2008 European Football Championship: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The 2008 European Football Championship (EURO 2008) will take place in Austria and Switzerland. The decision was made by UEFA on 12 December, 2002.

Austria and Switzerland will automatically qualify as hosts. The remaining 14 teams will be determined in a qualifying tournament that will start in 2006.

Austria and Switzerland beat off competition from seven other bids to host the championships. The competing bids were:

• Scotland and Ireland
• Nordic Four Bid (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway).
• Hungary
• Greece and Turkey
• Bosnia and Croatia
• Russia

Venues

• Basel / St.Jakob-Park / First match, 2 group matches, 2 quarter-final-matches, 1 semi-final-match
• Bern / Wankdorfstadion / 3 group matches
• Geneva / Stade de Géneve / 3 group matches
• Zürich / Zürich-Stadion (maybe) / 3 group matches
• Innsbruck / Tivoli-Neu Stadion / 3 group matches
• Klagenfurt / Waidmannsdorf-Neu Stadion / 3 group matches
• Salzburg / Salzburg-Stadion / 3 group matches
• Vienna / Ernst-Happel-Stadion / 3 group matches, 2 quarter-final-matches, 1 semi-final-match and final