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Spain ended their 44-year wait for a major honour with a sparkling tournament from Xavi and a match-winning goal in the final from Fernando Torres

HOST COUNTRIES - AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND

Austria and Switzerland won the right to co-host Uefa's 13th European Championship, beating off competition from Greece and Turkey, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, Russia, Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and a four-way Nordic bid from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Euro 2008 was the second jointly-hosted tournament in the competition's history, Euro 2000 having been co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.

Eight venues were chosen for the 31 matches, four from each country. Each stadium had a capacity of at least 30,000 for the tournament, the largest being Austria's Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna (53,295), which accordingly hosted the final as well as all of Austria's group stage matches. Switzerland played all their group stage games at St Jakob Park in Basel, which also hosted the tournament's opening match.

The other Austrian venues were Klagenfurt (Hypo-Arena), Salzburg (Wals-Siezenheim-Stadion) and Innsbruck (Tivoli Neu). Switzerland's three other venues were in Bern (Stade de Suisse), Geneva (Stade de Geneve) and Zurich (Letzigrund), the latter being renovated when legal challenges meant Zurich's original choice of venue - the Hardturm stadium - could not be used. Ernst Happel Stadion and St Jakob Park were the only venues used for the seven matches in the knockout stage of the tournament.
 

QUALIFYING

IN THE NEWS IN 2008...

* Dmitry Medvedev takes office as President of Russia, succeeding Vladimir Putin * Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, triggering the global financial crisis * After three decades as chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down to focus on philanthropic work * At the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in gold medals won at a single Games, winning eight * Switzerland becomes the 25th European country to join the Schengen Agreement abolishing cross-border passport checks

Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified for the finals as co-hosts, meaning Austria would appear in the final tournament for the first time.

To fill the other 14 places, the winners and runners-up from seven groups qualified directly, so unlike in previous tournaments there were no play-offs between teams finishing in second place. Six qualifying groups contained seven teams; the other, Group A, contained eight.

Poland, who had not previously qualified for the finals, won Group A ahead of Euro 2004 runners-up Portugal. World Cup 2006 winners Italy (group winners) and France (runners-up) qualified from Group B. In the two games between the pair, France won 3-1 in Paris and the Milan meeting ended goalless.

Defending champions Greece won Group C seven points clear of runners-up Turkey, while in Group D the Czech Republic won the battle for top spot with Germany, who had to settle for second place.

The Czechs beat Germany 3-0 in Munich, four days after the Germans had become the first team in the entire qualification process to book their place in the finals (thanks to the point secured in a goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin).

Croatia won Group E, where the race to secure second place was tightly contested between Russia, England and Israel. Russia qualified one point ahead of the other two, with England's 3-2 home defeat by Croatia proving crucial (and also costing Steve McClaren his job as Three Lions manager). England became the only seeded team not to qualify for the finals; Russia the only unseeded country to qualify.

In Group F, Spain finished ahead of Sweden, despite losing 3-2 in Belfast to third-placed Northern Ireland, for whom David Healy scored a hat-trick. Group G saw Romania come first and the Netherlands edge out Bulgaria to take the second spot.

The overall competitiveness of the qualifying process was reflected by the fact that no team achieved an undefeated campaign. Northern Ireland's Healy was top-scorer in qualifying with 13 goals, followed by Eduardo of Croatia with 10.
 

FINAL TOURNAMENT

TOP SCORERS
David Villa Lukas Podolski R Pavlyuchenko Michael Ballack Ivan Klasnic Miroslav Klose B Schweinsteiger R van Nistelrooy	Nation             Spain Germany Russia Germany Croatia Germany Germany Netherlands	Goals 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2

Teams in groups A and B were separated from teams in groups C and D until the final, increasing the chance of a group fixture being replayed in the knockout stage, and making it impossible for the final to be between two teams drawn in the same half of the tournament.

Co-hosts Switzerland, whose captain Alexander Frei was injured in their first game, lost both their opening games and were eliminated, despite beating Group A winners Portugal in their third game. Simultaneously Turkey fought back from 2-0 down against the Czech Republic to win 3-2. Uncharacteristically, keeper Petr Cech fumbled to gift Nihat Kahveci the winner, while Turkey keeper Volkan Demirel was sent off for fouling Czech striker Jan Koller, with Turkey joining Portugal in the knockout stage.

In Group B, the other co-hosts, Austria, were involved in a decisive final game against neighbours Germany, who won 1-0. Euro 2008 thus became the first Championship in which no host nation reached the knockout stage. The Germans qualified along with group winners Croatia, who collected maximum points. Debutants Poland came fourth with a solitary point, the same as Austria.

Group C was dubbed the 'group of death', with Italy, France, Romania and the Netherlands competing for the two qualifying places. France collected just one point, from a goalless draw against Romania in their opening game. Italy beat Les Bleus on the final day to finish on four points and join the unbeaten Netherlands in the quarter-finals. The impressive Dutch beat Italy 3-0, France 4-1 and Romania 2-0.

With holders Greece flopping comprehensively in Group D - they lost three out of three - Russia beat Sweden in a final game decider to qualify along with Spain - who won all their three games, beating Russia 4-1, Sweden 2-1 and Greece 2-1.

