cassano.”

Finally UEFA managed to finish the official site for Euro 2008.

You can find it by typing in your browser navigation bar: http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/index.html or http://www.euro2008.com.

I don’t understand why euro2008.com redirects to euro2008.uefa.com. I mean UEFA bought euro2008.com and they use a subdomain on the official site (Uefa.com) as the official site for UEFA Euro 2008. Come on!

Nevertheless, 92 days remain until the start of European Football Championship.

If you want to stay in touch with the latest news about Euro 2008 then please consider subscribing to my full feed RSS.

Tivoli-Neu Stadium Information

Name: Tivoli-Neu
Inauguration:2000
Capacity: 30,000

Club Information:

Club: FC Wacker Tirol
Inauguration: June 2002

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 7 – Spain - Russia Tue. 10th June 18:00

Match 15 – Sweden - Spain, Sat 14th June 18:00

Match 24 – Russia - Sweden, Wed 18th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Tivoli-Neu Stadium - Innsbruck.”

Wals Siezenheim Stadium Information

Name: Wals-Siezenheim
Inauguration:March 2003
Capacity: 30,000

Club Information:

Club: Red Bull Salzburg
Inauguration: September 13, 1933

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 8 – Greece - Sweden Tue. 10th June 20:45

Match 16 – Greece - Russia, Sat 14th June 20:45

Match 23 – Greece - Spain, Wed 18th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Wals Siezenheim Stadium - Salzburg.”

Hypo-Arena Stadium Information

Name: Hypo-Arena (built on the grounds of the former Worthersee Stadium)
Inauguration:September 7th 2007
First match: Austria - Japan
Capacity: 32,000

Club Information:

Club: SK Austria Karnten
Inauguration: 2007

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 4 – Germany - Poland Sun. 8th June 20:45

Match 11 – Croatia - Germany, Tue 12th June 18:00

Match 19 – Poland - Croatia, Mon 16th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Hypo-Arena - Klagenfurt.”

Letzigrund Stadium Information

Name: Letzigrund
Inauguration:February 22nd 1925 ( opened after renovation August 30th 2007 )
First match: Servette FC - Young Boys Berne
Capacity: 30,000

Club Information:

Club: FC Zurich
Inauguration: 1896

Performances:

- won the Swiss Super League 11 times ( last time in 2007 )

- won the Schweizer Cup 7 times

- reached the European Champions Cup semifinals twice in 1964 and 1977

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 5 – Romania - France Mon. 9th June 18:00

Match 13 – Italy - Romania, Wed 13th June 18:00

Match 22 – France - Italy, Tue 17th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Letzigrund Stadium - Zurich.”

Stade de Suisse Stadium Information

Name: Stade de Suisse Wankdorf ( built on the grounds of the former Wankdorf Stadium, which had been demolished in 2001)
Inauguration: July 30th 2005
First match: Young Boys Berne - Olympique Marseille
Capacity: 32,000

Club Information:

Club: BSC Young Boys
Inauguration: 1896
Performances:

- won the Swiss Super League 11 times ( last time in 1986 )

- won the Schweizer Cup 6 times

- reached the 1959 European Cup semi-final against Stade Reims( the highest performence of the Swiss football yet )

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 6 – Netherlands - Italy Mon. 9th June 20:45

Match 14 – Netherlands - France, Fri 13th June 20:45

Match 21 – Netherlands - Romania, Sun 17th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Stade de Suisse Wankdorf - Berne.”

Stade de Geneve Stadium Information

Name: Stade de Geneve ( completed in 2003 after nearly 3 years of construction )
Inauguration:March 16th 2003
First match: Servette FC - Young Boys Berne
Capacity: 30,084

Club Information:

Club: Servette FC
Inauguration: 1890

Performances:

- won the Swiss Super League 17 times ( last time in 1999 )

- won the Schweizer Cup 7 times

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 2 – Portugal - Turkey Sat. 7th June 20:45

Match 9 – Czech Republic - Portugal, Wed 11th June 18:00

Match 18 – Turkey - Czech Republic, Sun 15th June 20:45

Click Here To Read More About “Stade de Geneve.”

