Group A of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 7 to 15 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Basel and Geneva. The group consisted of co-hosts Switzerland, UEFA Euro 2004 hosts and finalists Portugal, as well as the Czech Republic and Turkey. Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Türkiye were later drawn in same group in the UEFA Euro 2024. [1]
Portugal won their first two games against Turkey and the Czech Republic, scoring five goals in the process, to qualify for the quarter-finals as group winners. The second quarter-final berth was to go to the winners of the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic. As the two teams had identical records going into the game, if the match had finished as a draw, the quarter-final place would have been determined by a penalty shoot-out – what would have been the first group stage penalty shoot-out in a major international tournament. Meanwhile, Switzerland became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after losing to Turkey 2–1 in their second match, Arda Turan scoring a deflected winner in the last minute, having lost 1–0 to the Czech Republic in their opening match. [2] This match between Switzerland and Turkey was dubbed the "Bath of Basel" as the rain poured down incessantly. The weather suited the long-ball Swiss more than the short-passing Turks, and before half-time, the Swiss had capitalized on the conditions. Indeed, Hakan Yakin's goal stemmed from the ball stopping in a puddle and allowing him an easy finish. In the second half, Turkey's more direct style yielded two goals, the second a last-minute long-range shot from Arda Turan which went in off a deflection. This was the first of several last-gasp victories for the Turkish team at the tournament, made all the more impressive by their injury woes at that time.
The final round of matches saw the Portuguese name an under-strength team for their match against Switzerland, their progression already assured as group winners. Their opponents, however, fielded a strong side and won the match 2–0, securing their first win in a European Championship. [3] Meanwhile, with a place in the quarter-finals to play for, Turkey and the Czech Republic each had to win to qualify. The Czechs went into half time 1–0 up, and doubled their lead soon after half-time. Arda Turan brought the Turks back into the game in the 75th minute, before Petr Čech made an uncharacteristic error, dropping the ball at the feet of Nihat Kahveci, who was left with a simple finish. Boosted by the equaliser, Turkey went for the win, and two minutes later, Nihat curled the ball past Čech from 20 yards. Then, with just moments left to play, the Turkish goalkeeper Volkan Demirel pushed over the big Czech striker Jan Koller, resulting in a red card for the Turk. With no substitutions left, Turkey had to put Tuncay Şanlı in goal, but still managed to secure their place in the quarter-finals. [4] Tempers continued to boil over, as Milan Baroš was booked, despite having been on the bench for the whole game.
Draw position | Team | Pot | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | UEFA Rankings | FIFA Rankings June 2008 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 2007 [nb 1] | May 2008 [nb 2] | |||||||||
A1 | ![]() | 1 | Co-host | 12 December 2002 | 3rd | 2004 | Group stage (1996, 2004) | 19 | 16 | 44 |
A2 | ![]() | 2 | Group D winner | 17 October 2007 | 7th | 2004 | Winners (1976) | 4 | 3 | 6 |
A3 | ![]() | 3 | Group A runner-up | 21 November 2007 | 5th | 2004 | Runners-up (2004) | 8 | 5 | 11 |
A4 | ![]() | 4 | Group C runner-up | 21 November 2007 | 3rd | 2000 | Quarter-finals (2000) | 14 | 14 | 20 |
Notes
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 [lower-alpha 1] | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 [lower-alpha 1] | |
3 | ![]() | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 [lower-alpha 2] | |
4 | ![]() | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 [lower-alpha 2] |
In the quarter-finals,
Switzerland ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report |
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Switzerland [6] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Czech Republic [6] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [6] [7] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Portugal [9] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Turkey [9] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [9] [7] |
Czech Republic ![]() | 1–3 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
| Report |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Czech Republic [11] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Portugal [11] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [11] [7] |
Switzerland ![]() | 1–2 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
| Report |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Switzerland [13] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Turkey [13] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [13] [7] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Switzerland [15] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Portugal [15] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [15] [7] |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Turkey [17] | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Czech Republic [17] |
| ![]() |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees: [17] [7] |
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The final tournament was hosted for the first time in Portugal, from 12 June to 4 July 2004. A total of 31 matches were played in ten venues across eight cities – Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Lisbon, and Porto.
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.
