UEFA Euro 2008: World-Class Football in Salzburg

The football stadion of Salzburg was modernised just for the UEFA EURO 2008.

The European football championship Euro 2008 was hosted by Austria and Switzerland. Individual football matches of the Euro 2008 did take place between the 7th and the 29th of June in eight different cities: Vienna, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Basel, Zurich, Bern Geneva and - Salzburg. It was rather unusual that two countries hosted a European football championship together - the only other time such a thing happened was in 2002, when the Netherlands and Belgium were the hosts.

It was the 13th European championship of UEFA and included a total of 31 matches between 16 teams from all over Europe. Salzburg′s fairly new stadium served as a stage to three of the Euro 2008 matches.

UEFA Euro 2008: The Salzburg Matches

Tuesday, 10th of June 2008: Greece versus Sweden (Match 8)
Saturday, 14th of June 2008: Greece versus Russia (Match 16)
Wednesday, 18th of June 2008: Greece versus Spain (Match 23).

All of the matches took place in the EM Stadium just outside of Salzburg, near Schloss Klessheim. All of them started at 8:45 pm.

Buying Tickets for the UEFA Euro 2008

In total, more than one million tickets were be sold for the UEFA Euro 2008; according to the UEFA, approximately 75 percent were available for fans at reasonable rates. What "reasonable" means was not specified in detail, though. In any case, black market traders have approached the creators of this website and offered us to sell tickets for 800 Euros each, with 25 percent for us - we politely declined the offer. To buy Euro 2008 tickets legally, you had to apply through the official website of UEFA.

The key for the Euro 2008 ticket sale is a rather complicated one, if analysed in detail: By March 2007, the UEFA announced that 1,050,000 tickets were issued in total. Of these, 33 percent are sold directly (those for which you apply through the official website). Another 38 percent are distributed through the football clubs that participate in the UEFA Euro 2008. Together, these two stocks make the previously mentioned 75 percent that (ideally) go to fans. Another 14 percent go to official partners of the Euro 2008, the remaining 15 percent go to VIPs, the owners of the stadiums, the host cities and other big shots.

UEFA Euro 2008 Trivia

The official logo of the UEFA Euro 2008 was presented precisely three years before the opening match on the 7th of June 2005. It symbolises mountains - one thing that Austria and Switzerland share for certain.

The official mascots of the UEFA Euro 2008 were developed by the merchandising pros of Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The haircut of them resembles the logo, the key colours are red and white - the national colours of both Austria and Switzerland. The two mascots are called Trix and Flix (how original) and are supposed to be twins.

Austria was hoping for big money through the UEFA Euro 2008: According the a market research institute, the football championship generated an additional revenue of 375 million Euros for the tourism industry. A total of 4,000 new jobs were be generated by the crowds of football fans.

Since the announcement of individual matches, hotel rooms in Salzburg and surroundings have filled up quickly. Fans had to book places in nearby Bavaria or other regions near, but not in Salzburg. Vienna gears up for the UEFA Euro 2008 with a "Fan Mile", an entertainment district around the Ringstraße.

Following the last Olympic Games and the Football World Championship, the UEFA Euro 2008 is considered the third-biggest sport event in the World. The last UEFA European Championship was watched by 7.9 billion fans on TV, 1.1 million fans came to the stadiums in Portugal.

More on the UEFA Euro 2008

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html
Official Information on the UEFA Euro 2008 in Salzburg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_2008
Wikipedia on the UEFA Euro 2008

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