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Union des Associations Europèennes de Football (UEFA) EURO 2008 is unanimously dubbed as the biggest feast of the year. All public around the world focus their attention on this four-yearly event regardless what, where or who they are: no more political, religious, ethnic, or race interests or conflicts. Soccer as a matter of fact has become a new religion for all and UEFA EURO 2008 is the feast of this religion. UEFA EURO indeed has mysterious magnetic power that is only comparable to World Cup. Since it is our event, so it’s better that we make it successful, protect it from any disturbance and enact in it a fairness (fair play).

The following is the list of profiles of the participating teams in UEFA EURO 2008:

Switzerland national football team

Switzerland
Nickname(s) :Nati
Association :Swiss Football Association
Confederation :UEFA (Europe)
Head coach :Flag of Switzerland Köbi Kuhn, (2001-08)
Captain :Alexander Frei
Most caps :Heinz Hermann (117)
Top scorer :Alexander Frei (35)
Home stadium :Stade de Suisse
FIFA code :SUI
FIFA ranking :48
Highest FIFA ranking :3 (August 1993)
Lowest FIFA ranking :83 (December 1998)
Elo ranking 27
Highest Elo ranking : 8 (June 1924)
Lowest Elo ranking :62 (October 1979)
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The Swiss national football team also known as the Schweizer Nati is the national football team of Switzerland and is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. Its best performances in the World Cup have been reaching the quarter-finals, in 1934, 1938 and when the country hosted the event in 1954. Switzerland also won silver at the 1924 Olympics. The 2002 U-17 European Championship was won by the Nati. In 2006, Switzerland set a FIFA World Cup record by being eliminated from the competition despite not conceding a goal in any of their four matches. In addition, Switzerland was the only national team in Cup history to fail to score a single goal in a penalty shootout.

Austria national football team

Austria
Shirt badge/Association crest
Association :Austrian Football Association
Confederation :UEFA (Europe)
Head coach :Flag of Austria Josef Hickersberger
Captain :Andreas Ivanschitz
Most caps :Andreas Herzog (103)
Top scorer :Toni Polster (44)
Home stadium :Ernst Happel Stadion
FIFA code :AUT
FIFA ranking :101
Highest FIFA ranking :17 (May 1999)
Lowest FIFA ranking :102 (April 2008)
Elo ranking :62
Highest Elo ranking :1 (May 1934)
Lowest Elo ranking :63 (Oct 2007, Nov 2007)

The Austria national football team is the association football team that represents the country of Austria in international competition and is controlled by the Austrian Football Association (German: Österreichischer Fußball Bund).

Austria has qualified for seven World Cups, most recently in 1998. The country has not yet qualified for a European Championship; it will play in the tournament for the first time in 2008 when it co-hosts the event with Switzerland.

Greece national football team

Greece

The Greece national football team is the national football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation. They are the reigning European Champions. Greece had previously participated in a European Championship only in Euro 1980, but their first win did not come until the first match of Euro 2004, a 2-1 win over the hosts Portugal. Greece went on to win the tournament, stunning defending champions France in the quarterfinals and the heavily favoured Czech Republic in the semifinals before beating Portugal for a second time, 1-0, in the final. Bookmakers were giving odds of about 80-1 to 150-1 for the Greeks before the tournament.

Netherlands national football team

Netherlands

The Netherlands national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association. It won Euro 88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978 but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina. At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football and was nicknamed “Clockwork Orange” for its precision passing. In many countries the team is colloquially referred to as “Holland.”

Croatia national football team

Croatia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) :Vatreni (”The Blazers”)
Association :Hrvatski nogometni savez
Confederation :UEFA (Europe)
Head coach :Flag of Croatia Slaven Bili?
Captain :Niko Kova?
Most caps :Dario Šimi? (98)
Top scorer :Davor Šuker (45)
FIFA code :CRO
FIFA ranking :15
Highest FIFA ranking :3 (January 1999)
Lowest FIFA ranking :125 (March 1994)
Elo ranking :12
Highest Elo ranking :5 (July 1998)
Lowest Elo ranking :26 (Oct 2002)

The Croatian national football team represents Croatia in international matches and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation. The current team has been in existence since 1990 and was recognised by FIFA and UEFA in the summer of 1992, one year after Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia. A previous Croatian team existed for a couple of years during World War II

The team played their first competitive matches in the qualifying campaign for the Euro 1996 and qualified for the finals to make their first appearance in a major international tournament. They have been a strong force in international football ever since, finishing third in the 1998 World Cup, led by Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker. They have qualified for every World Cup that they have entered as an independent nation.

The team was FIFA’s “Best Mover of the Year” in 1994 and 1998, are the only team to win the title more than once and have been more volatile in the FIFA World Rankings than any other nation, having been rated as high as third, and as low as 125th (though this low rating was only because Croatia were not ranked prior to their independence, and it therefore took some time to build up points when they started playing independently). They are still undefeated in all competitive matches they played on home soil since 1994. They also qualified for both 2002 and 2006 World Cups without losing a qualifying match.

