European Championships Tickets
Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland: Small Stadiums, Big Problems
English, German and Dutch fans could miss out on seeing this major football tournament due to insufficient capacity in the grounds of the host cities.
The qualification for football’s 2008 European Championships is still underway, with big sides such as England and Spain in danger of not making it to the finals in Switzerland and Austria, but it’s worth looking at getting tickets to tournament matches early.
Giving the Euro 2008 tournament to Switzerland and Austria may eventually prove to be a very foolish decision by UEFA. It will doubtlessly be organised spotlessly, but there is one problem with the eight host cities – the stadiums are just too small.
European Championships Tickets - Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland: Stadiums in the host cities.
The eight stadiums in Switzerland and Austria that will host matches during Euro 2008 are as follows:
St Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland: Capacity 42,500
Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Berne, Switzerland: Capacity 32,000
Stade de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland: Capacity: Capacity 32,000
Letzigrund Stadion, Zurich, Switzerland: Capacity 30,000
Tivoli Neu Stadion, Innsbruck, Austria: Capacity 30,000
Wörthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria: Capacity 32,000
Walz Siezenheim Stadium, Salzburg, Austria: Capacity 30,000
Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna, Austria: Capacity 53,000
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that these capacities are rather on the small side for a tournament that millions of fans across Europe will want tickets for. Only two of them – Basel’s St Jakob-Park and Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium – are anything like big enough for a tournament of Euro 2008’s magnitude. Even then, fans would be being reasonable to expect the semi-finals and final to be played in something bigger.
European Championships Tickets - Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland: The Group Stages
Even more barmy is the fact that these two stadiums are only hosting Austria and Switzerland’s group matches. Obviously the home support will be the biggest, but there is a nightmare scenario of the sides with the biggest travelling support being drawn separately and having to play in stadiums that are smaller than the average league stadiums in their home country.
Imagine, for example, that Germany, Holland and England are all drawn in the same group. These three nations are the ones that traditionally bring the biggest travelling support. The carnage that could ensue if the English and Germans are left to fight it out for 30,000 tickets in a stadium such as those in Klagenfurt and Zurich doesn’t bear thinking about.
The two countries are also bordered by France, Italy and the Czech Republic, so travel will be simple for the legions of supporters from those countries. How the Swiss and Austrian authorities and organising committees cope with this issue will be interesting to see.
