Croatia Wins 1-0 to Austria.

European Cup opening match of the first half of Switzerland Vs Czech Republic

Saturday 7 June 2008
1    Grp A    Switzerland    18:00    Czech Republic    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
2    Grp A    Portugal    20:45    Turkey    Geneva - Stade de Genève
Sunday 8 June 2008
3    Grp B    Austria    18:00    Croatia    Vienna - Ernst Happel
4    Grp B    Germany    20:45    Poland    Klagenfurt - Wörthersee
Monday 9 June 2008
5    Grp C    Romania    18:00    France    Zurich - Letzigrund
6    Grp C    Netherlands    20:45    Italy    Berne - Stade de Suisse
Tuesday 10 June 2008
7    Grp D    Spain    18:00    Russia    Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
8    Grp D    Greece    20:45    Sweden    Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
Wednesday 11 June 2008
9    Grp A    Czech Republic    18:00    Portugal    Geneva - Stade de Genève
10    Grp A    Switzerland    20:45    Turkey    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
Thursday 12 June 2008
11    Grp B    Croatia    18:00    Germany    Klagenfurt - Wörthersee
12    Grp B    Austria    20:45    Poland    Vienna - Ernst Happel
Friday 13 June 2008
13    Grp C    Italy    18:00    Romania    Zurich - Letzigrund
14    Grp C    Netherlands    20:45    France    Berne - Stade de Suisse
Saturday 14 June 2008
15    Grp D    Sweden    18:00    Spain    Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
16    Grp D    Greece    20:45    Russia    Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
Sunday 15 June 2008
17    Grp A    Switzerland    20:45    Portugal    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
18    Grp A    Turkey    20:45    Czech Republic    Geneva - Stade de Genève
Monday 16 June 2008
19    Grp B    Poland    20:45    Croatia    Klagenfurt - Wörthersee
20    Grp B    Austria    20:45    Germany    Vienna - Ernst Happel
Tuesday 17 June 2008
21    Grp C    Netherlands    20:45    Romania    Berne - Stade de Suisse
22    Grp C    France    20:45    Italy    Zurich - Letzigrund
Wednesday 18 June 2008
23    Grp D    Greece    20:45    Spain    Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
24    Grp D    Russia    20:45    Sweden    Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
Thursday 19 June 2008
25    QF    Winner Grp A    20:45    Runner-up Grp B    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
Friday 20 June 2008
26    QF    Winner Grp B    20:45    Runner-up Grp A    Vienna - Ernst Happel
Saturday 21 June 2008
27    QF    Winner Grp C    20:45    Runner-up Grp D    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
Sunday 22 June 2008
28    QF    Winner Grp D    20:45    Runner-up Grp C    Vienna - Ernst Happel
Wednesday 25 June 2008
29    SF    Winner #25    20:45    Winner #26    Basel - St. Jakob-Park
Thursday 26 June 2008
30    SF    Winner #27    20:45    Winner #28    Vienna - Ernst Happel
Sunday 29 June 2008
31    F    Winner #29    20:45    Winner #30    Vienna - Ernst Happel

Diego Benaglio (born September 8, 1983) is a Swiss footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.

Club career

Benaglio started his career with his Grasshoppers Zürich and played there for several seasons before moving to Germany to join VfB Stuttgart. After a brief period there, he joined C.D. Nacional where he eventually became first choice as Henrique Hilário left for Chelsea F.C. On January 22, 2008 he moved to VfL Wolfsburg. He made his debut on January 29, helping his team advance to the quarterfinals of the DFB Cup.

International career

Benaglio is a member of the Swiss national team and was called up to the squad for the 2006 World Cup. During this competition he was third choice goalkeeper behind Pascal Zuberbühler and Fabio Coltorti. With consistently good performances in 2008, he was promoted to first choice goalkeeper for Euro 2008 in his home country.

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.

Switzerland is co-hosting Euro 2008 making it their third appearance in the competition.

