A Portuguese fan worried about his team - Photo Euro208 by Amir Rijaveck
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Portuguese Seleçao has confirmed that Ronaldo Cristiano will lead the squad in Geneva 9 February in the friendly match against Argentina, and football fans everywhere are preparing for the Swiss showdown between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Portugal and the South Americans have played only six times previously, with Argentina beating the Portuguese four times and tying once. Portugal has only been able to beat the Celeste once and that was back in 1972.
The game was moved to Geneva from London where it was originally scheduled to take place.
The last time Argentina played in Geneva was in 2005 when it was defeated by England 3-2 during a friendly.
International sports, football
In 2008 Portuguese fans in Geneva saw their team kicked out of the Euro Cup, the 2010 friendly could be their chance to make it up to their fans - Photo Euro208 by Amir Rijaveck
Update 20:00 / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – February 9 is the date for a battle of the famous when footballer Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and his national team face the world’s most valuable player in football, Lionel Messi from Argentina, and his squad.
Ronaldo, the highest paid soccer player in the world, and the Portuguese squad facing off with Messi, widely considered the best player of his generation, are expected to draw thousands of fans to the Stade de Genève.
The Portuguese living in Geneva made up an estimated seven percent of the city’s population in 2008.
The friendly will kick off at 20:00 on 9 February.
The game was moved to Geneva from London where it was originally scheduled to take place, a change confirmed by the official site of the Argentina football team.
The last time Argentina played in Geneva was in 2005 when it was defeated by England 3-2 during a friendly.
Euro 2012 football fever begins!
(GenevaLunch) – Swiss football fans are warming up for Switzerland’s first match against England on 7 September. The qualifying stage for the 2012 UEFA Euro Cup begins on 3 September around Europe. For the Swiss and English teams it begins on the 7th when they face off in Switzerland. Bulgaria, Montenegro and Wells round up the five teams in group G.
In an interview with SwissInfo, the Swiss coach said he looks forward to playing the English squad. “England is a great footballing nation. I’m already looking forward to this match,” he said.
Lausanne, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre) – The lack of hooliganism during the Euro 2008 football matches left what appears to be a sense of false calm, and over the weekend of 22-23 November football hooligans reappeared in small but armed numbers in Lausanne, Bern and Zurich.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Euro 2008 football cup will serve as a model for future large sports events and marked a turning point in terms of sustainability, a report on the event concludes. It praises Austria, Switzerland and the eight host cities for their efforts, pointing in particular to the 65-80 percent use of public transport, reusable drinks containers and solar panels, and good access for wheel chairs.
Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The police strikes that have reduced the number of small fines handed out by police in Vaud has come to an end, and while a similar slowdown in Geneva continues, talks between the city and its police force appear to be making headway.
Euro 2008 tears for police
Geneva, Switzerland (Tribune de Geneve, Fre) – Police in Geneva, like their colleagues in Lausanne, have agreed to stop handing out fines for minor infractions in protest against the city’s decision not to pay them an expected CHF2,500 bonus for their Euro 2008 work.
Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes/ATS, Fre) – Police in Geneva are billing the canton CHF12.1 million for their security work during the Euro 2008 games, a sum that covers more than three times the budgeted number of hours. Geneva had estimated that 40,000 hours of overtime would be needed; the police worked 125,000 extra hours, at 140% pay.
Zurich, Switzerland (TSR, text and video, Fre) - The Euro 2008 matches are a fading memory in the fans’ minds, but they are a healthy bit of black ink on the financial ledgers of the organizing body, UEFA: CHF2.15 billion in revenues, an increase of 50% over money taken in four years earlier in Portugal. With expenses of CHF1.7b, UEFA is left with CHF412 to finance junior and women’s programmes.
UEFA Direct, August issue, is available as a PDF and features a look back at the Euro 2008 championship, with statistics, a review of the matches and photos.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Euro 2008 fans are likely to guarantee that Switzerland remains well in the lead for European rail travel: the CFF reports that some two million football fans travelled on over 4,000 additional trains it put on, to watch the matches.
Vienna, Austria (GenevaLunch) - Spain has been crowned the European football champion for the second time since 1944.
