Switzerland managed to beat the group winner Portugal in their last game. In Group A, the Swiss lost their captain, Alexander Frei, to injury in their first game and became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, after losing their first two matches. Austria and Switzerland were not expected to progress, despite the advantage of being the hosts. In the group stage, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands all qualified with maximum points. In contrast, Germany and Portugal were deemed to have an easy draw, as the tournament structure meant they could not meet Italy, France, the Netherlands or Spain until the final. The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2007, and saw Group C immediately labelled as the ' group of death', with Italy, France, Romania and the Netherlands competing for the two qualifying places. The tournament also marked the debuts of Austria and Poland.

England was the only seeded team not to qualify for the tournament proper, whereas Russia was the only unseeded one to qualify. The qualifying tournament was contested by national teams from each of UEFA's member associations except Austria and Switzerland, who had automatically qualified for the final tournament as hosts, and Montenegro, who came into existence too late to be admitted to UEFA. Qualification for Euro 2008 started in August 2006, just over a month after the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The following tournament, held in Poland and Ukraine, became the third jointly hosted tournament. The Austria–Switzerland bid became the second successful joint bid in the competition's history, following the UEFA Euro 2000 hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands. The final vote by the UEFA executive committee was:

Īustria–Switzerland, Hungary, Greece–Turkey and the Nordic bid were recommended, in that order, before the final vote by UEFA's National Teams Committee. Austria and Hungary had previously bid together to host Euro 2004, losing out to Portugal, while Sweden had hosted Euro 1992. As European champions, Spain earned the right to compete in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.Īustria and Switzerland jointly bid to host the games, and facing competition from six other bids: Bosnia and Herzegovina– Croatia, Greece– Turkey, a 4-way Nordic bid (from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden), Hungary, Russia and Scotland– Republic of Ireland. Throughout 31 matches, the participating nations totalled 77 goals, the same as the previous tournament.Īustria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts the remaining 14 teams were determined through a qualifying tournament, played between August 2006 and November 2007. They recorded the worst finish in Euro 2008, losing their three group fixtures and collecting the least prize money. Greece were the defending champions going into the tournament, having won UEFA Euro 2004. Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated. Spain were only the second nation to win all their group stage fixtures and then the European Championship itself, matching France's achievement from 1984. The tournament was won by Spain, who defeated Germany 1–0 in the final. It took place in Austria and Switzerland (both hosting the tournament for the first time) from 7 to 29 June 2008. The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations).

Uefa euro 2008 patches