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 July 2012, was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, and was won by Spain, who beat Italy in the final at the Olympic Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine.
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe organised by UEFA. It was held in France from 10 June to 10 July 2016. Spain were the two-time defending champions, having won the 2008 and 2012 tournaments, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy. Portugal won the tournament for the first time, following a 1–0 victory after extra time over the host team, France, in the final played at the Stade de France.
Group B of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 8 to 16 June 2008. All six of the group's matches were played at venues in Austria, in Vienna and Klagenfurt. The group was made up of four central European nations; co-hosts Austria, as well as Croatia, Germany and Poland. Austria and Poland were appearing in a European Championship finals for the first time.
Group C of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 9 to 17 June 2008. All six group matches were played at venues in Switzerland, in Zürich and Bern. The group was composed of 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists Italy and France, as well as the Netherlands and Romania. At the time of the draw, these countries' respective Elo rankings among European teams were 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8th, and as such the group had been dubbed the competition's "group of death".
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 UEFA Euro 2008 began with the quarter-finals on 19 June 2008, and was completed on 29 June 2008 with the final at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna.
The knockout stage of UEFA Euro 2012 began with the quarter-finals on 21 June 2012, and was completed on 1 July 2012 with the final at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv, won by Spain. After the completion of the group stage on 19 June 2012, eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals, which were played from 21 to 24 June 2012. Host nations Poland and Ukraine failed to qualify for the quarter-finals, making it only the third time in European Championship history that the host nation(s) failed to make it out of the group stage; at Euro 2000, co-host Belgium were eliminated at the group stage, and at Euro 2008, co-hosts Austria and Switzerland also failed to qualify for the quarter-finals.
The UEFA European Championship is one of the major competitive international football tournaments, first played in 1960. The finals stage of the tournament takes place every four years, with a qualifying competition beforehand. The sixteenth tournament was held across Europe in 2021.
The UEFA European Championship is one of the major competitive international football tournaments, first played in 1960, whose finals stage has been held every four years.
Poland have participated in five UEFA European Championships so far, all consecutively: Euro 2008, Euro 2012, Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
Portugal have participated in nine editions of the UEFA European Championship. Their first tournament was in 1984, and the side have advanced past the group stage in every edition they've participated in so far. Portugal have reached the semi-finals on five occasions, and reached the final as hosts in 2004, however losing to the heavy tournament underdogs Greece. They captured their first major tournament win after defeating hosts France 1–0 in the final of Euro 2016.
Turkey have participated at six UEFA European Championships so far, with an upcoming seventh appearance in 2032 as co-host; the first group stage they qualified for was Euro 1996. Their best European performance to date was reaching the semi-finals in 2008, after winning their quarter-final match against Croatia on penalties.
As the Czech Republic along with Slovakia are considered to be the successor team of Czechoslovakia by FIFA and UEFA, they have participated in eleven UEFA European Championships; three as Czechoslovakia and eight as the Czech Republic. As Czechoslovakia, they became European champions in 1976. As the Czech Republic, they have qualified for every European Championship that they have played qualifiers for and were runners-up at Euro 1996.
As of 2024, Switzerland have appeared at six UEFA European Championships, between 1996 and 2024. They have advanced past the first round three times, reaching the last 16 in 2016 and the quarter-finals in 2020 for the first time, before being eliminated by Spain on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time. They again made it to the quarter-finals in 2024 after defeating defending champions Italy 2–0, but were once again eliminated in the quarter-finals on penalties, this time by England.
Group D of UEFA Euro 2016 contained defending European champion Spain, Czech Republic, Turkey and Croatia. This Euro 2016 group was the only with two former European champions – Spain and Czech Republic. Matches were played from 12 to 21 June 2016.
The knockout stage of UEFA Euro 2016 began on 25 June 2016 and ended on 10 July 2016 with the final in Saint-Denis, France, near Paris.
The knockout stage of UEFA Euro 2020 began on 26 June 2021 with the round of 16 and ended on 11 July 2021 with the final at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Group F of UEFA Euro 2024 took place from 18 to 26 June 2024. The group contained Turkey, Georgia, Portugal and the Czech Republic. Turkey, Portugal, and the Czech Republic were drawn into the Group A of the UEFA Euro 2008.