Hands for Spain, photo @ Amir Rijavec
Fernando Torres scored the only goal in Vienna, Austria to defeat Germany in the final of the European Football Championship 2008. Spain had not made it past the quarter-finals of any competition in 24 years, yet this time around they became the undefeated team of the Cup.
It was 21 June 1944 when Spain beat the USSR squad 2-1. Luis Aragone’s men claimed the Henri Delaunay trophy for Spain against Germany, a squad that wanted to win their fourth European title. Germany has played in 13 finals in World and European Cups.
This was the first game in which Spain played with a counter-attacking strategy and did not dominate from the beginning. Aragones’ team only had 48 percent ball possession.
Thousands of revelers gathered in Plainpalais in Geneva, to celebrate Spain’s undefeated reign in an attendance record-breaking evening.
[Update, Monday] Details, swissinfo
Vienna, Austria (GenevaLunch) – Spain extended its unbeaten streak to 21 games and reached the Euro 2008 final with a 3-0 win against Russia in the European Football Championship. Russia had previously eliminated the Dutch, one of the favourites, but fell to the "bravio" of the Spanish squad.
Photo, Spanish fans in Geneva @ Amir Rijavec
Spain had not been one of the favourites to win the Euro Cup but against many odds it became the only undefeated team to make it to the semi-finals. Second-half goals from Xavi Hernández, Daniel Güiza and David Silva sends Spain through to a EURO 2008 final against Germany.
Spain coach Luis Aragonés was full of praise for his side’s "fantastic" performance after a dominant display against Russia took his team into the final of a major tournament for the first time in 24 years. Russian coach Guus Hiddink was generous in defeat and agreed Spain’s short passing game made the difference.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -
Advertising in Switzerland rose by a hefty 8.4% on an annual basis for
the month of May, according to figures published by Media Focus. A
large part of the boost comes from heavy spending on ads for drinks, probably linked to the Euro 2008 football
matches, the media observer notes.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Another fabulous match for Turkey, but unfortunately, the "comeback" kids could not overcome Germany and were eliminated 2-3.
Turkey’s coach, Fatih Terim, also known as "The Emperor" in his country, says he is very proud of his team but he will most likely go back to coaching a football club somewhere in Europe.
Miroslav Klose, who scored one of the goals for the German squad, says his team played with passion at the end and deserved to win. But, he says, "We didn’t want to play like this." Germany will play against the winner of the Spain vs Russia match this Sunday in Vienna.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Football fans are already flocking in to Basel for the last of the European Football Championship games to take place in Switzerland. At stake is the qualification for the finals that will take place 27 June in Vienna, Austria.
Photo @ Roi Shiratski
In this semi-final game, the "come-back" kids: Turkey will face the ever strong Germany. The Turks will play their first ever semi-final on the European stage. Turkey coach Fatih Terim says there are no miracles in football, rather "there are three results you can get: win, lose or draw" and Terim thinks Turkey can win tonight in Basel.
Photos: Basel city centre, @ Euro 2008 S.A.
Germany captain Michael Ballack, says his team is ready to face Turkey and does not underestimate their game. "How could we underestimate a team that beat Croatia? We lost against that team and did not look good doing so."
Let the knockout game begin, 20:45. This will be the last match to be played in the Confederation, the next games will be played in Vienna.
Basel, Switzerland (Reuters) – In one of the odder twists to the Euro 2008 Cup football games, Swiss railway CFF workers have switched from orange to yellow vests in Basel, a centre for Dutch fans during the championship. The change in 1,500 workers’ safety vests was made after a group of Dutch fans followed a worker wearing their national orange colour onto the tracks.
(GenevaLunch, by Nick Bates) – Spain beat Italy 4-2 on penalties after a dull 0-0 match went to extra time. The Spanish star was goalkeeper Iker Casillas who saved two penalties. On Saturday the attractive Dutch team was beaten 3-1 by Russia despite the support of the massive orange army of fans. Details: swissinfo
GenevaLunch would like to say thank you to the photographers who have been sharing their great Euro 2008 photos with us: you can see their images in our collection of Euro 2008 stories. While we are at it, a big thank you goes to the contributors who regularly share with us their views of life in the Lake Geneva region. Over the past few months, some 20 photographers from around the region have posted their photos here and they deserve a round of applause. See the entire collection by selecting Photos/Flickr from our menu at the top of the page, then view more of their great photography by clicking on their names or images. Welcome to the newest contributor, Genevajyc! You can see more images, mainly from the region, by GenevaLunch staff in our photo albums. Most of our images can be viewed larger by clicking on the image itself – try it with this poppy for a little nature break.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It was not the party that the Portuguese were hoping for: 3-2 was the score inflicted by Germany on the Lusitanians. 
