The UEFA Euro 2008 Football Championship

by George Burnitt


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The ultimate soccer event of 2008 is without doubt the European Football Championships also referred to as Euro 2008 which will take place this summer in both Austria and Switzerland from 7th to 29th June.

A total of 16 European teams will participate in the tournament. Austria and Switzerland qualified automatically as hosts but the remaining 14 teams have made it to the finals through qualifying matches which started way back in August 2006. Austria and Poland will be competing in the tournament for the first time.

Europe will be the envy of world soccer this year as a massive global television audience is expected to tune in to watch the best players in europe compete over three weeks and 31 matches to decide which country will be crowned the champions of Europe.

A record amount of soccer betting interest is also predicted on an ev! ent that is second only to the football world cup in terms of the amount of money that is wagered on it.

The European championships was first held in 1960 as the European Nations Cup and like the world cup the tournament is held every four years.

Previous winners include Germany (1972, 1980, 1996), France (1984, 2000), Soviet Union (1960), Spain (1964), Italy (1968), Czechoslovakia (1976), Netherlands (1988), Denmark (1992) and Greece (2004).

The teams are divided into four groups with four teams in each group. The group of death as it has been labelled is Group C as it is by far the strongest containing no less than three of the tournament favourites in Holland, Italy and France.

Apart from the aforementioned teams from the group of death Germany and Portugal are also expected to feature prominently.

Group A - Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey

Group B - Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland

Group C - Holland, Italy, Romania, France

Group D! - Greec e, Sweden, Spain, Russia

Millions of football fans all over the world will tune in on 29th June to watch the Euro 2008 final at Vienna's 53,000 capacity Ernst Happel Stadium to witness the best team in Europe presented with the brand new European Football Championships trophy.

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About the Author

The author is a respected journalist with an interest in sports betting you can see some of his work at http://www.footballbettingprofits.com