Italy national football team

Italy

The Italian national football team (Nazionale italiana di calcio) is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) and represents Italy in international football competition. They are the current World Champions, having won the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Italy is among the top teams in international football and the second most successful national team having won four World Cups (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), just one fewer than Brazil. To this tally they can add one European championship (1968), two Central European International Cup and one Olympic Gold Medal (1936).

The traditional colour of the national team (as well as all Italian teams and athletes, except for motor sports which uses red) is azure blue[1] (azzurro, in Italian), due to the “Azzurro Savoia” (Savoy Blue), the colour traditionally linked to the dynasty which unified Italy in 1860. Therefore national team members are nicknamed Azzurri.

Czech Republic national football team

Czech Republic

The Czech national football team is the national football team of the Czech Republic and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic.

Sweden

The Sweden national football team is the national football team of Sweden and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association.

Romania national football team

Romania

The Romania national football team is the national football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation.

Romania is one of only four national teams, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium, that took part in the first three World Cups.

However, after that performance, they only qualified for 1970, 1990, 1994 and 1998 editions. Their finest hour came at the 1994 World Cup where Romania, led by Gheorghe Hagi, reached the quarterfinals, defeating Argentina in their way before losing to Sweden on penalty shootouts.

As at Euro, Romania’s biggest performance was in 2000 whenthey advanced to quarterfinals from a group with Germany, Portugal and defeated England before falling to eventual runners-up Italy.

Romania also played at Euro 1984, Euro 1996 and Euro 2008.

Germany national football team

Germany

The German national football team (German: Die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) is the football team representing the country of Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) which was founded in 1900.

From 1950 to 1990, the team was also informally called West Germany in English, as since World War II, the DFB is based in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) which was commonly referred to as West Germany from 1949 to 1990. The DFB continues to field the German national team that had been fully reinstated by FIFA after the 1950 FIFA World Cup, retaining all records and traditions. Under Allied occupation and division, two other separate “national” teams had also been recognized by FIFA, the Saarland team (1950–1956), and the East German team (1952–1990). Both have been absorbed; the official name and code “Germany FR (FRG)” has been shortened again to “Germany (GER)” since 1990.

Germany is one of the three most successful national teams at international competitions, having won a total of three World Cups and three European championships. East Germany won Olympic Gold in 1976. Germany is the only nation to have won both the men’s and women’s World Cups.

Since their penalty shootout loss to Czechoslovakia in Euro 76, Germany has not lost a penalty shootout in major international tournaments. In fact, the last penalty missed by a German player dates back to the semi-finals of the 1982 world cup when French goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori saved Uli Stielike’s shot. In particular, England suffered two heartbreaking semi-final losses to Germany on penalties in the 1990s.

German teams have something of a tradition of beginning their history against Switzerland: The first match ever of the German national team, the first match after World War I in 1920, the first match after World War II in 1950 when Germany was still banned from most international competitions, and the first match in 1990 with former East German players were all against Switzerland. Germany’s first championship title was even won in Switzerland. Most of the home games (7 since 1911) were at Stuttgart’s Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion. Klaus Fischer also scored Germany’s “ARD Goal of the Century” there against the Swiss in 1977, with a “Bicycle kick” (”Fallrückzieher”), his trademark move (with which he also scored the important 3:3 equalizer in overtime (108th minute) at the 1982 FIFA World Cup vs France, a goal that was not chosen for the Top 10 of the WC Goal of the Century)

At Germany’s last two appearances in a Final of a major tournament - Euro 96 and World Cup 2002 - the player who had scored the decisive goal in the semi final did so knowing they would be suspended for the Final. Andreas Möller in 1996 and Michael Ballack in 2002 both picked up decisive yellow cards in the semi finals against England and South Korea respectively. Möller scored the decisive penalty in a shoot-out against England and Michael Ballack went on to score the only goal against the Koreans.

The current coaching staff of the national team include head coach Joachim Löw, assistant coach Hans-Dieter Flick, goalkeeper coach Andreas Köpke, athletic coach Mark Verstegen, athletic coach Oliver Schmidtlein, scout Urs Siegenthaler, technical director Matthias Sammer and team manager Oliver Bierhoff.

Germany can boast of having the first and only goalkeeper to win the Player of the Tournament award following a World Cup, that being Oliver Kahn in 2002. Harald “Toni” Schumacher was runner-up for the award in 1986.

