Euro 2008 will take place in Switzerland and Austria,
the second time the tournament has been co-hosted after Euro 2000 in The
Netherlands and Belgium.
Euro 2008 kick offs on June 7, 2008 at St Jakob Park Stadium in Basle,
Switzerland.
The final of Euro 2008 will be held at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna,
Austria on June 29.
The draw for the Euro 2008 finals is scheduled to take place in December
2007.
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition
of the men's national football teams governed by the UEFA. Held every
four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments,
it was originally called the European Nations Cup, changing to the name
European Football Championship in 1968. Specific championships are often
referred to in the form "Euro 2008" or whichever year is appropriate.
There is a UEFA Women's Championship inaugurated in 1984 and from 1997
held every four years, as well as a Men's Under-21 equivalent of the UEFA
European Championship tournament, taking place every two years.
The competition
Until 1976, only four teams qualified for the final tournament. From 1980
eight teams competed and in 1996 the tournament expanded again to the
current number of teams, 16. The competing teams are chosen by a series
of qualifying games: in 1960 and 1964 through home and away play-offs;
from 1968 through a combination of both qualifying groups and play-off
games. Until 1976, the host country was selected from the four finalists
after they were determined through qualifying. Since the expansion of
the final tournament starting from 1980, the host country, or countries,
have been chosen beforehand and qualify automatically. The defending champions
have never been granted an automatic place in the finals.
Trophy
The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European
Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first
General Secretary 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 in charge of making the trophy.[1]
Since the first tournament it has been awarded for the winning team to
keep for four years, until the next tournament. For the 2008 tournament,
the trophy was slightly remodelled making the trophy larger, as well as
minor cosmetic changes. The trophy was made 18 centimetres taller and
two kilograms heavier[2].
History
In 1956, the groundwork for a European national team competition was laid.
Two years later, in 1958, the first European Nations Cup began. The original
format of the competition saw the early rounds played in home and away
matches between the countries on a knockout basis. This continued until
the semi-finals, where the remainder of the competition was played in
the host country, chosen from the four semi-finalists.
Henri Delaunay was a footballing visionary.
(¿Getty Images)
The French Football Federation's Henri Delaunay came up
with the idea of a European championship in 1927. Given the immense efforts
that Delaunay had put into setting up a European national teams competition,
UEFA deemed it appropriate that the inaugural competition be hosted by
France. The trophy presented to the competition winner still bears his
name.
The first final was held in Paris and saw the Soviet Union defeat Yugoslavia,
after extra time, and be first to have their name engraved onto the trophy.
The 1964 competition was the first European Nations Cup to be affected
by politics as it saw Greece refusing to play Albania as they were technically
(though not officially) at war. The finals were hosted by Spain, and they
saw the hosts beat the Soviet Union 2-1 in Madrid.
The European Nations Cup changed its name to the UEFA European Football
Championship for 1968 and also a new format was introduced. Eight groups
of seeded teams played each other twice and the top side of each group
proceeded to two-legged quarter finals. The semi-finals and final were
played in the host country of Italy who won the competition after a 2-0
replay of the final, having drawn 1-1 in the first against Yugoslavia.
In the 1972 tournament, the same structure was retained, with Belgium
being the host of the finals. West Germany won the competition, beating
the Soviet Union 3-0 in the final. The 1976 final round was hosted by
Yugoslavia. In the final, Czechoslovakia squandered a two-goal lead before
penalties were needed. When Uli Hoeness missed, it allowed Antonin Panenka
to chip into the space vacated by Sepp Maier's anticipatory dive for a
Czechoslovakian victory.
In 1980 UEFA introduced a new format, which saw eight teams
go to the finals instead of four, and then play each other in two groups
of four teams; the winner of each group then proceeded to the final. West
Germany faced Belgium in the final, which they won 2-1 after two goals
from Horst Hrubesch. However the newer format was not retained in 1984,
and a different format was used, again employing group stages, but this
time in place of only the quarter-finals. The top two teams from each
of the two groups progressed to the semi-finals. The competition was held
in France for the second time. The hosts won 2-0 in Paris against Spain
with goals from Michel Platini and Bruno Bellone.
The 1988 competition was held in West Germany, while the format from the
1984 competition was retained. Marco Van Basten led the Netherlands, scoring
what was later voted the best goal ever in the competition[3].
The 1992 competition was held in Sweden during a time of European political
change, a united Germany was represented and as a result of the break
up of the Soviet Union, a Commonwealth of Independent States of the former
Soviet Union. Yugoslavia made it to the finals but were excluded as a
result of hostilities in their country, Denmark replaced them. Surprisingly,
the Danes went on to win the competition after a 2-0 victory over world
champions Germany in the final.
