- News>
- Football
Austria-Switzerland win UEFA hosting rights for 2008
Switzerland, Dec 13: Favourites Austria and Switzerland were chosen on Thursday to be joint hosts of the European soccer championship in 2008.
Switzerland, Dec 13: Favourites Austria and Switzerland were chosen on Thursday to be joint hosts of the European soccer championship in 2008.
The bid from two of the continent's soccer under-achievers trumped six other applications to stage the world's second biggest football tournament.
"I am deeply touched. I'm standing here with big emotion," said Friedrich Stickler, president of the Austrian Football Association.
"The mood is ecstatic, it is unbelievable," Nicholas Light, a member of the organising committee, told Reuters in Switzerland.
The other candidates considered by European soccer's governing body UEFA were Greece and Turkey, Scotland and Ireland, Bosnia and Croatia, a four-way Nordic candidature, and solo bids from Russia and Hungary.
The joint Austria-Switzerland bid impressed UEFA because of the high standard of hotels, communications and rail links. Austria bid unsuccessfully for the 2004 tournament with Hungary.
The Austrian/Swiss "Close to You" campaign emphasised that being in the heart of Europe would make the tournament easily accessible to fans from around the continent.
"We can promise you that Euro 2008 will be something special. It will be unforgettable, it will be a family event, something for everyone," said Stickler.
Despite both countries having a good record in the early days of the World Cup, their records in the European championship is poor.
Austria reached the quarter-finals in 1960, but have not qualified since the finals were organised in a showpiece tournament. Switzerland have reached the first round twice, in 1964 and 1996.
UEFA President Lennart Johansson told Reuters TV : " They have very strong support from their governments and they are two experirenced football countries so good luck and as you heard, all the other bidders will also come but as opponents, as playing in this tournament"
The two countries also stressed they have the police and security expertise to deal with any undesirables. The 2000 tournament was plagued by hooliganism, especially by English fans.
Trade links between the two nations are well developed but this bid will be the first significant instance of non-economic cooperation between the neighbours.
Austrian government press releases say Euro 2008 would create 6,600 jobs in Austria alone, mostly in construction, and the tourist industry would benefit from at least 300,000 people travelling to Austria for the event.
The estimated costs of more than 110 million euros ($111.5 million) would be met partly through sponsorships by such Swiss financial powerhouses as Credit Suisse and Winterthur Insurance.
The 2004 championship will take place in Portugal. The 2000 tournament was staged jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands with a budget of 60.9 million euros. It made a profit of 18 million euros.
One positive point in the Austria-Switzerland bid's favour was the success of the European under-21 championship in Switzerland earlier this year.
Unprecedented crowd figures of 175,000 were recorded for the tournament, when organisers had expected a total attendance figure in the region of just 60,000.
Each nation will provide four host cities -- Basel, Berne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland and Salzburg, Vienna, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt in Austria -- with state-of-the-art venues proposed.
Basel's 33,500-capacity St Jakobs Park will be used, while new 30,000-seater stadiums will be built in Zurich (Zurich Stadium) and Geneva (Stade de Geneve). A new 40,000-capacity re-built national Stadium in Berne, on the site of the old Wankdorf Stadium, is due to be completed by 2004.
In Austria, the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, one of UEFA's five-star stadiums which has hosted five European Cup finals, will be further upgraded to a 53,000-capacity arena and would host the final.
Innsbruck's New-Tivoli Stadium will be increased to hold 30,000, while new stadiums in Salzburg (Salzburg Stadium) and Klagenfurt (Waidmannsdorf-Neu Stadium) will both be upgraded to 30,000-all-seater grounds. All the new stadiums will be constructed and in use by 2006 at the latest.
Bureau Report
The joint Austria-Switzerland bid impressed UEFA because of the high standard of hotels, communications and rail links. Austria bid unsuccessfully for the 2004 tournament with Hungary.
The Austrian/Swiss "Close to You" campaign emphasised that being in the heart of Europe would make the tournament easily accessible to fans from around the continent.
"We can promise you that Euro 2008 will be something special. It will be unforgettable, it will be a family event, something for everyone," said Stickler.
Despite both countries having a good record in the early days of the World Cup, their records in the European championship is poor.
Austria reached the quarter-finals in 1960, but have not qualified since the finals were organised in a showpiece tournament. Switzerland have reached the first round twice, in 1964 and 1996.
UEFA President Lennart Johansson told Reuters TV : " They have very strong support from their governments and they are two experirenced football countries so good luck and as you heard, all the other bidders will also come but as opponents, as playing in this tournament"
The two countries also stressed they have the police and security expertise to deal with any undesirables. The 2000 tournament was plagued by hooliganism, especially by English fans.
Trade links between the two nations are well developed but this bid will be the first significant instance of non-economic cooperation between the neighbours.
Austrian government press releases say Euro 2008 would create 6,600 jobs in Austria alone, mostly in construction, and the tourist industry would benefit from at least 300,000 people travelling to Austria for the event.
The estimated costs of more than 110 million euros ($111.5 million) would be met partly through sponsorships by such Swiss financial powerhouses as Credit Suisse and Winterthur Insurance.
The 2004 championship will take place in Portugal. The 2000 tournament was staged jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands with a budget of 60.9 million euros. It made a profit of 18 million euros.
One positive point in the Austria-Switzerland bid's favour was the success of the European under-21 championship in Switzerland earlier this year.
Unprecedented crowd figures of 175,000 were recorded for the tournament, when organisers had expected a total attendance figure in the region of just 60,000.
Each nation will provide four host cities -- Basel, Berne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland and Salzburg, Vienna, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt in Austria -- with state-of-the-art venues proposed.
Basel's 33,500-capacity St Jakobs Park will be used, while new 30,000-seater stadiums will be built in Zurich (Zurich Stadium) and Geneva (Stade de Geneve). A new 40,000-capacity re-built national Stadium in Berne, on the site of the old Wankdorf Stadium, is due to be completed by 2004.
In Austria, the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, one of UEFA's five-star stadiums which has hosted five European Cup finals, will be further upgraded to a 53,000-capacity arena and would host the final.
Innsbruck's New-Tivoli Stadium will be increased to hold 30,000, while new stadiums in Salzburg (Salzburg Stadium) and Klagenfurt (Waidmannsdorf-Neu Stadium) will both be upgraded to 30,000-all-seater grounds. All the new stadiums will be constructed and in use by 2006 at the latest.
Bureau Report