In the quarter-finals, Portugal met Germany in a thriller that became coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's last game in charge before joining Chelsea, the Portuguese losing 3-2.

Turkey were involved in another dramatic match, Semih Senturk equalising in stoppage time at the end of extra-time against Croatia. The Turks then beat Slaven Bilic's team 3-1 on penalties.
Under Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, Russia knocked out the Netherlands by scoring twice in extra-time through Dmitri Torbinski and Andrey Arshavin.
 
In the fourth quarter-final Spain and Italy drew 0-0 after extra-time, Spain advancing 4-2 on penalties with Cesc Fabregas hitting the decisive spot-kick.

Turkey's volatile tournament ended in semi-final defeat at the hands of Germany. Handicapped by the unavailability of nine of their squad through injury or suspension, Turkey went ahead through Ugur Boral. Bastian Schweinsteiger quickly equalised, before Miroslav Klose put Germany ahead 11 minutes from time. Semih levelled for Turkey on 86 minutes, only for Philipp Lahm to strike Germany's winner in the 90th minute.

Although the match was played in Switzerland, a thunderstorm at the broadcasting relay station in Austria intermittently disrupted global television coverage, preventing the broadcast of Klose's goal.

The other semi-final was emphatically won by Spain, whose 3-0 victory over Russia was achieved with second-half goals from Xavi, Daniel Guiza and David Silva. Spain therefore reached a major final for the first time in 24 years.
 

THE FINAL Germany 0-1 Spain

Spain became European champions for the first time since 1964, a first-half goal by Fernando Torres proving enough to beat Germany in an entertaining final in Vienna.
 
The Germans were seeking their fourth European title, and their captain Michael Ballack started despite a calf problem. But a thigh injury ruled leading scorer David Villa out of Spain's attack. Cesc Fabregas, having performed well in the semi-final, was rewarded with a starting place.
 
After a promising start by Germany it was Spain who looked the more threatening, and goalkeeper Jens Lehmann – at 38 the oldest player to appear in a European Championship final – produced an instinctive save when team-mate Christoph Metzelder inadvertently deflected Andres Iniesta's cross towards his own goal.
 
Torres headed against the post before breaking the deadlock in the 33rd minute. The influential Xavi slipped a pass in behind Germany's defensive line and Torres shrugged off Philipp Lahm to chip the ball over Lehmann's dive and inside the far post.
 
Spain looked capable of adding to their lead and went close to doing so on a number of occasions, but Germany were still a threat and nearly equalised when substitute Marcell Jansen and Bastian Schweinsteiger linked up for Ballack to fire in a shot that was just a whisker away.
 
Klose then deflected Schweinsteiger's shot past the post, prompting Spain coach Luis Aragones to bolster his midfield by sending on Xabi Alonso and Santi Cazorla for Fabregas and David Silva.
 
Spain reasserted control and peppered Germany's goal in the closing stages, Marcos Senna nearly scoring when substitute Daniel Guiza unselfishly set him up. Although they could not carve out a second goal, they were nevertheless delighted to win 1-0 and confirm their rapidly growing stature in European and world football.
 

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT

Veteran midfield playmaker Xavi was the outstanding performer at Euro 2008, where the vision, intelligence, accuracy and incision of his distribution shone in a team whose trademark is their fluent passing style.

Xavi's European tournament triumph was part of a rich seam of consistent excellence that has seen him harvest a host of rewards for both Barcelona - on whose books he has been since the age of 11 - and Spain, with whom he went on to win the World Cup in 2010.
 
During the 2010 World Cup he achieved an 89 per cent pass completion rate, having attempted 669 passes during Spain's seven matches and successfully completed 599 of them. In March 2011 Xavi won his 100th cap for his country as Spain beat the Czech Republic 2-1 at home in a Euro 2012 qualifier.
 
In club football he has won the Champions League three times, has six Liga titles to his name, and remains at the heart of Pep Guardiola's dazzling side that famously won an unprecedented Spanish treble, culminating in a record six trophies - the sextuple - in one calendar year.

MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT

Fernando Torres had just enjoyed a sensational first season in English football - winning universal praise for his 33 goals for Liverpool in 46 appearances across all competitions - and his speed of thought and movement. His confidence and form were all sky high when he linked up with Spain for Euro 2008. It all came together smoothly as he ran on to Xavi's astute pass in the final and lifted the ball deftly over the diving Jens Lehmann into the net.
 

MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT Turkey 2-3 Germany

For sheer drama there was little to compare with Turkey's brave attempt to reach the Euro 2008 showpiece; they finally succumbed to Germany in a gripping semi-final - but only at the very end. A 90th-minute strike from Philipp Lahm proved decisive and left the Turks no time to conjure yet another dramatic equaliser - the hallmark of their Euro 2008 adventure.
 
Semih Senturk had already taken them to the verge of extra-time with an 86th-minute effort, but Lahm's great finish from a Thomas Hitzlsperger pass finally knocked out Fatih Terim's team. Unusually, they had actually taken the lead when Ugur Boral scored after 22 minutes, but Bastian Schweinsteiger soon cancelled out that strike. Then Miroslav Klose put Germany ahead on 79 minutes to set up that frenetic climax.

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