Media Release Date: 13/04/2004 Communiqué aux médias No. 054 Medien-Mitteilung

Open Media Day with all EURO 2004™ referees

Pierluigi Collina, , and Lubos Michel to launch joint UEFA – ICRC campaign during pre-tournament seminar near Porto

The twelve referees, twenty-four assistant referees and four 4th officials appointed for the final tournament of the UEFA European Football Championship, which kicks off in barely eight weeks time, are to meet for a pre-tournament preparatory seminar from Monday 26 to Thursday 29 April. The venue will be the Hotel Solverde at São Felix da Marinha, near Porto, which will be the match officials’ headquarters during the final tournament.

The final morning of the seminar will be open to the media and will mark the official launch of the joint UEFA/International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) campaign which, for the first time, is being pegged to the final tournament of a European Football Championship. Four of the referees – , Anders Frisk, Markus Merk and Lubos Michel – are acting as Ambassadors for the campaign which is aimed at protecting children in war. Last month, the latter three travelled to Sierra Leone on a field mission to see for themselves the importance of the work being done by the ICRC to reunite war-torn families and rehabilitate children who were caught up in the war. At the seminar, they will be available to relate their experiences and explain what the ‘Protect Children in War’ campaign is all about.

This means that the Open Day on Thursday 29 April will bring together the two themes: UEFA EURO 2004™ and the joint UEFA/ICRC campaign.

The Open Day will kick-off with a training session - from 09.15 to 10.15 local time on the pitch adjacent to the Hotel Solverde – which media representatives are welcome to attend.

Then, starting at 11.00 local time, there will be Press Conferences related to the two themes of the day. The first Press Conference, featuring and Ken Ridden, chairman and vice-chairman of UEFA’s Referees’ Committee, will deal with the general organisation of refereeing matters during UEFA EURO 2004™ and the technical instructions issued to match officials.

The second Press Conference, related to the UEFA/ICRC campaign, will feature UEFA’s Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson, Euro 2004, S.A. chairman Gilberto

Madaíl, Yves Daccord, ICRC Director of Communication and the four referees who are acting as Ambassadors. They will officially launch the UEFA/ICRC campaign.

Once the official launch has been concluded, media representatives will have opportunities for one-to-one interviews, with the four Ambassadors available in the three studios which have been set up in the hotel.

They and the other referees will also be available for interviews in other rooms, where a maximum of five reporters will be able to share a table with the referee of their choice. Many of them have already expressed their support for the ‘Protect Children in War’ effort, among them English referee who publicised the campaign when he officiated at the final of the League Cup.

In order to organise the Open Day in the best way possible and to give media representatives optimal chances of conducting the interviews they would like to make, reporters are asked to complete the attached accreditation application form. It is important to indicate whether you wish to attend the training session and whether you would like to conduct one-to-one interviews with any of the referees selected for the final tournament.

As stated on the application form, the deadline for requests to be received by UEFA is noon on Thursday 22 April.

APPLICATION FOR MEDIA ACCREDITATION

EURO 2004™ Referees Seminar

Thursday 29 April 2004 at 11:00 local time Hotel Solverde – S. Felix da Marinha –

To be sent to UEFA by fax: + 41 – 22 – 994 37 37 before Thursday 22 April 2004 at 12 noon

I will attend the Press Conference at Hotel Solverde on Thursday 29 April 2004

Name: ------

Media: ------

Address: ------

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Tel: ------

Fax: ------

E-mail ------

I will attend as (please mark with an X):

Written Press [ ]

Photographer [ ]

Radio Reporter [ ]

TV Reporter [ ]

TV Cameraman [ ]

TV Technician [ ]

I will attend the training session [ ]

For TV and Radio stations

I would like to make one-to-one interviews with – please mark your priorities, for example, Pierluigi Collina (1), Markus Merk (2), Anders Frisk (3), Lubos Michel (4) etc. as you might not be able to interview all 12 EURO 2004 Referees.

Pierluigi Collina [ ]

Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista [ ]

Anders Frisk [ ]

Terje Hauge [ ]

Valentin Ivanov [ ]

Urs Meier [ ]

Manuel Enrique Mejuto González [ ]

Markus Merk [ ]

Lubos Michel [ ]

Kim Milton Nielsen [ ]

Michael Riley [ ]

Gilles Veissière [ ]

Signature: ------