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
Goalkeepers
1	GK	Diego Benaglio	September 8, 1983 (1983-09-08) (age 24)	12	0	VfL Wolfsburg
18	GK	Pascal Zuberbühler	January 8, 1971 (1971-01-08) (age 37)	50	0	Neuchâtel Xamax
21	GK	Eldin Jakupovi?	October 2, 1984 (1984-10-02) (age 23)	0	0	Grasshopper-Club Zürich
Defense
2	DF	Johan Djourou	January 18, 1987 (1987-01-18) (age 21)	17	1	Arsenal F.C.
3	DF	Ludovic Magnin	April 20, 1979 (1979-04-20) (age 29)	50	3	VfB Stuttgart
4	DF	Philippe Senderos	February 14, 1985 (1985-02-14) (age 23)	28	3	Arsenal
5	DF	Stephan Lichtsteiner	January 16, 1984 (1984-01-16) (age 24)	12	0	OSC Lille
13	DF	Stéphane Grichting	May 30, 1979 (1979-05-30) (age 29)	18	0	AJ Auxerre
17	DF	Christoph Spycher	March 30, 1978 (1978-03-30) (age 30)	38	0	Eintracht Frankfurt
19	DF	Valon Behrami	April 19, 1985 (1985-04-19) (age 23)	16	2	S.S. Lazio
20	DF	Patrick Müller	December 17, 1976 (1976-12-17) (age 31)	78	3	Olympique Lyonnais
23	DF	Philipp Degen	February 15, 1983 (1983-02-15) (age 25)	30	0	Liverpool F.C.
Midfield
6	MF	Benjamin Huggel	July 7, 1977 (1977-07-07) (age 30)	25	0	FC Basel
7	MF	Ricardo Cabanas	January 17, 1979 (1979-01-17) (age 29)	49	4	Grasshopper-Club Zürich
8	MF	Gökhan Inler	June 27, 1984 (1984-06-27) (age 23)	17	1	Udinese
10	MF	Hakan Yak?n	February 22, 1977 (1977-02-22) (age 31)	66	15	BSC Young Boys
14	MF	Daniel Gygax	August 28, 1981 (1981-08-28) (age 26)	34	5	FC Metz
15	MF	Gelson Fernandes	September 2, 1986 (1986-09-02) (age 21)	8	0	Manchester City
16	MF	Tranquillo Barnetta	May 22, 1985 (1985-05-22) (age 23)	32	6	Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Forward
9	FW	Alexander Frei	July 15, 1979 (1979-07-15) (age 28)	59	35	Borussia Dortmund
11	FW	Marco Streller	June 18, 1981 (1981-06-18) (age 26)	28	11	FC Basel
12	FW	Eren Derdiyok	June 12, 1988 (1988-06-12) (age 19)	3	1	FC Basel
22	FW	Johan Vonlanthen	February 1, 1986 (1986-02-01) (age 22)	30	6	Red Bull Salzburg

There will be a total of 8 different stadia used to host the final matches on Euro 2008.

Austria

Innsbruck

Tivoli-Neu (help·info) is a multi-use stadium in Innsbruck, Austria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Wacker Tirol. The stadium holds 17,400 and was built in 2000. It will be expanded to 30,000 people for the 2008 European Football Championship.

Tivoli Neu was named after the original Tivoli stadium, which could be found on a different place next to the Sill River. It was closed down in 2004, four years after Tivoli Neu was opened.

Klagenfurt

Hypo-Arena (formerly known as Wörtherseestadion (help·info)) is a multi-use stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria. It is the home ground of SK Austria Kärnten.

The old stadium, known as the Wörtherseestadion, was built in 1960 and had a capacity of 10,900. It was demolished in 2005 and replaced by the new Hypo-Arena, also known until 30 June 2007 by the name “Wörtherseestadion”.