Portugal national football team

Portugal
Image:Pfutebol.com/images/Team Logos/fpf.jpg
Association :Federação Portuguesa de Futebol
Confederation :UEFA (Europe)
Head coach :Flag of Brazil Luiz Felipe Scolari (2003-)
Captain :Flag of Portugal Nuno Gomes[1][2]
Most caps :Flag of Portugal Luís Figo (127)
Top scorer :Flag of Portugal Pauleta (47)
FIFA code :POR
FIFA ranking :11
Highest FIFA ranking :4 (March 2001)
Lowest FIFA ranking :43 (August 1998)
Elo ranking :14
Highest Elo ranking :2 (June 2006)
Lowest Elo ranking :45 (November 1962)

The Portugal national football team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), finishing 4th at the last World Cup. Portugal have qualified four times for the FIFA World Cup; 1966, 1986, 2002 and 2006. The first appearance saw them reach the semi final, losing 2-1 at Wembley to the eventual world champions England. Portugal finished in third place and Eusébio was considered the best player of the tournament. The next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times after surprise defeats to Morocco, United States and South Korea. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and the second games.

In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of Euro 2004 (The European Championships), where they lost to Greece, and to their second World Cup semi final in 2006, where they lost to France. The Portuguese were unable to equal Eusebio’s 1966 third place finish as they lost to hosts Germany 3-1 on July 8 in Stuttgart, finishing in fourth place in the 2006 World Cup.

Spain national football team

Spain

Spain has a reputation for underachievement in the FIFA World Cup, with their best finish being fourth place in 1950 despite often being among the pre-tournament favourites. They often start well, but struggle considerably in the later stages, which is frustrating given the team’s supposedly enormous talent and diligence. They are considered by some as football’s greatest underachievers. Their only senior level tournament victory is the 1964 European Championship, which they hosted. They also won the gold medal when they hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and in the 1999 World Youth Championship in Nigeria. Their current FIFA ranking is 4th.

Poland national football team

Poland

Or?y
(”The Eagles”)
Association :Polish Football Association
(Polski Zwi?zek Pi?ki No?nej)
Head coach :Flag of the Netherlands Leo Beenhakker
Captain :Flag of Poland Maciej ?urawski
Most caps :Flag of Poland Grzegorz Lato (100)
Top scorer :Flag of Poland W?odzimierz Luba?ski (48)
FIFA code :POL
FIFA ranking :27
Highest FIFA ranking :16 (September 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking :61 (March 1998)
Elo ranking :25
Highest Elo ranking :1 (Oct 1975)
Lowest Elo ranking :55 (Aug 1956, Apr 1998)

The Poland national football team (Polish: Reprezentacja Polski w pi?ce no?nej) is the national football team of Poland, under the auspices of the Polish Football Association (PZPN).

It played its first international match on 18 December 1921 in Budapest against Hungary and was defeated 0:1. Poland won the Gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Silver medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. In the World Cup, Poland finished third twice: in 1974 and 1982.

France national football team

France

The French national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA.

France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Except for mild success in the 1950s, the French team was a modest competitor from its beginnings until the 1970s. In the 1980s, led by midfielder and captain Michel Platini, the team reached semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, and won the 1984 European Championship.

France then reached an even higher status in international football by being especially successful at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s; they won the World Cup as the host nation in 1998, and the European Football Championship two years later, as well placed second at the 2006 World Cup tournament. Midfielder Zinedine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours.

France and Argentina are the only national teams in the world which have won the four most important titles organized by FIFA: World Cup, Gold medal in football in the Olympic Games, Confederations Cup, and the Continental Cup (Copa America for Argentina, and UEFA European Football Championship for France).

Turkey national football team

Turkey
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) :Ay-Y?ld?zl?lar (”Crescent-Stars”)
Association :Turkish Football Federation
Confederation :UEFA (Europe)
Head coach :Flag of Turkey Fatih Terim, (2005-June 29th 2008)
Asst coach :Flag of Turkey O?uz Çetin
Captain :Emre Belözo?lu
Most caps :Rü?tü Reçber (116)
Top scorer :Hakan ?ükür (51)
Home stadium :Atatürk Olimpiyat Stadyumu
FIFA code :TUR
FIFA ranking :20
Highest FIFA ranking :5 (June 2004)
Lowest FIFA ranking :67 (October 1993)
Elo ranking :21
Highest Elo ranking :9 (November 2002)
Lowest Elo ranking :82 (November 1985)

The Turkey national football team is the national football team of Turkey and is controlled by the Turkish Football Federation. They are affiliated with UEFA.

Turkey had many ups and downs, for example they made a nice rise to the international scene in the 1950s but lost that status in the 1970s.

The team’s highest achievement was reaching 3rd place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Turkey also reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2000 and reached 3rd place at the 2003 Confederations Cup.

After these successes Turkey is considered as a strong force in world football again.

Russia national football team

Russia

The Russia national football team is the national football team of Russia and is controlled by the Football Union of Russia.

Russia qualified for two World Cups (1994, 2002) and three European Championships (1996, 2004, 2008), but failed to get beyond the first round on first two occasions.

FIFA considers the Russia national team the direct descendant of the CIS and USSR national teams.

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UEFA EURO 2008: The Biggest Feast of the Year

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