This year is the year of two great sports events, The Olympic Games in Shanghai that starts in August, and European Football Championship that starts today.
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European Football Championship EURO 2008 takes place from June 7 to June 29. This year the hosts are Switzerland and Austria that will host 16 football teams.
The European Football Championship takes place from 1960, and it holds every four years. In the beginning the Championship carried the name European Nation's Cup. The name changed in UEFA European Championship in 1968 and that same year UEFA changed the rules replacing knock-out preliminaries with qualifying rounds. Today, all countries must pass qualification rounds, that started two years ago, to enter the European Football Championship finals.
There were 10 winning teams in the last 48 years. At the first Championship in France, 1960, in the match between former Soviet Union and former republic Yugoslavia, Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2:1. An interesting fact is that in 1960 the Championship was almost cancelled because lots of countries was late with their registrations. Germany is the only triple winner: It won the championship 1972, 1996 and 1980. France has two wins. It won 1984, and 2000. Czech Republic won 1976, Netherlands 1988, Denmark won the championship 1992.
Football is the game of knowledge and skills, as any other sports. But, sometimes a bit of luck can change the future. Because of the war in former Yugoslavia its team was thrown out from the Championship 1992, and instead of it Denmark is invited, although it failed in the qualifications. That year on European Football Championship 1992 in Sweden Denmark beat Germany 2:0 and to this days Denmark is the only country that got the invitation and won in the finals.
Over the years more and more teams participated in the competition. At the beginning, four national teams were in the finals, and the number is expanded in 1980 to eight teams. In 1996 there were 16 of them, while 48 teams plays in qualifying rounds. The largest numbers of game lovers attended the qualifier between England and Scotland: At Hampden Park for the 1968 competition 130,711 spectators were there.
Although politics shouldn't mess with any sport event, the year of 1960 will be remembered by withdrawing the Spanish team. Spanish government, the right-wing party at that time, didn't want their team to play against the communist Soviet Union. Some will say that politics was just an excuse because Russians were very strong team and their game was impressive.
This year's competition will be broadcasted in 180 countries worldwide. UEFA Euro 2004 collected 8 billion viewers that followed competition on TV, and it is safe to say that number will be exceeded this year. The official web site expect four times more visitors that four years ago, and some 100 million visitors from all around the world. For the organisation of the championship Switzerland and Austria spent 234 million euros. UEFA made available 1,050,000 tickets for the fans on the stadiums.
For 10 days more than 67 000 fans in Switzerland and Austria voted on what the EURO 2008 mascots should be called. The names Trix and Flix won with 36,3 percent of the votes, followed with Flitz and Bitz, and Zagi and Zigi on the third place. How strong rivals the winners had!
Switzerland and Austria will welcome 800 players and coaches, 4800 radio and TV personnel, 2800 print media journalists, 900 photographers, 900 staff responsible for TV production, 5000 volunteers...
The European Football Championship EURO 2004 saw several surprises. The title holder France was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Greece that was thought to be the team of outsiders, the very strong German, Italian and Spanish national football teams where knock-out during the firs round, and Portugal beat Spain, the Netherlands and England on its way to the final. It was the first time that the same teams played the opening match and the final one. Greece was the winner both times.
There are lot of theories who is the strongest team this year. Some would bet on Czech Republic, some on Germany, some on Croatia. After full day of thinking, our theory predicts that from Group A Portugal and Czech Republic will go in the second round, from Group B Croatia and Germany, from Group C Italy and France, and from Group D Spain and Russia. Be the part of football madness, spend the time with us, predict the winner or comment the game. Let the best team win! ■
There were 10 winning teams in the last 48 years. At the first Championship in France, 1960, in the match between former Soviet Union and former republic Yugoslavia, Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 2:1. An interesting fact is that in 1960 the Championship was almost cancelled because lots of countries was late with their registrations. Germany is the only triple winner: It won the championship 1972, 1996 and 1980. France has two wins. It won 1984, and 2000. Czech Republic won 1976, Netherlands 1988, Denmark won the championship 1992. 
Over the years more and more teams participated in the competition. At the beginning, four national teams were in the finals, and the number is expanded in 1980 to eight teams. In 1996 there were 16 of them, while 48 teams plays in qualifying rounds. The largest numbers of game lovers attended the qualifier between England and Scotland: At Hampden Park for the 1968 competition 130,711 spectators were there.
For 10 days more than 67 000 fans in Switzerland and Austria voted on what the EURO 2008 mascots should be called. The names Trix and Flix won with 36,3 percent of the votes, followed with Flitz and Bitz, and Zagi and Zigi on the third place. How strong rivals the winners had!