Euro 2008

On Thursday, December 12, 2002, Austria and Switzerland were chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee to jointly host the final round of the UEFA European Football Championship in 2008.

Eight cities
The decision followed a process which began formally in the autumn of 2001, and which culminated in the seven candidates (including a joint Greco-Turkish bid) giving brief final presentations of their bids to the joint Executive Committee and UEFA's National Teams Committee. Four stadiums in each country formed the basis of the bid - Basel, Berne, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, and Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna in Austria.

Group Stage

Group A

Matchday 1

• Portugal - Turkey 2-0
• Czechland - Switzerland 1-0

Matchday 2

• Portugal - Czechland 3-1
• Turkey - Switzerland 2-1

Matchday 3

• Switzerland - Portugal 2-0
• Turkey - Czechland 3-2

• 1. Portugal - 6 pts
• 2. Turkey - 6 pts
• 3. Switzerland - 3 pts
• 4. Czechland - 3 pts

Group B

• 1. Croatia
• 2. Germany
• 3. Austria
• 4. Poland

Group C

• 1. Holland
• 2. Italy
• 3. Romania
• 4. France

Group D

Matchday 1

June 10, 2008

• Spain - Russia 4-1
• Greece - Sweden 0-2
  • Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Kyrgiakos, Antzas, Dellas (Amanatidis 70), Torosidis, Charisteas, Basinas, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Gekas (Samaras 46). Subs Not Used: Chalkias, Goumas, Vyntra, Spyropoulos, Patsatzoglou, Giannakopoulos, Tziolis, Salpigidis, Liberopoulos, Tzorvas.
  • Booked: Charisteas, Seitaridis, Torosidis.
  • Sweden: Isaksson, Alexandersson (Stoor 74), Mellberg, Hansson, Nilsson, Wilhelmsson (Rosenberg 78), Svensson, Ljungberg, Andersson, Ibrahimovic (Elmander 71), Henrik Larsson. Subs Not Used: Shaaban, Dorsin, Majstorovic, Granqvist, Kallstrom, Sebastian Larsson, Linderoth, Allback, Wiland.
  • Goals: Ibrahimovic 67, Hansson 73.
  • Ref: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)
  • Attendance:30,000

Matchday 2

June 14, 2008

• Spain - Sweden 2-1
• Greece - Russia 0-1
  • Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis (Karagounis 40), Dellas, Kyrgiakos, Torosidis, Katsouranis, Basinas, Patsatzoglou, Charisteas, Liberopoulos (Gekas 60), Amanatidis (Giannakopoulos 79). Subs Not Used: Chalkias, Antzas, Goumas, Vyntra, Spyropoulos, Tziolis, Samaras, Salpigidis, Tzorvas.
  • Booked: Karagounis, Liberopoulos.
  • Russia: Akinfeev, Aniukov, Kolodin, Ignashevich, Zhirkov (Vasili Berezutsky 87), Semak, Torbinsky, Zyryanov, Semshov, Bilyaletdinov (Saenko 69), Pavluchenko. Subs Not Used: Gabulov, Shirokov, Yanbaev, Alexei Berezutsky, Ivanov, Bystrov, Sychev, Adamov, Malafeev.
  • Booked: Saenko, Torbinsky.
  • Goals: Zyryanov 34.
  • Ref: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).

Sideline Events

Goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis and defender Paraskevas Antzas both announced their retirement from international soccer after Greece's early exit from Euro 2008.

Matchday 3

June 18, 2008

• Russia - Sweden 2-0
• Greece - Spain 1-2
  • Greece: Nikopolidis, Vyntra, Kyrgiakos (Antzas 63), Dellas, Spyropoulos, Basinas, Karagounis (Tziolis 74), Katsouranis, Salpigidis (Giannakopoulos 86), Charisteas, Amanatidis. Subs Not Used: Chalkias, Tzorvas, Samaras, Goumas, Liberopoulos.
  • Booked: Karagounis, Basinas, Vyntra.
  • Goals: Charisteas 42.
  • Spain: Reina, Arbeloa, Albiol, Juanito, Fernando Navarro, Sergio Garcia, De la Red, Alonso, Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 59), Fabregas, Guiza. Subs Not Used: Casillas, Palop, Capdevila, Marchena, Puyol, Villa, Xavi, Torres, Sergio Ramos, Senna, Silva.
  • Booked: Guiza, Arbeloa.
  • Goals: De la Red 61, Guiza 88.
  • Ref: Howard Webb (England).

Greece are the only team at Euro 2008 to lose all three group matches. This feat has befallen seven other teams in the history of the competition.

Giorgos Karagounis received his sixth yellow card at the European Championship (four in 2004 and two in 2008) breaking the record he shared with Hagi, Nedved and Zambrotta.

• 1. Spain - 9 pts
• 2. Russia - 6 pts
• 3. Sweden - 3 pts
• 4. GREECE - 0 pts

Quarterfinals

• Portugal - Germany 2-3
• Croatia - Turkey
• Holland - Russia
• Spain - Italy

Greek Squad

On May 27, 2008, Otto Rehhagel announced his 23-player squad for Euro 2008.

The Greek squad with shirt numbers:

Goalkeepers: 1 Antonis Nikopolidis (Olympiakos Piraeus), 12 Konstantinos Chalkias (Aris Saloniki), 13 Alexandros Tzorvas (OFI Crete)

Defenders: 2 Giourkas Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid), 3 Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiakos Piraeus), 4 Nikos Spyropoulos (Panathinaikos Athens), 5 Traianos Dellas (AEK Athens), 11 Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos Athens), 15 Vassilios Torosidis (Olympiakos Piraeus), 16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt), 18 Ioannis Goumas (Panathinaikos Athens), 19 Paraskevas Antzas (Olympiakos Piraeus)

Midfielders: 6 Angelos Basinas (RCD Mallorca), 8 Stylianos Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers), 10 Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos Athens), 20 Ioannis Amanatidis(Eintracht Frankfurt), 21 Konstantinos Katsouranis (Benfica Lisbon), 22 Alexandros Tziolis (Panathinaikos Athens),

Forwards: 7 Georgios Samaras (Glasgow Celtic), 9 Angelos Charisteas (FC Nuremberg), 14 Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos Athens), 17 Theofanis Gekas (Bayer Leverkusen), 23 Nikolaos Liberopoulos (AEK Athens)