It will be one of the 8 stadiums hosting the 2008 European Football Championship, for which it was built to hold 32,000 spectators. After the event, the stadium will be reduced to the capacity of 12,500. The official opening was on 7 September 2007 and hosted a friendly between Austria and Japan in front of 26,500 spectators.
Salzburg

The EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim (help·info) is a football stadium in Wals-Siezenheim, a municipality in the suburb of Salzburg, Austria. It was officially opened in March 2003 and is the home ground of Red Bull Salzburg.

Its current seating capacity is 30,000. The stadiums previous capacity was 18,200, but was just recently expanded to 30,000 so it will be able to accommodate the 2008 European Football Championship.

The “EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim” is the only stadium in the Austrian Bundesliga which uses artificial turf. Polytan’s FIFA 2-Star Recommended 40mm surface Ligaturf with a 25mm elastic layer was installed in 2005.

Vienna

The Ernst Happel Stadium (Ernst-Happel-Stadion (help·info)) in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Austria’s capital Vienna, was known as the Prater Stadium (Praterstadion) prior to 1992. It was built between 1929 and 1931 for the second Workers’ Olympiad to the design of German architect Otto Ernst Schweizer. The stadium was renamed in honour of Ernst Happel following his death in 1992. It will host the Euro 2008 final on 29 June.

The Ernst Happel Stadium is the largest football stadium in Austria. It is the home of the Austrian national football team. Club football matches are generally limited to the domestic cup and international competitions featuring one of Vienna’s top clubs, FK Austria Wien and SK Rapid Wien, as their regular stadiums are too small to host UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches. Local derbies between FK Austria and SK Rapid have also been played in the stadium.

Although its current capacity is only 49,825, the stadium is rated one of UEFA’s Five Star Stadiums (normally 50,000+ capacity), permitting it to host the UEFA Champions League final. The seating capacity is being expanded to 53,008[1] for the 2008 European Football Championship, with the final to be held in the stadium. The stadium will also host 3 group games, 2 quarter final matches, semifinal and final. The attendance record of 92,706 for a match against the USSR was in 1960[2]. The capacity has since been reduced.

Notable matches held in the stadium

* 1995 UEFA Champions League final: Ajax 1 – 0 AC Milan
* 1990 European Cup final: AC Milan 1 – 0 Benfica
* 1987 European Cup final: FC Porto 2 – 1 Bayern München
* 1970 European Cup Winners Cup final: Manchester City F.C. 2 – 1 Górnik Zabrze

* 1964 European Cup final: Inter Milan 3 – 1 Real Madrid

For Euro 2008, the Ernst Happel Stadion will host 7 games: 3 group games, two quarter-finals ,one semi-final and the final.

Date	Time (CET)	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Spectators
8 June 2008	18.00	Austria	- – -	Croatia	Group B	53,000
12 June 2008	21.00	Austria	- – -	Poland	Group B	53,000
16 June 2008	21.00	Austria	- – -	Germany	Group B	53,000
20 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	quarter-finals	53,000
22 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	quarter-finals	53,000
26 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	semi-final	53,000
29 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	final	53,000

Panorama

Switzerland

Basle

St. Jakob Park (help·info) is a Swiss sports stadium. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. “Joggeli”, as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 38,500 seats.[1] The capacity has now been increased to 42,500 for the Euro 2008, which is hosted in Switzerland and Austria.[2]

The stadium is divided into four main blocks, A, B, C and D, each block covering one side of the stadium, and block G, consisting of the upper balcony added later. St. Jakob Park is a fairly new stadium; construction started on the 13 December 1998, replacing the former St. Jakob Stadium. The re-opening game took place 15 March 2001. The “Genossenschaft S.J.P” officially owns the stadium, while the stadium itself is managed by “Basel United”. The stadium cost around 220 million Swiss Francs to build. Within the stadium, there are 32 shops on three different floors, as well as two restaurants (the “Restaurant UNO” and “Hattrick Sports Bar”). The stadium has parking spaces for 680 cars on two different floors. The stadium can be reached either by bus, tram or train (the stadium has its own train station).

The stadium has been awarded 4 stars by UEFA, which is the highest amount of stars that can be awarded to a stadium of that size.

