Template:Future sport The 2008 European Football Championship will take place in Austria and Switzerland, from 7 June to 29 June 2008. It is the second successful joint bid in the competition's history. The only previous tournament held in two countries was the 2000 European Football Championship, hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands. Austria and Switzerland will automatically qualify as hosts. The remaining 14 teams will be determined in a qualifying tournament that will start in August 2006.

The two countries jointly bid to host the games, and faced major competition from Greece/Turkey, Scotland/Ireland, Russia, Hungary and Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina. Austria had already bid with another country before, which was Hungary for Euro 2004. They had eventually lost to Portugal, who managed a successful championship.

Scotland and Ireland's bid was one of the first to go, along with bids from Russia and Croatia/Bosnia-Herzegovina, which were rejected.

Austria/Switzerland, Greece/Turkey, a Nordic four-nation bid (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) and Hungary were recommended before the final vote. Greece and Turkey were soon rejected and let Hungary and Austria/Switzerland battle for the win. But the final vote went to Austria and Switzerland, who had been the favourites in many people's eyes all along.

Country	City	Stadium	Capacity	Host Club	Host Matches
Switzerland	Basel	St. Jakob-Park	42,500	FC Basel	First match, 2 group matches, 2 Quarter-finals, One Semi-final.
	Berne	Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf	32,000	BSC Young Boys	Three Group Matches
	Geneva	Stade de Genève	30,000	Servette FC	Three Group Matches
	Zürich	Letzigrund Stadion	30,000	FC Zürich	Three Group Matches
Austria	Innsbruck	Tivoli-Neu Stadion	30,000	FC Wacker Tirol	Three Group Matches
	Klagenfurt	Wörthersee Stadion	30,000	FC Kärnten	Three Group Matches
	Salzburg	Wals Siezenheim Stadium	30,000	Red Bull Salzburg	Three Group Matches
	Vienna	Ernst Happel Stadion	50,000	SK Rapid Vienna & Austria	3 group matches, Two Quarter-finals, One Semifinal and Final.

In 2004, the Zürich venue became a problem for organizers. Originally, the Hardturm stadium was to be renovated and used as the city's venue, but legal challenges delayed the plan to a point that would not have allowed the ground to be used in 2008. This created a problem, as the agreement between UEFA and the organizers stipulated that four venues would be used in each country. The problem was solved when the organizers proposed renovating Letzigrund instead; UEFA approved the revised plan in January 2005. The Letzigrund stadium will be ready in late 2006.

The draw for the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying round took place in Montreux, Switzerland on 27 January, 2006 at 12:00 CET.

The qualifying process will commence in August 2006, which is a month after the 2006 World Cup. Austria and Switzerland have already qualified for the tournament finals as host nations.

The Qualifying Format has been changed compared to previous tournaments. The winners and runners-up from seven groups will automatically qualify for the Championship, with the hosts filling the other two slots in the 16-team tournament. The change means there will be no play-offs between teams finishing in second place in the groups. Six of the qualifying groups will contain seven teams, and the other eight.

Inclusion of the new Montenegro national football team in another qualifying group has not been ruled out, but is seen as unlikely [1] due to the short timespan between Montenegro's independence and the start of qualifying.

The individual qualifying groups are as follows:

Status to be determined: Template:MONf

• UEFA Euro 2008 Official Site
• Format from UEFA Website
• Austria 2008 - Reviewing the qualifying rounds
• Euro 2008 spreadsheet — computes standings from scores
• Wikitravel Travel guide for the tournament

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