3.06 Including Draw in Montreux 03 Transitional season for the Under-21s 07 Anti-racism conference in Barcelona 10 European Club Forum 14 No 47 – March 2006 No 47 – March COVER IN THIS ISSUE Eleven questions for Mathieu Sprengers 09 The town of Montreux was decked out in the colours of EURO 2008 EURO 2008 qualifying draw 03 Second anti-racism conference 10 on 27 January to welcome the draw Tight schedule European Club Forum meets in Nyon 14 for the 2006–2008 European Foot- for the Under-21s 07 ball Championship qualifying competition. Referees prepare in Barcelona 08 News from member associations 16 PHOTO: UEFA-BOZZANI Don’tEditorial ruin the dream In itself, there is nothing very exciting about a draw: a few balls shuffled around and knocked together before being opened to divide the contestants into the different groups – and it’s all over in a matter of minutes! Draws for major competitions have, however, become keenly awaited events that are followed by millions of TV viewers, and the draw for the EURO 2008 qualifying competi- tion made in Montreux at the end of January was no excep- tion, drumming up all the excitement and anticipation that are part of such proceedings nowadays. The excitement that a draw generates is, of course, in proportion to the importance of the competition it relates to, but any ceremony of this kind is a special occasion, irrespective of the magnitude of the competition in question. For it is the only moment in the competition when everyone can dream: you know the name of your opponents but, whatever their reputation, nothing prevents you from dreaming of great exploits and believing in miracles – even if such miracles are unlikely in the harsh daylight of the competition. Dreams are an important part of football, and not only when draws are made. They feed the minds of countless young people who dream of following in the footsteps of their heroes; they take over the fans, who dream of seeing their team flying high at the top of the table, they distract from their daily preoccupations those for whom the football stadium is a hallowed place. We must not spoil those dreams by allowing harmful elements to taint our game. One such scourge is racism, which has just been the subject of a conference organised by UEFA in Barcelona. Words alone cannot eradicate this problem. A resolute attitude is needed too. Racism does not merit the slightest tolerance; it is up to all of us to condemn it and to do everything within our power to put a stop to it. Lars-Christer Olsson Chief Executive we care about football 02 uefadirect 3.06 EURO 2008 Preliminaries Qualifying round draw UEFA KNOWN AROUND THE WORLD FOR ITS ANNUAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, MONTREUX WAS EURO 2004 ONCE AGAIN TRANSFORMED INTO A HIVE OF ACTIVITY FOR THE FIRST TELEVISED EVENT OF EURO 2008. THE QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW WAS HELD AT THE TOWN’S Record CONGRESS CENTRE ON 27 JANUARY. audience For the first time in its history, qualifying matches for EURO 2004 and More than 7.9 billion the European Championship will the 2006 World Cup. people all over the world, involve 52 countries, which means all The top two teams in each of including over 1 billion in Asia, UEFA’s member associations will the seven groups will qualify for the watched the 31 EURO 2004 be taking part and setting a new final phase. matches. This figure illustrates record for the number of par- The qualifying matches will ticipants. Kazakhstan, a UEFA begin in autumn 2006 and the order the speed at which this compe- member since 2002, will be com- of fixtures, to be played on the dates tition has grown over the last peting for the first time. set in the calendar for international few years. Fifty nations split into seven matches, must be decided by the partici- “We hope that the 2008 groups will battle it out for the 14 pants in each group within 30 days of the tournament will trigger a remaining final round places. Tourna- draw. football boom in both host ment organisers Switzerland and Aus- The tournament’s opening match tria have qualified automatically. For will be played at the St. Jakob Park stadium countries, with long-lasting the draw, the 50 teams were divided in Basle, Switzerland on 7 June 2008, effects,” said the UEFA into seven pots in accordance with their with the final to be held at the Ernst Happel President. coefficients, calculated on the basis of stadium in Vienna, Austria on 29 June. 03 No one Left to right: could Ralph Zloczower, get in Stéphane Chapuisat, without Lars-Christer Olsson, a ticket! Andreas Herzog and Friedrich Stickler. UEFA GETTY IMAGES Draw in Montreux One event, many aspects The imagery Finally, suspended from the sure that it can be raised even