Euro 2008

Following Euro 2004's epic results, the hype for this year competition has been on the rise; irrespective of England's failure to qualify.

One big reason for this was Euro 2004. This event was said to have changed football, due to Greece winning, and South Korea qualifying for the Semi-Finals. Big powers in football weren't guaranteed to do well anymore.

This year, it will take place in Austria and Switzerland, from the 7 June to 29 June 2008. The biggest event ever to take place there. The tournament promises to be very exciting, again because of the 2004 tournament. The 2004 event meant that Greece were seeded first, and some of the biggest teams didn't have to be separated anymore because of their failure previously. One very spicy draw is as follows:

Romania
Portugal
Germany
Spain.

Only two teams can go through, and Players like Ronaldo, Deco, Torres and Ballack will be involved. Furthermore, the winner or runner up of this group could be involved with France in the next round.

The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Football Championship, is named in honor of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years prior to the first tournament in 1960. Who is tipped to receive it this year? Well, big players are Portugal. They now have Nani, Ronaldo and Deco in their ranks, Ronaldo being the best player in the world at the moment. But interestingly, analysts at Switzerland's largest banks say they already know: The Czech Republic.

Now, onto England. I take a dim view of why they failed to qualify, sadly. I personally think they weren't good enough, It wasn't because of the pitch, or bad referees, it was simply because they weren't up to scratch. Mclaren didn't do his job, the players didn't perform, and, well, they didn't deserve to go through.

All in all the tournament promises to be very exciting, and personally, I can't wait for it to begin.