The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA. It took place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 to 29 June 2008.
Kim Milton Nielsen is a Danish former international football referee. An IT manager by trade, Nielsen is noted for his impressive height of 1.96 m, making him taller than most players. Nielsen began refereeing at 15 years of age, as he wanted to know the Laws of Football. A decade later, he began taking charge of Danish top-flight games, and he was awarded his FIFA international badge in 1988 when he was still in his late 20s.
Howard Melton Webb MBE is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.
Roberto Rosetti is an Italian former football referee. He is fluent in Italian (native), English and French. He started refereeing in 1983, and took charge of his first match in the Italian Serie A in 1996. He received his FIFA Badge in 2002. Aside from his refereeing duties, Rosetti works as director of a hospital.
Massimo Busacca is a Swiss former football referee, who is FIFA Director of Refereeing, overseeing the protection of football’s core values and the continuous improvement of the game through the development of match officials and referee coaches. He lives in Monte Carasso, Ticino, Switzerland, near Bellinzona.
Peter Fröjdfeldt is a former top Swedish football referee.
Manuel Enrique Mejuto González is a Spanish former football referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final between Liverpool and Milan. He also officiated two matches in the Euro 2004 in Portugal. In European club competition, he has refereed three UEFA Cup matches and thirty-seven UEFA Champions League matches in his career.
Craig Alexander Thomson is a Scottish former football referee, who was a match official between 1988 and 2019. Thomson originates from Paisley, Renfrewshire.
Group D of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 10 to 18 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Austria, in Innsbruck and Salzburg. The group was composed of UEFA Euro 2004 winners and reigning champions Greece, as well as Sweden, Spain and Russia. Greece, Spain and Russia had all been drawn together in the same group in the previous European Championship as well.
The knockout stage of the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League began on 19 February 2008, and concluded on 21 May 2008 with the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The knockout stage involved the 16 teams who finished in the top two in each of their groups in the group stage.
Pieter Vink is a former Dutch football referee, who also officiated for FIFA and UEFA. He was the first referee to take charge of a match at the "New Wembley Stadium" in 2007. His other occupation was as a police officer, eventually giving this up to become a full-time referee. His main other hobby is golf.
The 1996 UEFA European Under-16 Championship was the 14th edition of UEFA's European Under-16 Football Championship. Players born on or after 1 August 1979 were eligible to participate in this competition. Austria hosted the championship, during 29 April – 11 May 1996. 16 teams entered the competition, and Portugal defeated France in the final to win the competition for the third time. Portugal was the first team to win the title two years in a row.
The knockout stage of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League featured the 16 teams who finished in the top two positions in each of the eight groups in the group stage. It was played as a single-elimination tournament, with ties in the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals played over two legs. The first matches of the round of 16 were played on 21 February 2006 and the final was played on 17 May 2006 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France.
Russia have participated in twelve UEFA European Championships, the second-most among all participants of the Euro after Germany, equalled to Spain, five of which were as the Soviet Union and one of which was representing the CIS. As the Soviet Union, their best performance was becoming champions in the inaugural 1960 edition in France, while their best performance as Russia came in the 2008 tournament held in Austria and Switzerland, when they reached the semi-finals.
Cüneyt Çakır is a Turkish former football referee. He is best known for refereeing the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus and Barcelona. He was FIFA listed since 2006 and a member of the UEFA Elite since 2010 until his retirement. He is currently serving as head of the Refereeing Department of the Georgian Football Federation.
Björn Kuipers is a former Dutch football referee. He has been a FIFA listed referee from 2006 to 2021 and an UEFA Elite group referee from 2009 to 2021. He was assisted during international matches by Sander van Roekel and Erwin Zeinstra. A supermarket owner by occupation, Kuipers has officiated at two World Cups and three European Championship tournaments. It was announced on 29 July 2021 that Kuipers would be retiring from refereeing, officiating his final match between Ajax and PSV on 7 August in the 2021 Johan Cruyff Shield.
Clément Turpin is a French football referee. He has been a FIFA listed referee since 2010, and an UEFA Elite group referee since 2012. Turpin has received several accolades for his work as a referee. He also works as a physical education teacher in France.
Orel Grinfeld is an Israeli football referee. He has been on the FIFA list of international referees since 2012, and took charge of his first international matches in March that year, officiating in two Group 1 matches in the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round. He has since gone on to referee senior matches, making his debut in the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2015–16. He made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 2018–19 group stage game between Real Madrid and Viktoria Plzeň. In 2019–20 season, he became the first Israeli referee to officiate a game in the UEFA Champions League knockout stage, in a last 16 game between Lazio and Bayern Munich. He was not selected for the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament due to his controversial performance on the 14th of March 2024 during the Aston Villa - Ajax game in the UEFA Conference League round of 16, where he refused sending off Aston Villa players Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers.
François Letexier is a French football referee who officiates in the Ligue 1. He has been a FIFA referee since 2017 and is ranked as a UEFA elite category referee.
Glenn Nyberg is a Swedish football referee. He became professional referee in 2008, has been an Allsvenskan referee since 2013 and a full international referee for FIFA since 2016.