With the break up of the Soviet Union all of the former Soviet bloc countries
were required to enter separately. Now that there were more teams, a format
that accommodated this was required. With 48 teams entering the competition,
and after the enlargement of the World Cup which had more European sides
qualifying for it than the European Championships themselves, 16 teams
travelled to the finals in England. The teams were put into 4 groups,
the winner and runner up of each group progressed to a new round of quarter-finals.
The semi-finals and final remained the same. The Germans won in the final
over underdogs Czech Republic with a golden goal.
Belgium and the Netherlands became the first countries to jointly host
the event in 2000. France won, again the final was decided by golden goal,
David Trezeguet was the scorer. In 2004 the event was held in Portugal,
with the silver goal rule being used for the first time. The rule saw
Greece beat the Czech Republic in the semi-finals. Underdogs Greece went
on to win the competition, when they had been put at pre-tournament odds
of 100 to 1. The next tournament will be co-hosted by Switzerland and
Austria in 2008.
Notes [1] – Michael Harold,
'You won't find a superior trophy', UEFA.com, January 27, 2006 [2] – New trophy
for UEFA EURO 2008, UEFA.com, January 23, 2007 [3] – "UEFA
Euro 2004 Final Match Day Publication", UEFA, July 4th 2006, pp.
59.
Future
A recent innovation has allowed countries to act as joint hosts. Belgium
and the Netherlands were the first countries to co-host the competition
in 2000. In the 2008 tournament Austria and Switzerland will co-host the
event, held from 7 to 29 of June, 2008. Many also talk about an expansion
of the tournament grid to 24 teams, due to the increasing number of FAs
in Europe after the Yugoslavia and USSR breakups.
The Henri Delaunay trophy is to be replaced
with a new version. (¿Action Images)
Selection of the host country or countries for the 2012
competition is currently in progress. The host will be chosen in December
2006 from a shortlist including Italy and joint bids from Poland/Ukraine
and Croatia/Hungary.
Format
Qualifying
In order to qualify a team must be winners or runners-up in one of the
seven qualifying groups. After this a team proceeds to the finals round
in the host country, although hosts qualify for the tournament automatically.
The qualifying phase begins in the autumn after the preceding FIFA World
Cup, almost two years before the finals.
The groups for qualification are drawn by a UEFA committee using seeding,
seeded teams include reigning champions, and other teams on the basis
of their performance in the preceding FIFA World Cup qualifying, and the
last European Football Championship qualifying. To obtain an accurate
view of the teams abilities, a ranking is produced, this is calculated
by taking the total number of points won by a particular team, and dividing
it by the number of games played, i.e., points per game, in the case of
a team having hosted one of the two previous competitions, and therefore
having qualified automatically, only the results from the single most
recent qualifying competition are used. If two teams have equal points
per game, the committee then bases their positions in the rankings on;
1. Coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying
competition.
2. Average goal difference.
3. Average number of goals scored.
4. Average number of away goals scored.
5. Drawing of lots.
The qualifying phase is played in a group format, the composition of the
groups is determined through means of a draw of teams from pre-defined
seeded bowls. The draw takes place after the preceding World Cup's qualifying
competition. For the 2008 European Football Championship, the group qualifying
phase consists of seven groups, one of eight teams, and the remainder
of seven teams each.
The qualifying phase is done in groups, each effectively a mini league,
where the highest ranked team, after all the teams have played each other
home and away, progresses to the finals tournament, as with most leagues,
the points are dealt as three for a win, one for a draw, and none for
a loss. In the eventuality of one or more teams having equal points after
all matches have been played, the following criteria is used to distinguish
the sides;
1. Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among
the teams in question.
2. Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the
teams in question.
3. Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among
the teams in question.
4. Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches
played among the teams in question.
5. Results of all group matches:
1. Superior goal difference
2. Higher number of goals scored
3. Higher number of goals scored away from home
4. Fair play conduct.
6. Drawing of lots.
Final tournament
Sixteen teams progress to the final tournament, for the 2008 tournament
they will be the winners and runners up of the seven qualifying groups,
and joint hosts Austria and Switzerland. These sixteen teams are divided
equally into four groups, A, B, C and D, each consisting of four teams.
The groups are drawn up by the UEFA administration, again using seeding.
The seeded teams being the host nations, the reigning champions, subject
to qualification, and those with the best points per game coefficients
over the qualifying phase of the tournament and the previous World Cup
qualifying. Other finalists will be assigned to by means of a draw, using
coefficients as a basis.
The four groups are again played in a league format, where a team plays
its opponents once each. The same points system is used (three points
for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a defeat). A schedule for
the group matches will be drawn up, but the last two matches in a group
must kick off simultaneously. The winner and runner-up of each group progresses
to the quarter-finals, where a knockout system is used (the two teams
play each other once, the winner progresses), this is used in all subsequent
rounds as well. The winners of the quarter-finals matches progress to
the semi-finals, where the winners play in the final. If in any of the
knockout rounds after normal playing time, the scores are still equal,
extra time and penalties are employed to separate the two teams.
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