Euro 2008

Romania land Group of Death - Euro 2008 Draw

By Mike Martin ⋅ December 2, 2007 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Romania’s reward for qualifying for their first major tournament in eight years is a place in the ultimate European Championship Group of Death along with World Cup finalists France and Italy, as well as group seeds Holland.

Holland, who will be based in Swiss capital Berne, were the fourth seeded team along with co-hosts Switzerland and Austria and holders Greece, although such was the random spread of the big nations throughout the four pots the advantage was negligible.

Switzerland will play the Czech Republic in the opening match in Group A, which also contains Portugal and Turkey. Sparks could fly in Basel on 11th June as Switzerland face Turkey in a re-match of the World Cup playoff in Istanbul that ended with violent scenes that led to Turkey playing their first four Euro 2008 home qualifiers in an empty stadium in Frankfurt.

There are plenty of local ‘derbies’ in Group B, where Austria will face Croatia, Poland and Germany, while holders Greece are in a remarkably similar group to theirs in Euro 2004, again meeting Russia and Spain with Sweden completing the line-up.

Group A:
June 7: Switzerland v Czech Republic (Basel), 5pm
June 7: Turkey v Portugal (Geneva), 7.45pm
June 11: Czech Republic v Portugal (Geneva), 5pm
June 11: Switzerland v Turkey (Basel), 7.45pm
June 15: Czech Republic v Turkey (Geneva), 7.45pm
June 15: Portugal v Switzerland (Basel), 7.45pm

Group B:
June 8: Austria v Croatia (Vienna), 5pm
June 8: Poland v Germany (Klagenfurt), 7.45pm
June 12: Croatia v Germany (Klagenfurt), 5pm
June 12: Austria v Poland (Vienna), 7.45pm
June 16: Croatia v Poland (Klagenfurt), 7.45pm
June 16: Germany v Austria (Vienna), 7.45pm

Group C:
June 9: France v Romania (Zürich), 5pm
June 9: Holland v Italy (Berne), 7.45pm
June 13: Italy v Romania (Zürich), 5pm
June 13: Holland v France (Berne), 7.45pm
June 17: Italy v France (Zürich), 7.45pm
June 17: Romania v Holland (Berne), 7.45pm

Group D:
June 10: Russia v Spain (Innsbruck), 5pm
June 10: Greece v Sweden (Salzburg), 7.45pm
June 14: Sweden v Spain (Innsbruck), 5pm
June 14: Greece v Russia (Salzburg), 7.45pm
June 18: Sweden v Russia (Innsbruck), 7.45pm
June 18: Spain v Greece (Salzburg), 7.45pm

All matches will be shown live in the UK on BBC One and ITV1, except when final matches in each group are played simulaneously.

—

By Mike Martin
mjefm@hotmail.com

Tags: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Euro 2008, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

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