Background	UEFA's Executive Committee awarded the European Championship 2008 final tournament to Austria/Switzerland on 12 December 2002.   The announcement was made by UEFA President Lennart Johansson at the Hotel Intercontinental in Geneva the day after final presentations supporting the seven bids were made at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.  Austria has never hosted a major football tournament; Switzerland staged the World Cup final tournament in 1954.   There were six other bids, four of them made jointly-- from Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece/Turkey, Hungary, Nordic 2008 (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), Russia, and Scotland/Republic of Ireland.  The 2008 tournament will be the second time the European Championship finals have been jointly hosted.  The Netherlands and Belgium staged the 2000 tournament. The 2008 tournament will begin on 7 June with the opening match at Sankt Jakob Stadium in Basel and end with the final match at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna on 29 June.  The preliminary qualifying competition will begin in 2006.  As host nations, Austria and Switzerland both qualify automatically for the final tournament and will not take part in qualification matches. The draw procedure had been announced on 19 January 2006 for the European Championship 2008 qualifying competition draw to take place in Montreux, Switzerland on 27 January at 12.00CET.  Fifty countries will go into the draw, with Austria and Switzerland qualifying automatically as co-hosts of the final round in three summers' time.  All 52 UEFA member associations have entered the competition.  The qualifying competition will consist of seven groups: 1 group of 8 teams (Group A) and 6 groups of 7 teams (Groups B-G).  Based on a league system on a home-and-away basis, to be played according to the international match calendar between September 2006 and November 2007.  The associations in a group have 90 days after the draw in which to agree on the order of their matches. If the associations in question are unable to reach agreement, the games will take place according to a standard fixture list drawn up by the UEFA administration.  The 7 winners and 7 runners-up of each group qualify for the final tournament. Allocation of teams to pots - The 50 teams are allocated into 7 pots. Pots 1-6 contain 7 teams, Pot 7 contains 8 teams.  The sides are classified on the basis of their results in the qualifying competitions for the 2004 UEFA European Championship and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.  The pots and their teams were: Pot 1:  1. Greece; 2. Netherlands; 3. Portugal; 4. England; 5. Czech Republic; 6. France; 7. Sweden. Pot 2:  8. Germany; 9. Croatia; 10. Italy; 11. Turkey; 12. Poland; 13. Spain; 14. Romania. Pot 3:  15. Serbia and Montenegro; 16. Russia; 17. Denmark; 18. Norway; 19. Bulgaria; 20. Ukraine; 21. Slovakia. Pot 4:  22. Bosnia-Herzegovina; 23. Republic of Ireland; 24. Belgium; 25. Latvia; 26. Israel; 27. Scotland; 28. Slovenia. Pot 5:  29. Hungary; 30. Finland; 31. Estonia; 32. Wales; 33. Lithuania; 34. Albania; 35. Iceland. Pot 6:  36. Georgia; 37. FYR Macedonia; 38. Belarus; 39. Armenia; 40. Northern Ireland; 41. Cyprus; 42. Moldova. Pot 7:  43. Liechtenstein; 44. Azerbaijan; 45. Andorra; 46. Malta; 47. Faroe Islands; 48. Kazakhstan; 49. Luxembourg; 50. San Marino. The draw starts with Pot 7 and ends with Pot 1 in order to ensure the strongest teams are drawn last. Each pot is entirely emptied before proceeding to the next pot.  A ball will first be drawn from Pot 7 to determine the team in the eighth position of Group A.  Then, a second ball will be drawn from Pot 7 to determine the team in the seventh position of Group B.  The third ball drawn from Pot 7 will determine the team in the seventh position of Group C.  The same procedure is repeated until the seventh position of Group G is filled. The last ball from Pot 7 will determine the side in the seventh position of Group A.   Then the 7 teams in Pot 6 are drawn into the sixth position of each group, starting with Group A and ending with Group G (in alphabetical order).   The same procedure applies to Pots 5-1 taking into consideration the respective positions within the respective groups.
European Championship 2008 Preliminary Groups	Group A Group B Group C Group D Group EA! A1 - Portugal B1 - Russia C1 - Italy D1 - France E1 - Netherlands A2 - Poland B2 - Slovakia C2 - Serbia D2 - Romania E2 - Sweden A3 - Serbia & Montenegro B3 - Republic of Ireland C3 - Northern Ireland D3 - Bosnia-Herzegovina E3 - Finland A4 - Belgium B4 - FYR Macedonia C4 - Slovenia D4 - Belarus E4 - Hungary A5 - Finland B5 - Armenia (drawn into Group A) C5 - Estonia D5 - Albania E5 - Moldova A6 - Armenia B6 - Andorra C6 - Faroe Islands D6 - Luxembourg E6 - San Marino A7 - Azerbaijan B6 - Andorra C6 - Faroe Islands D6 - Luxembourg E6 - San Marino A8 - Kazakhstan B6 - Andorra C6 - Faroe Islands D6 - Luxembourg E6 - San Marino Group F Group E Group H Group I   F1 - Croatia G1 - England H1 - Portugal I1 - Spain F2 - Greece G2 - Switzerland H2 - Denmark I2 - Czech Republic F3 - Israel G3 - Bulgaria H3 - Norway I3 - Scotland F4 - Latvia G4 - Wales H4 - Cyprus I4 - Lithuania F5 - Georgia G5 - Montenegro H5 - Iceland I5 - Liechtenstein F6 - Malta
Final Tournament Venues and Matches	31 matches will be played during Euro 2008, with Austria hosting 16 matches and Switzerland 15. Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna: 50,008 - opened 1931 and completely renovated. Tivoli Neu Stadion, Innsbruck: 30,600 - opened in the summer of 2000 with a capacity of 15,200 to be increased to 30,600 by 2004. Waidmannsdorf Stadion, Klagenfurt: 40,000 - scheduled for completion by  2004 with an increase of the original capacity of 30,757 to 40,000 planned after the success of the Euro 2008 bid. Stadion Salzburg, Salzburg: 32,700 - scheduled for completion in the spring of 2003 in the Wals-Siezenheim district on the outskirts of Salzburg. Stadion Wankdorf, Berne: 40,228 - scheduled  to open in 2005 and replacing the old Wankdorf, venue for the World Cup 1954 final match. Sankt Jakob Stadium, Basel: 30,132 - opened 15 March 2001 and replacing the old Sankt Jakob's Stadion, venue for several World Cup 1954 final tournament matches. Stade de Genève, Geneva: 30,502 - opened 16 March 2003 for a club match but to be officially inaugurated by a friendly match between Switzerland and Italy on 30 April 2003. Stadion Zürich, Zürich: 30,016 - scheduled for completion in 2006 and replacing the old Hardturn Stadion.  Group A - Bern and Geneva Group B - Basel and Zürich Group C - Innsbruck and Salzburg Group D - Klagenfurt and Vienna Quarter-finals - two in Vienna, two in Bern Semi-finals - Vienna and Bern Final - Vienna
New Trophy	The new UEFA European Championship trophy is 18 centimetres higher and two kilos heavier than the original designed by Arthus Bertrand in 1960 and named after Henri Delaunay, the former president of the French Football Federation. The upper part of the trophy is based on the original and is also made out of sterling silver. The new trophy, created by Asprey London, will also retain its historical name.

CG/PY