Portuguese fans in Geneva, photos @ Amir Rijavec
The Portuguese were not the strong squad that they appeared to be in their first two games of the Euro 2008 championship although during the first 20 minutes they dominated. But it was the Germans who scored first. The German team took full advantage of its extra height by scoring two goals from free kicks. The final score was 3-2 and Germany becomes the first team to qualify for the semi-finals.
Switzerland (BBC) – Swiss television made an embarrassing blunder when it ran an obsolete verse of the German national anthem that has not been used officially since the end of the second world war. It apologized and said it was due to lack of research.
Innsbruck and Salzburg, Austria (GenevaLunch)
- Group D, the last to play in the first round, has sent the last
qualifying squad to the quarter-finals of the European Football
Championships. Russia won against Sweden at Innsbruck tonight 2-0.
Russian fans, photo @ c.koeltringer Sweden fans, photo @ soupflowers
A sad loss for Sweden that only had to draw to qualify while their opponents, Russia, had to win. It seems that a younger and livelier Russia handled pressure better or maybe simply understood they had to win to qualify, and so they did!
In Salzburg, Spain seemed to have something to prove. The Greeks scored in the first half against a Spanish team that seemed tired. However, in the second half, "la bravura" came back to draw and then win the game in the last minute. Greece had promised to play this last game for honour and for the fans, but they did not shine as they did in 2004 when they became the reigning champs of European football.
Spaniards celebrate in Geneva, photo @ Amir Rijavec
Let the knockout games finally begin!
- Thursday 19 June: Portugal vs Germany in Basel at 20:45
- Friday 20 June: Croatia vs Turkey in Vienna at 20:45
- Saturday 21 June: Netherlands vs Russia in Basel at 20:45
- Sunday 22 June: Italy vs Spain in Vienna at 20:45
Dutch decorations in Holland, @ Technicolor at flickr
Zurich and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Romania, a team that showed promise and heart during its performance at the European Football Championship, was eliminated tonight after a match against the undefeated and strong "clockwork orange." The Netherlands, already qualified, displayed a powerful defense, winning 2-0 in Bern.
Meanwhile in Zurich Italy, current world champions, sent France packing. "Les Bleus," second best team at the 2006 World Cup, had defender Eric Abidal sent off midway through the first half. The Azzuri then scored another goal sealing their victory against their rivals in the second half. 2-0 was the final score. France finished last in Group C. Italy will meet Group D winners Spain in Vienna 22 June.
Games for Wednesday 18 June in Austria and why they matter:
Two teams still have a chance to qualify for quarter-finals for Group D, but there is only one place remaining.
- Greece is out and Spain has already qualified which leaves Russia and Sweden searching for the golden spot.
- Sweden is ahead on goal difference, so they require only a draw to play against the Netherlands in Basel on 21 June.
- Russia must win to go through.
Quater-finals begin:
- Thursday 19 June: Portugal vs Germany in Basel at 20:45
- Friday 20 June: Croatia vs Turkey in Vienna at 20:45
- Saturday 21 June: Netherlands vs TBD in Basel at 20:45
- Sunday 22 June: Italy vs Spain in Vienna at 20:45
Klagenfurt & Vienna, Austria (GenevaLunch) - Croatia and Germany have qualified to quarter-finals of the European Football Championships.
A German free-kick ended the dream of Cup co-host Austria to qualify for the next round. Austria had to win tonight’s game and wait for the Poland-Croatia match to advance but instead the dream ended tonight in Vienna.
Meanwhile in Klagenfurt, Poland lost to Croatia 0-1. The Croatians concluded their performance in Group B undefeated. Their next game as group winners will be against Turkey in Vienna on 20 June.
Games for 17 June and why they matter:
- The Netherlands has already qualified as leader of Group C.
- Romania will join the Dutch in the quarter-finals if they win against them in Bern.
- If Romania draw or lose then that would allow either France or Italy to go through by winning their match in Zurich.
