European championship reaches out to fans

Keystone

Euro 2008 organisers, Uefa, aim to drum up interest in the football tournament with a roving interactive exhibition that kicked off in Basel on Monday.

The EURO Experience Tour, consisting of a multimedia cinema, computer games and the original trophy all housed in a giant inflatable tent, will tour cities in co-hosts Switzerland and Austria.

The feature attraction is a 25-minute big screen film showcasing action and highlights from the tournament’s 48-year history. Fans will also get the chance to win free tickets by taking part in interactive games and see at close quarters the trophy the 16 teams will be competing for.

Euro 2008, which takes place from June 7-29, will be the second time since the 1954 World Cup that the Swiss have hosted a major international football tournament.

However, many observers have questioned an apparent lack of outward enthusiasm for the world’s third-largest sporting event, just over four months before it starts.

Benedikt Weibel, the government’s Euro 2008 representative, even wondered aloud whether the Swiss could keep up with Austrian charm when he opened a hospitality initiative earlier this month. Weibel challenged hoteliers, restaurateurs and others in the hospitality industry to use the tournament to dispel the Switzerland’s grey stereotype.

But Uefa chief operating officer, Martin Kallen, expects the tournament to live up to its motto, Expect Emotions. Kallen, himself Swiss, pointed to the outpouring of patriotism when Switzerland reached the last 16 of the World Cup in 2006.

Tap into emotions

“There will be even more passion that the World Cup because the Swiss feel a lot of excitement inside. The fever will go up and up and up,” he told swissinfo.

“With the tournament being held in their country and if the national team is doing well, we will see Swiss emotions running high. Everyone is looking forward to the tournament kicking off.”

The EURO Experience Tour is designed to tap into that emotion as it travels from city to city over the next months.

The inflatable tent is billed as the biggest of the type in the world and will be preceded at each venue by a hot air balloon in the shape of the Henri Delaunay trophy.

“The tour will be groundbreaking in its size, technology and its ability to bring a wonderful football experience to thousands of football fans,” said Uefa president Michel Platini.

swissinfo, Matthew Allen in Basel

Key facts

The EURO Experience Tour tent is 14 metres high, 40 metres wide, 60 metres long and weighs 10 tonnes.
The exhibition is in Basel until February 3 and will then travel to Geneva, Zurich, Bern and Lausanne in Switzerland before moving to the Austrian cities of Innsbruck, Linz, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Graz.
It returns to Switzerland to tour Lugano and Lucerne in May before ending up in Vienna for the tournament.
The hot air balloon, in the shape of the trophy, will be flown more than 30,000 kilometres by Swiss pilot Florent Jobin.
It is 34.5 metres high, has a volume of 3,440 cubic metres and consists of 2.5 kilometres of fabric.

In brief

Co-hosts Switzerland and Austria qualified automatically for the tournament, which takes place from June 7-29, 2008.

The 31 games will be played in four cities in Switzerland (Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich) and four cities in Austria (Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna). The final will be held in Vienna on June 29. Switzerland will play its three group matches in Basel.

The finals will be broadcast in 170 countries and are expected to be watched by about eight billion TV viewers.

Up to 5.4 million football fans are expected to follow the tournament in Switzerland, including 1.4 million from abroad.

European football’s governing body, Uefa, says it has received eight million requests for the 1.05 million tickets that have gone on sale.