Euro 2008 Fixtures 07-29 June 2008

Euro 2008 Group Stage - Match Schedule

1 07/06 A Switzerland 18:00 Czech Republic Basel St. Jakob-Park
2 07/06 A Portugal 20:45 Turkey Geneva Stade de Geneve
3 08/06 B Austria 18:00 Croatia Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion
4 08/06 B Germany 20:45 Poland KlagenfurtHypo-Arena
5 09/06 C Romania 18:00 France Zurich Letzigrund
6 09/06 C Netherlands 20:45 Italy BerneStade de Suisse
7 10/06 D Spain 18:00 Russia InnsbruckTivoli-Neu
8 10/06 D Greece 20:45 Sweden SalzburgWals Siezenheim
9 11/06 A Czech Republic 18:00 Portugal Geneva Stade de Geneve
10 11/06 A Switzerland 20:45 Turkey Basel St. Jakob-Park
11 12/06 B Croatia 18:00 Germany Klagenfurt Hypo-Arena
12 12/06 B Austria 20:45 Poland Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion
13 13/06 C Italy 18:00 Romania ZurichLetzigrund
14 13/06 C Netherlands 20:45 France BerneStade de Suisse
15 14/06 D Sweden 18:00 Spain InnsbruckTivoli-Neu
16 14/06 D Greece 20:45 Russia SalzburgWals Siezenheim
17 15/06 A Switzerland 20:45 Portugal Basel St. Jakob-Park
18 15/06 A Turkey 20:45 Czech Republic Geneva Stade de Geneve
19 16/06 B Poland 20:45 Croatia KlagenfurtHypo-Arena
20 16/06 B Austria 20:45 Germany Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion
21 17/06 C Netherlands 20:45 Romania BerneStade de Suisse
22 17/06 C France 20:45 Italy ZurichLetzigrund
23 18/06 D Greece 20:45 Spain SalzburgWals Siezenheim
24 18/06 D Russia 20:45 Sweden InnsbruckTivoli-Neu

Euro 2008 QuarterFinal - Match Schedule

25 19/06 QF 1 Winner A 20:45 Runner-up B Basel St. Jakob-Park
26 20/06 QF 2 Winner B 20:45 Runner-up A Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion
27 21/06 QF 3 Winner C 20:45 Runner-up D Basel St. Jakob-Park
28 22/06 QF 4 Winner D 20:45 Runner-up C Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion

Euro 2008 SemiFinal - Match Schedule

29 25/06 SF 1 Winner #25 20:45 Winner #26 Basel St. Jakob-Park
30 26/06 SF 2 Winner #27 20:45 Winner #28 Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion

Euro 2008 Final - Match Schedule

31 29/06 Final Winner #29 20:45 Winner #30 Vienna Ernst Happel Stadion

Ernst Happel Stadium Information

Name: Ernst Happel Stadion (before 1986: Prater Stadion)
Inauguration: 11th July 1931
Renovations: 1986
Capacity: 53,008 seats

Directions

Bus: Line 80a
Tram: No. 21

Match schedule at Euro 2008:

Match 3 - Austria - Croatia, Sun 8th June 18:00
Match 12 - Austria - Poland, Thu 12th June 20:45
Match 20 - Austria - Germany, Mon 16th June 20:45
Match 26 - Quarterfinal 2, Winner B – Runner-up A, Fri 20th June 20:45
Match 28 - Quarterfinal 4, Winner D – Runner-up C, Sun 22nd June 20:45
Match 30 - Semifinal 2, Winner #27 – Winner #28, Thu 26th June 20:45
Match 31 - Final, Winner #29 – Winner 30, Sun 29th June 20:45
Click Here To Read More About “Ernst Happel Stadion – Vienna.”

On December the 2nd the final draw for Euro 2008 took place in Lucerne, gathering Europe’s finest football breath. The 16 qualified teams were divided into 4 pots, the first group, the seeded teams’ one, including the two hosts, Switzerland and Austria, the last Champions, Greece, and the Netherlands. At the and of the draw session, the four groups were decided:

Now all 16 teams can make their schedule intro a good plan for the final tournament. The draws placed the last World Cup finalists, Italy and France, the Netherlands and Romania into a group of death, were all can happen. Greece, Spain and Russia all met four years ago in Portugal, so they’ll play again against each other, along Sweden. An interesting group is Group B, where we have three historical rivals, Austria, Germany and Poland, and the strong Croatians. In Group A, Portugal and the Czech Republic will try to prove their superiority, but they’ll have hard work to do against the Swiss hosts and the Turks.

With only few days left before the draw for Euro 2008, let’s make a quick review of all 16 competitors, which will offer us an unforgettable show next year. Here are the 16 teams, divided in 4 pots:

Click Here To Read More About “Euro 2008 Qualified Teams.”

The Kick Off

196 days until the first whistle of European Championships 2008 is blown. But ‘til we’ll get to eat some Swiss emmental or Austrian sausages watching these unforgettable matches, there are lots of things to be done, concerning the last qualifying stages for the final tournament and its self organization. Anyway, the only thing that remains to us is dream we’ll be there. From the 7th to the 29th of June there will only be time to celebrate.

Within the opening match on June, the 7th, alongside 5 other matches, including a semifinal among them, Basel will be the main venue of the displaying events in Switzerland. Therefore the organizers chose a claim for showing the involvement of the city and the whole region for a good organization of the final tournament: “Basel. Beyond the 90 minutes”.

But what do we know at this point about the starting point of Euro 2008? Well, here’s some useful data which will certainly help us in better knowing our future summer hosts.

Click Here To Read More About “St. Jakob Park – Basel.”