- Title: SWITZERLAND: AUSTRIA AND SWITZERLAND CHOSEN AS JOINT HOSTS FOR EURO 2008.
- Date: 13th December 2002
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (DECEMBER 12, 2002) 1. PAN OF EXTERIOR OF INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL IN GENEVA 2. WIDE OF JOURNALISTS AND REPRESENTATIVES AT THE ANNOUCEMENT ROOM 3. PRESIDENT OF THE SWISS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION AND HEAD OF THE SWISS BID RALPH ZLOCZOWER ARRIVING/SITING DOWN 4. MEMBERS OF THE UEFA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ARRIVING IN THE ROOM 5. WIDE OF ROOM 6. UEFA PRESIDENT LENNART JOHANSSON, UEFA CHIEF EXECUTIVE GERHARD AIGNER, UEFA COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR MICHAEL LEE ARRIVING. 7. WIDE OF ROOM 8. UEFA PRESIDENT LENNART JOHANSSON STANDING UP/APPLAUSE 9. WIDE OF UEFA PRESIDENT JOHANSSON WELCOMING EVERYONE 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UEFA PRESIDENT JOHANSSON SAYING "Of course at the end we had to choose, and with so many excellent bids it has not been easy for the Committee but it is my pleasure to now announce the winning bid. And the bid chosen to host the 11th final of the European football championship is Ausrtria and Switzerland" 11. WIDE OF AUSTRIA-SWISS DELEGATION 12. CLOSE UP OF MEMBERS OF AUSTRIA-SWISS DELEGATION HUGGING EACH OTHER 13. VIDEO OF AUSTRIA-SWISS BID 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF SWISS FA RALPH ZLOCZOWER SAYING: "The European football championship 2008 in Austria and in Switzerland will be a full success." 15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT FRIEDRICH STICKLER SAYING "We can promise that Euro 2008 will be something special, we guarantee you it will be unfourgetable, it will be a family-event and it will be something for everyone as we said in our presentations so thank you very much and looking forward to 2008." 16. SWISS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION RALPH ZLOCZOWER AND AUSTRIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT FRIEDRICH STICKLER 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) UEFA PRESIDENT LENNART JOHANSSON SAYING "I respect and I am happy with any decision the Committee take because this has been a fair deal, it has been objective and no politics involved in it so I think that, you heard from the competitors that they also appreciate the way that things have been handled and that's important for me and for us, the reputation of UEFA and the reputation of football so I am sure it will be a good tournament here in Switzerland and in Austria. 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" 18. JOHANSSON SHAKING HANDS WITH ZLOCZOWER AND STICKLER Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 28th December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVAE9539E7YREZNWQQ3T2IYN3E9Y
- Story Text: 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.
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