UEFA Euro 2008 Final

The UEFA Euro 2008 Final was a football match that took place on 29 June 2008 at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, Austria, to determine the winner of the UEFA Euro 2008. Spain defeated Germany 1–0 with a 33rd-minute goal from Fernando Torres. This was only the second time in European Championship history that the champions had won every match in the group stage; the other team to do so was France in 1984. Spain were also the first team since Germany in 1996 to win the tournament undefeated. Despite the one-goal margin of victory, it was a fairly dominant performance by Spain.[5]

UEFA Euro 2008 Final

Match programme cover
Event	UEFA Euro 2008
Germany Spain 0 1
Date	29 June 2008
Venue	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
Man of the Match	Fernando Torres (Spain)[1]
Referee	Roberto Rosetti (Italy)[2]
Attendance	51,428[3]
Weather	Sunny 27 °C (81 °F) 44% humidity[4]

The tournament's closing ceremony was held immediately prior to kickoff, and featured 400 performers,[6] including Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias, singing the tournament's official song, "Can You Hear Me".[7]

Venue

Ernst-Happel-Stadion

Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, the largest stadium of the eight Euro 2008 venues, hosted UEFA Euro 2008 final match on 29 June 2008.[8][9]

Opened in 1931, the Ernst-Happel-Stadion was built for the second Workers' Olympiad. Serving as the national stadium, the Ernst-Happel-Stadion hosted numerous Champions League finals, including final between Internazionale and Real Madrid (3–1) in 1964, Porto versus FC Bayern (2–1) in 1987, AC Milan versus Benfica (1–0) in 1990, and Ajax versus AC Milan (1–0) in 1995.[8]

It has a capacity of 50,865 seats which was increased to 53,000 by the first and second place additional rows of seats during the preparation for UEFA Euro 2008.[8]

In addition to football, the Ernst-Happel-Stadion hosted 1995 European LC Championships, the final game of American Football World Championship in 2011, the three game of the final stage of the 13th European Championship of American Football and other athletics, cycling and tennis events.[10]

Route to the final

Germany		Round	Spain
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Poland	2–0	Match 1	Russia	4–1
Croatia	1–2	Match 2	Sweden	2–1
Austria	1–0	Match 3	Greece	2–1
Group B runner-up Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Croatia 3 9 2  Germany 3 6 3  Austria (H) 3 1 4  Poland 3 1 Source: UEFA (H) Host.		Final standings	Group D winner Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Spain 3 9 2  Russia 3 6 3  Sweden 3 3 4  Greece 3 0 Source: UEFA
Opponent	Result	Knockout phase	Opponent	Result
Portugal	3–2	Quarter-finals	Italy	0–0 (aet) (4–2 pen.)
Turkey	3–2	Semi-finals	Russia	3–0

Match

Details

29 June 2008

20:45 CET (UTC+1)

Germany	0–1	Spain
	Report	Torres  33'

Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna

Attendance: 51,428[3]

Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

Germany[4]

Spain[4]

GK 1 Jens Lehmann RB 3 Arne Friedrich CB 17 Per Mertesacker CB 21 Christoph Metzelder LB 16 Philipp Lahm  46' CM 8 Torsten Frings CM 15 Thomas Hitzlsperger  58' RW 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger AM 13 Michael Ballack (c)  43' LW 20 Lukas Podolski CF 11 Miroslav Klose  79' Substitutions: DF 2 Marcell Jansen  46' FW 22 Kevin Kurányi  88'  58' FW 9 Mario Gómez  79' Manager: Joachim Löw

GK 1 Iker Casillas (c)  43' RB 15 Sergio Ramos CB 4 Carlos Marchena CB 5 Carles Puyol LB 11 Joan Capdevila DM 19 Marcos Senna RM 6 Andrés Iniesta CM 8 Xavi CM 10 Cesc Fàbregas  63' LM 21 David Silva  66' CF 9 Fernando Torres  74'  78' Substitutions: MF 14 Xabi Alonso  63' MF 12 Santi Cazorla  66' FW 17 Dani Güiza  78' Manager: Luis Aragonés

Man of the Match: Fernando Torres (Spain)[1] Assistant referees:[2] Alessandro Griselli (Italy) Paolo Calcagno (Italy) Fourth official: Peter Fröjdfeldt (Sweden)

Match rules[11] 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of three substitutions.

Statistics

First half[3] Germany Spain Goals scored 0 1 Total shots 2 6 Shots on target 1 3 Ball possession 48% 52% Corner kicks 4 3 Fouls committed 10 9 Offsides 0 2 Yellow cards 1 1 Red cards 0 0

Second half Germany Spain Goals scored 0 0 Total shots 2 7 Shots on target 0 4 Ball possession 54% 46% Corner kicks 0 4 Fouls committed 12 10 Offsides 5 2 Yellow cards 1 1 Red cards 0 0

Overall[3] Germany Spain Goals scored 0 1 Total shots 4 13 Shots on target 1 7 Ball possession 52% 48% Corner kicks 4 7 Fouls committed 22 19 Offsides 5 4 Yellow cards 2 2 Red cards 0 0

UEFA Euro 2008 Final Promotional display for the final in Vienna Spanish celebrations were not limited to Spain, but also extended to countries where a considerable amount of Spanish supporters were present. This picture was taken in Dublin (at the Spire) a few minutes after the match.

References

1. "Hero Torres completes honours list". UEFA.com. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
2. "Rosetti 'delighted' to referee final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 June 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
3. "Full-time report Germany–Spain" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
4. "Team Line-ups – Final – Germany-Spain" (PDF). Union of European Football Associations. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
5. "Germany 0–1 Spain". BBC Sport. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
6. "UEFA Euro 2008: Opening and closing ceremonies, fan entertainment in the stadiums" (PDF). Media Releases. euro2008.uefa.com. 28 February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
7. "Official UEFA Euro 2008 song: "Can You Hear Me" by Enrique Iglesias" (PDF). Media Releases. euro2008.uefa.com. 20 May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
8. Says, Wojciech. "Ernst Happel Stadion - Vienna - The Stadium Guide". Retrieved 9 December 2019.
9. "UEFA EURO 2008 - History - Germany-Spain". Uefa.com. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
10. "Ernst-Happel-Stadion – Wien Geschichte Wiki". www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
11. "Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2006/08" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 29 July 2014.

External links

• UEFA Euro 2008 official website