Football Media

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From 7 to 29 June, Austria, together with Switzerland, is presenting the European Football (Soccer) Championship. Important information is available to all fans under http://www.sozialversicherung.at/ecguide/ so that the consequences of possible injury or sickness remain as minor as possible. Standing behind this information is the Austrian social insurance system that is responsible for Austria’s health care system, recognized as among the best in the world.

Via the internet address http://www.sozialversicherung.at/ecguide/ fans can already inform themselves of important steps to take in case anything should happen:

    - Will I be treated during my stay in Austria?
    - What is my legal insurance status?
    - Which documents should I take with me as a precaution?
    - Whom can I contact in Austria immediately in an emergency?
    - First aid dictionary for the most important expressions

In addition, there is general information about EURO 2008 and the host regions in Austria (Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt).

The guidebook is exceptionally easy to use and adapts personally to the user: Upon answering a few questions, it presents the visitor with information precisely tailored to his or her needs - and that in 34 European languages, from Icelandic to Greek, Russian to Montenegrin.

Austria’s Sozialversicherung, the Austrian social security system, is the foundation of social security in Austria. It is a legally established organization without commercial interests. With the introduction of the e-card for all Austrian insured persons, the Austrian social security system has earned a leading international role in the country-wide adoption and further development of e-health.

http://www.hauptverband.at

    For further questions, please contact:
    Main Association of Austrian Social Security Institutions
    (Hauptverband der österreichischen Sozialversicherungsträger)
    1030 Wien, Kundmanngasse 21-23
    Press Office
    Email: presse@hvb.sozvers.at

Source: Main Association of Austrian Social Security Institutions

4 Locations
Euro2008.com will operate from four offices in the four different countries during the Euro 2008 tournament.
1) International Broadcast centre in Vienna
2) Basel – base for the core editorial team
3) London – live commentary and logging services
4) Munich – organisation of mobile products throughout the tournament.
Satellite bureaus delivering the multilingual services will also operate from Cologne, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Riga and Hong Kong during the event.
10 Languages
English, Portuguese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
37 Correspondents
as part of the Host Broadcasting Operations, 21 correspondents and 16 ENG crews will be located in close proximity to the 16 competing teams, providing live reports and video interviews direct from the stadiums and training camps.
130 Journalists/Technical staff
There will be 130 journalists/correspondents, editors, producers, camera crews and interpreters on site, all help with content delivery, and the integration of the interactive community and personalised features.
30,000 Pages
30,000 individual pages will make up the site (excluding statistics and data pages as these are too numerous to count)

Delivering complete event coverage to European football fans across the globe
Produced by UEFA New Media Technologies (UMET), the official event website of UEFA EURO 2008â„¢, euro2008.com has been launched as part of a converged media offering for football fans. It can be found at www.euro2008.com.

euro2008.com delivers comprehensive coverage of the tournament to European football fans across the globe. The site is available in 10 languages – English, Portuguese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean – an increase of two languages from UEFA EURO 2004™.

The site is the result of a converged approach towards production, as UMET software solutions feed the host broadcast operations and also the web. The host broadcast operations will be a source of content for the web offering, and in turn, the web will be a source of content for the television production operations.

euro2008.com will become the natural focus for fans seeking official tournament news, squad announcements, injury updates and venue and travel information such as detailed information on all eight host cities, 3-D stadium maps, vodcast guides, journey planners and detailed mapping solutions.

The April release – marking 50 days until the start of the final tournament on 7 June - sees heavy emphasis on the history of the competition. Fans can use the graphic timeline to access extensive information on the 12 previous tournaments, including match reports on all 173 final tournament matches since 1960 and profiles and unique images of past winners and tournament stars.

The website will interlink video, audio text and photo content, and will be a forum for user participation by giving users the chance to leave comments and opinions on blogs and photo blogs as part of the ‘Fanzone’ section. Users can also share and rate photos uploaded to the site.

Users from around the world will be able to access euro2008.com/mobile on their mobile devices.

Visitors to the site will be able to personalise their experience online by drawing in official
euro2008.com news feeds to their personal page. There is also the capacity to push content onto existing social network pages, and download widgets to enable content taken from euro2008.com to be spread and shared across the internet.

euro2008.com also features a range of games provided by the official tournament sponsors: visitors can play fantasy football, tackle the video quiz challenge or vote for the goal of the day.

“The site offers multiple ways to experience UEFA EURO 2008â„¢ around the key concepts of participation by the fans and personalisation of the site for users,” said David Farrelly, Head of Web and Content at UEFA Media Technologies. “We will be inviting not only more interaction and participation, but also a range of possibilities for fans to customise the site according to their team, their location or their main interests.”

England dominates
The UEFA Champions League has seen an all-Spanish final – between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF in 1999/00 – and an all-Italian showcase – as AC Milan beat Juventus on penalties in 2002/03 – and the 2007/08 competition is destined to conclude with a Premier League success at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on 21 May unless Frank Rijkaard’s side can derail United over two legs.
Previous meetings
United won the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League final at Camp Nou, beating FC Bayern München with two late goals, but they have never beaten Barça on their home patch, losing 2-0 in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals, 4-0 in the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League group stage and drawing 3-3 there in the 1998/99 competition.
Second legs
Sir Alex Ferguson hoped his side would show a “really positive” approach in Catalonia, and will be confident of having something to play for in the second leg on 29 April. The aggregate winners will then have to wait 24 hours to know the identity of their final opponents, with Chelsea’s tie against five-time European Champion Clubs’ Cup winners Liverpool concluding at Stamford Bridge on 30 April.
Ballack’s dream
Liverpool have beaten Chelsea in two UEFA Champions League semi-finals already, 1-0 on aggregate in 2004/05, and on penalties after the two sides traded 1-0 wins last season. However, the London side do not lack determination, with midfielder Michael Ballack saying: “For ten years I think I’ve been playing in the Champions League and I want to win this competition.”