UEFA Ditch Euro Play-Offs
At their meeting in Tallinn yesterday, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to dispense with the Play-Off format for the Euro 2008 championships.At their meeting in Tallinn yesterday, the UEFA Executive Committee has decided to dispense with the Play-Off format for the Euro 2008 championships.
The qualifying phase for Euro 2008, which begins in the autumn of 2006, will consist of one group of eight teams and six groups of seven. Co-hosts Austria and Switzerland will qualify automatically along with the winners and runners-up of the seven qualifying groups.
The format for Euro 2004 in Portugal involved ten group winners qualifying for the final tournament, along with the host country and the winners of five qualifying Play-Offs (Holland, Spain, Croatia, Latvia and Russia). No qualifying play-offs will be staged for Euro 2008.
The Executive Committee also decided that the 2006 Champions League Final will be played at the Stade de France in Paris while the Olympic Stadium in Athens will host the 2007 final.
The Stade de France staged the final in 2000 when Real Madrid beat Valencia. Athens’s Olympic Stadium will be hosting its first European final since being rebuilt for the 2004 Games.
The 2006 UEFA Cup final will be held at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven. The 2007 final will be at Glasgow’s Hampden Park, which hosted the 2002 Champions League final.
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