- If Romania lose and the others play out a score draw, Italy would go through in a three-way head-to-head tie on two points as they would have scored more goals in the games involving France and Romania.
Both games will be played simultaneously in Bern and Zurich at 20:45.
Football fan watching the Euro Cup in Germany.
Photo @ Thom Thom at flickr
Switzerland (GenevaLunch, by Nick Bates) – Switzerland left the tournament with a consolation prize after beating Portugal 2-0 in their final match. The Swiss still are bottom of the group. In the other match Turkey came back from behind to beat the Czech Republic 3-2. Details, SwissInfo
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The tourism office in Geneva is not missing any opportunities to promote the city as a football capital. The latest promotion is an invitation to win a roundtrip ticket to Istanbul offered by Swiss: send in your best photos of the giant football and the jet’deau. Rules
Euro 2008 game results: Croatia 2, Germany 1 and Austria 1, Poland 1.
St Prex, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Thursday night, the sky over Lake Geneva appeared to be taking sides, probably the influence of so many football fans in the neighbourhood.
And neatly in the middle of what looked like a celestial battle for Geneva or Lausanne, sat a bright Portuguese flag, very at home in Switzerland.
Photos (click on images to view larger):
top, Portuguese flag in St Prex.
Bottom left, sky over Geneva and bottom right, sky over Lausanne.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nati, Nati, Nati! It’s all but over for Switzerland, the co-host of the European football championship. Turkey won by scoring a last minute goal ending the game 2-1. A match with injuries, rain, blood and—lack of goals for the home team. The Swiss dominated in the first half but in the second “La Nati” gave too much room to the Turks who tied and then won the match.
A game where every bit counted! Both Turkey and Switzerland had lost their first Euro 2008 games on Saturday which put them each at a disadvantage. That’s it: Switzerland is out.
In Geneva, many Turks were celebrating while some of the locals were saddened by their team’s loss.
Games for tomorrow, 12 June: Group B will play in Austria
- Portugal vs Czech Republic, 18:00 in Geneva
- Switzerland vs Turkey, 20:45 in Basel
Watching the Euro Cup in Prague.
Photo courtesy of Simple Shot at flickr
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All related Euro 2008 stories in GenevaLunch
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More Swiss flags than usual are hanging out Wednesday.
It’s Switzerland’s chance to stay in the Euro 2008 football competition: Switzerland versus Turkey, Basel, in a downpour, with massive puddles.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – It is time again to "festa" for the Portuguese. The national team scored 3-1 against the Czech Republic before a full stadium in Geneva. Although the game lacked some of the excitement of their earlier match against Turkey, the Portuguese proved superior in the field. The Czechs tried to tie the game but instead lost their hold during a counter-attack of the Portuguese team that scored the third goal in discount time. This victory places the Portuguese as the leading squad in group A.
Celebrations are already underway in Switzerland and especially in Geneva. Police helicopters hover over the Bout-du-monde and Plainpalais areas due to the large numbers of Portuguese fans that have taken to the streets to celebrate. Seven percent of the population in Geneva is from Portugal.
Photo courtesy of Loreto Cantero. You can find her pictures on flickr
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All related Euro 2008 stories in GenevaLunch
Salzburg, Austria (GenevaLunch) – Greece, the defending European champions fell to the swift pace of Sweden during their debut match in group D. Sweden’s victory came at a high price for the team. Midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson is unlikely to feature again during the group stage after injuring his left thigh. Greece will next play against Russia, who also lost today. That game will be key as both teams must secure a victory if they want to continue to quarter finals.
Wednesday 11 June, the round robin continues. The four teams
in group A will have to either make up for their earlier loss or
increase their lead further. Tomorrow’s game will be decisive for
Switzerland. "La Nati", as is nationally known, wants to go on to the
next round but as it stands, the Swiss are classified third. Only the
top two will advance. This is the schedule of games that will be played
in the Confederation. Both headliners promise great crowds in and outside the stadium.
- Portugal vs Czech Republic, 18:00 in Geneva
- Switzerland vs Turkey, 20:45 in Basle
Photo courtesy of, Ciccio Nuttela at flickr
Contribute with your fun, fan pictures to our coverage! Send them, with your name and tell us where they were taken!
All related Euro 2008 stories in GenevaLunch
