UEFA EURO 2008™
In the June of 2008 Austria welcomes Europe’s best soccer players and Europe’s most loyal fans to the UEFA EURO 2008™ Austria’s “line of four” with the host cities of Vienna, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Innsbruck is the perfect line-up for a cheerful soccer festival for fans, participants and athletes!
For three weeks the ball will be kicked between Austria and Switzerland before the final whistle signals the end of the European Soccer Championships on 29th June in Ernst-Happel-Stadion. Three weeks of excitement, euphoria, and tears. Austria’s host cities and provinces provide the stages for great feelings, and welcome you to three thrilling and exhilarating weeks.
Ernst-Happel-Stadion in the Vienna Prater accommodates up to 50,000 fans and plays host to 7 matches (3 group matches, 2 quarter finals, 1 semi-final, finals); Salzburg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt will host 3 group matches each. The stadiums seat 30,000 fans. To whet your appetite for a top-notch soccer event you can take a virtual look around the stadiums:
But what would soccer championships be without the Fan Miles? Thousands of fans meet up with others who all share one sentiment: soccer rules the world! The Fan Miles offer the most boisterous parties, the best events and largest screens for an unforgettable soccer celebration.
Austria will score with great sports events, entertainment and lifestyle as well as first-class supervision by charming hosts in Tirol, Carinthia, Styria and Vienna. One result is already known: In Austria the UEFA EURO 2008™ will be a home game for all …
Below is some brief information about the host cities, just click on the links for more to be taken to their home pages for further indepth information :-
Nowhere else will you find such a great combination of joie-de-vivre, fun and sports as in Vienna: from the Wurstelprater amusement park to fitness training on Donauinsel and chill-out sessions in the MuseumsQuartier!
On 29th June, Vienna’ Ernst-Happel-Stadion plays host to the finals of the 2008 European Football Championships. Only a ball’s throw from the stadium you find Vienna’s largest and oldest amusement park, the Wurstelprater. If roller coaster rides are not your cup of tea, then head to the legendary “Schweizerhaus” where you can indulge in mouth-watering pork knuckles and toast your team with a mug of Budweiser!
The Prater is only one of Vienna’s many examples that sports and pleasure do not exclude one another. The city is brimming with greenspace areas where you can kick a ball, play Frisbee or just laze in the sun. Once of these places is the Donauinsel, located two short subway stop from the Prater: every summer the Donauinsel hosts Europe’s largest open-air festival. In the summer the bar tenders at “Copa Cagrana” mix the city’s best cocktails which taste all the better after and active day on the island.
Vienna’s way of life is best experienced in a traditional coffee house, a quaint wine tavern (Vienna is the world’s only capital that makes its own wine!) or the well-known Naschmarkt. The city’s latest “in-place” is the MuseumsQuartier where you can relax al fresco on oversized deck chairs …
Innsbruck - Tirol’s capital is only a short car ride from a great variety of sports and wellness facilities. The city itself charms with superb views of the surrounding mountains, romantic restaurants in the medieval old town, and a vibrant nightlife perfect for those post-match parties.
The Tirolean Alps are, without doubt, a sports arena with a difference: the most spectacular downhill ski race is staged in Kitzbühel, the toughest cycle races end on a glacier. And Innsbruck is at the heart of it all.
Winter like summer, Tirol is the hub of the international sports scene. Two Olympic winter games and a host of spectacular sports events brought Tirol into the international limelight. World ice hockey championships, exciting world cup ski races in Kitzbühel and Sölden, and the traditional ski jump event on Bergisel in Innsbruck draw thousands of spectators to view the events live or on TV. In the summer the world’s cycling elite struggles through Tirol’s mountains which form part of such classic cycle races as the Giro d’ Italia, Tour de Suisse or the Deutschland Tour.
Tiroleans love to be active: hiking in high Alpine regions, mountain biking, canyoning and rock climbing are regarded national sports here. And in the winter people hit the outdoors for some Alpine or Nordic skiing action.
The best about Tirol is that it offers an abundance of establishments where you can soothe your achy muscles and refresh your tired legs. Alpine Wellness is the slogan under which Tirol’s charming hosts combine unique landscapes, invigorating country air and top wellness offers.
Salzburg is the capital of classical music and culture. But Mozart’s city has more to offer: trendy bars, award-winning restaurants and beautiful mountains for your personal training program.
People agree - Salzburg is a small-format metropolis – it’s so beautiful that its old town was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and it’s so famous, that the Salzburg Festival is one of the world’s best know.
In Salzburg nature, sports, history and modernism blend harmoniously. Traditional coffee houses and time-honored inns, trendy bars and alternative haunts, century old art treasures and high-tech buildings all form part of the city’s colorful landscape.
Klagenfurt is Austria’s event capital: located on the shores of Lake Wörthersee the city attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year who come to do the audience wave at the annual Beach Volleyball Grand Slam or to cheer on the athletes in the tough Iron Man race.
Conveniently enough the stages for top athletes are Carinthia’s largest lake – the Wörthersee – and the brand-new Wörthersee Arena. Actually all of Carinthia is one big outdoor fitness center for sports enthusiasts: Austria’s most scenic half-marathon route runs along Wörthersee, Carinthia’s lakes are clean enough to drink from, the 120 kilometers of cycle paths wind their ways through landscapes of great natural beauty, or golfing against the backdrop of an old castle.
In Carinthia, Austria’s sunniest soccer venue, the calendar is always brimming with mega events: the GTI meeting at Wörthersee, the European Body Painting Festival at Millstättersee, the European Bike Week and Europe’s largest Harley Meeting at Faaker See. And then there are training camps and matches of international soccer clubs in picturesque landscapes.
Fashion browsing in the pedestrian zone with its designer boutiques, partying in the most happening clubs, relaxing in the cafés of Klagenfurt’s Renaissance old town, jovial gatherings in quaint inns or fine dining in elegant restaurants are just some of the possibilities to spend your holidays in Austria’s south. In short: enjoy the sunny side of life.
During the UEFA EURO 2008™, the spotlight is of course on Austria’s four host cities. Those who take out the time to visit the provinces will be charmed by the perfect interplay between pleasant hosts and unique landscapes.
Download the UEFA EURO 2008™ - Match Schedule including kick-off times as well as the most important milestones on the way to the UEFA European Football Championship™ in Austria and Switzerland. UEFA EURO 2008™ - Match Schedule
Courtesy Austrian Tourist Board