further in Mountains, movement and emo- ceiling, five plasma screens show images 2008.” tion. The three elements that inspired the of the host cities and then of the draw He is followed on stage by official logo of EURO 2008 adorn the set. itself. Greece’s coach Otto Rehhagel, who tells The Henri Delaunay trophy sits the audience that “Since we won, every proudly on the courtyard side of the audi- The line-up opponent has taken us much more seri- torium. And what a line-up! Swiss ously. We are now treated as one of the On the garden side, seven green television presenter Jacques Deschenaux big guns and we will slowly have to get pots rest on a blue table. The green rep- acts as master of ceremonies. used to that.” resents the colour of the ball used in the He welcomes Lennart Johans- Next come Ralph Zloczower, logo, reflecting the importance of nature son, the UEFA President, onto the stage President of the Swiss Football Asso- in the region. for his opening speech. “The European ciation (ASF), and his Austrian counter- In the background, the image of Championship final round in Portugal part, Friedrich Stickler, followed by Lars- the Alpine summits serves as a reminder set new standards”, says the President, Christer Olsson, UEFA CEO, and two of the extraordinary panorama shared by “New standards in terms of the quality famous international players, Switzerland’s the two host nations. of matches, new standards in terms of Stéphane Chapuisat, UEFA Champions A red bridge soars above the organisation and record-breaking audi- League winner with Borussia Dortmund mountains, further underlining the coop- ences… The bar has been set high for in 1997, and Austrian Andreas Herzog, eration between the two countries. Switzerland and Austria, but we are 1996 UEFA Cup winner with Bayern Munich. The procedure is explained and the draw begins. TV production by UEFA Everything has been carefully prepared, timed and rehearsed the previ- UEFA Media Technologies SA, established by UEFA as a service ous day under the watchful eye of a company providing information technology developments, took respon- studio director. sibility for host broadcasting at the draw, i.e. capturing the images and producing the international The media signal. It appointed Swiss broad- Around 500 media represen- casting company SSR as executive tatives gathered on the shores of Lake producer and transmitted the Geneva: 178 from the written press, 31 photographers, 20 radio stations and images via satellite. no fewer than 250 TV personnel covered Seventy television channels the event. which had acquired the rights They were assisted by an 18- broadcast the images in 50 coun- person press service, including two press tries across the world. TV viewers relations officers, two TV and media in Asia, Australia and the United operations managers, eight press attachés States were therefore able to UEFA appointed for the event, three media watch the EURO 2008 qualifying draw. China also showed the draw live accreditation staff and three volunteers who came to lend a hand. and even sent a team to Montreux. Their task was enormous. As Another innovation was UEFA’s provision to TV broadcasters of soon as the media activities had been video highlights to be downloaded from the Internet and integrated into decided, suitable locations and equip- their news programmes. ment had to be chosen for each. A total Finally, the whole event was produced in HDTV format (high-defini- of seven fully equipped rooms were tion television). required for the national coaches’ press 04 uefadirect 3.06 Stéphane The show Chapuisat and of flashguns Andreas Herzog that goes pretend to fight with any over the trophy high-profile during the dress event. rehearsal. UEFA and a TV area covering more than 2,000 m2 for the satellite vans and generators. UEFA-BOZZANI The auditorium itself was equipped with a television studio for conferences, as well as a work room SSR, the official broadcaster, 16 sound- capable of holding up to 180 journalists, proof cabins for the commentators, a “flash interview” area for the two platforms for the photographers, coaches’ immediate reactions, a 600 m2 two more for the TV cameras and mixed zone for individual interviews, around 300 seats for the written press. UEFA Martin Kallen Chief Operating Officer (COO) The preliminary draw was an important step on the road to “the UEFA EURO 2008 final tour- nament for all the teams involved and the two host countries in their role as organisers. The out- come was very satisfactory for the host associations and UEFA. The next challenge will be to prepare the UEFA EURO 2008 tournament with all the parties involved, to have them dedi- cated and committed to the project and to have their full cooperation.