In 2006, there was a riot after a match between FC Basel and FC Zürich. See 2006 Basel Hooligan Incident for more details.

For Euro 2008, the St. Jakob Park will host 6 games - 3 group games (including the opening match), two quarter-finals and one semi-final.

Date	Time (CET)	Team #1	Result	Team #2	Round	Spectators
7 June 2008	18.00	Switzerland	- – -	Czech Republic	Group A	42,000
11 June 2008	21.00	Switzerland	- – -	Turkey	Group A	42,000
15 June 2008	21.00	Switzerland	- – -	Portugal	Group A	42,000
19 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	quarter-finals	42,000
21 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	quarter-finals	42,000
25 June 2008	21.00	not yet decided	- – -	not yet decided	semi-final	42,000

St. Jakob-Park

Berne

The Stade de Suisse Wankdorf is a football stadium in Bern, Switzerland. It is the home ground of the Swiss football team BSC Young Boys, and is currently the second biggest all-seater football stadium in Switzerland. The Stade de Suisse is one of the venues for the Euro 2008.

History

The Stade de Suisse was built on the grounds of the former Wankdorf Stadium, which had been demolished in 2001. The new stadium has a capacity of 32,000 spectators, all covered seats. Integrated into the roof are solar panels with a yearly production of 700,000 kWh. The stadium was officially opened on July 30, 2005, although the first match in the new stadium had already taken place on July 16 2005. Young Boys played against Olympique Marseille and lost 2-3 with 14,000 spectators watching. The match was considered an “infrastructure test”, which is why no more than 14,000 tickets were sold.

The stadium was used by FC Thun for three Champions League home matches in 2005, and for one home match in the UEFA Cup Round of 32 this year.

Geneva

Stade de Genève is a stadium in the greater Geneva, Switzerland area (located in Lancy, south of the city). It has a capacity of 30,084[1]. The stadium was completed in 2003 by Zschokke Construction S.A.[2] after nearly three years of construction. Normally the home venue of Geneva’s Servette FC, a Swiss football team, the stadium hosted international friendlies between Argentina and England on November 12 2005, which England won 3-2 and between New Zealand and Brazil on June 4, 2006, which Brazil won 4-0. The venue will also be used to host three group-stage matches for Group A during the next UEFA European Football Championship in 2008 (see Euro 2008).

The stadium was also used for rugby union, with a 2006-07 Heineken Cup clash between Bourgoin and Munster being moved from Bourgoin’s home ground.

Zurich

Letzigrund is a stadium in Zürich, Switzerland, and the home of the football club FC Zürich. It is also temporarily home to the football club Grasshopper-Club Zürich while their stadium (Stadion Zürich) is under construction. The annual athletics meet Weltklasse Zürich—part of the IAAF Golden League—takes place at the Letzigrund, as well as frequent open air concerts.

It opened February 22, 1925 owned by the FC Zürich football club. During the Great Depression, ownership changed to the city of Zürich in 1937 which has operated it since. It underwent extensive remodelling in 1947, 1958, 1973, and 1984. Lighting was added in 1973. The first open air concert was in 1996.

Of the 23,605 places, 11,605 have seats (9,167 covered) and 12,000 are covered standing area. The main pitch is 105 by 68 metres with athletics facilities. There are also three other playing fields: 2 lawns, 1 artificial turf and a small packed sand field. A bar and a restaurant are within the stadium.

In January 2005, UEFA approved plans to rebuild the stadium for use as a EURO 2008 venue. It is set to host 3 matches in the 2008 European Football Championship.

Tina Turner performed 2 sold-out performances at the stadium during her highly successful Twenty Four Seven Tour.

The new stadium was opened on August 30th 2007. The first sport event there was the annual Weltklasse Zürich on September 7th with 26500 spectators, the first football game was FC Zürich vs. Grasshopper Club Zürich on September 23rd. It will be host to three games during the 2008 European championships, with a capacity of up to 30,000.