UEFA has publicly announced a 250 Million Euro profit on the Austria / Switzerland co-hosted 2008 European Championships.

Via FourFourTwo

Martin Kallen, chief operating officer for the event organisers, said that in comparison with the 2004 finals in Portugal the 2008 event had seen improvements “in almost all areas”, including satisfactory television viewing figures, high public transport usage and the lack of any major security incidents.

Organisers said poor weather at the start of the tournament and the black market resale of tickets had been among the less satisfactory aspects.

More than 1.7 million ticket applications were cancelled before the event in connection with the black market, with a further 1,300 tickets cancelled or seized during the tournament itself.

Last weekend at ADICUP we met one of the dudes who is a part of Chinatwon Soccer Club who also happened to design the adidas x CSC Sala. While we were chatting he told uhow they were over in Austria during Euro 2008  where they presented some art and memorabilia. Today I stumble across this wall paper that was featured at the exhibition in Austria. The wallpaper has special design features in it that are supposed to give people a sense of the CSC home field. Pretty clever. Check out a few more images after the jump.

[Via Hypebeast]

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The Walt Disney Company must be pretty happy after learning that the U.S. telecast of the 2008 European Championships Final was seen in 2.55 million homes.

That means the first U.S. telecast of the Euro’s was seen by 3.76 million viewers.

The LA Galaxy / DC United match that played before the finals was picked up in 1 million homes.

image via ThroughAGlass

The Euro 2008 winners were all smiles as they took the bus top celebration route from the Barajas Airport to Madrid.

Can you imagine being at this party?

images via Euro2008

One of the most creative, yet overlooked players in the game has finally been recognized as the Castrol best player of the 2008 Euros.

Barcelona’s 28 year old midfielder Xavi Hernandez was chosen by the nine-person Uefa technical panel that left off Cristiano Ronaldo due to Portugal’s early exit.

Via Soccernet

UEFA’s squad of the tournament:
Goalkeepers: Buffon (Italy), Casillas (Spain), van der Sar (Holland)

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Lahm (Germany), Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Puyol (Spain), Zhirkov (Russia)

Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Modric (Croatia), Senna (Spain), Xavi (Spain), Zyryanov (Russia), Ballack (Germany), Fabregas (Spain), Iniesta (Spain), Podolski (Germany), Sneijder (Holland)

Striker: Arshavin (Russia), Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Torres (Spain), Villa (Spain).

image via As

UPDATE - Villareal and Turkey striker Nihat Kahveci has been ruled out up to four months after having to undergo surgery to repair the tendon injured during Turkey’s win over Croatia in the 2008 Euro Quater-Finals.

Remember the 28 year old Nihat was the goal scorer, dropping two near injury time during Turkey’s dramatic 3-2 come from behind victory over the Czech Republic.

Maybe this injury will allow Jozy Altidore to work his way into a highly talented Villareal squad that finished in 2nd place during last season’s La Liga campaign.

And how bright is Turkey’s future after once again proving themselves on the International Stage, especially after fighting so valiantly through injuries and suspensions that almost saw them through to the Finals.

Turkey head coach Fatih Terim is pretty much screwed when looking forward to Wednesday’s Semi-Final match against Germany after his squad has been decimated by injuries and suspensions following their dramatic penalty kick victory over Croatia.

Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik all picked up that dreaded yellow card that meant an automatic one game suspension while striker Nihat Kahveci (thigh), Servet Cetin (hip and knee), Tumer Metin (groin) and Emre Belozoglu (hamstring) face a race to be fit in time. Emre Gungor has already been ruled out of the tournament due to a calf injury.

Defensive midfielder Mehmet Aurelio returns from a one-match ban, but goalkeeper Volkan Demirel still has to serve another game after being handed a two match ban following his refusal to leave the bench area after being red carded for knocking down Jan Koller in the dying moments of the Czech Republic game.

With only nine players healthy as of right now, Terim’s focus must be on getting his players not only physically fit, but mentally fit knowing full well the difficulties of facing a Germany squad that is firing on all cylinders.

image via Bursaspor

It’s been an amazingly difficult end to a very long season for the Little Kaiser, one that saw his start to Chelsea’s Premiership campaign derailed early due to injury.

After undergoing an ankle surgery that took place in Munich last April 28th, 2007, Ballack was subsequently left of Chelsea’s FA Cup Final (which Chelsea won 1-nil through a Drogba goal in overtime) as well as their Champions League Qualifier Roster and was a major doubt, although he recovered in time for the February Champions Roster deadline.

The season ended on a low note for Ballack as Chelsea finished runners up in both Premiership and Uefa Champions League to Manchester United, thus completing a Treble horror for Chelsea and Ballack.

Just when you thought Ballack would have the chance to redeem himself and his trophy cabinet on the International Stage (after missing out on the Finals of the 2002 World Cup due to Suspension and taking third place at the 2006 World Cup), it was not to be even though Ballack had recovered in time from a calf injury many thought would keep him out of the 2008 Euro Finals against Spain, falling 1-nil.

The best buy in football last year led Spain to a 1-nil win over Germany in the 2008 Euro Championship Final.

Liverpool’s Fernando Torres ended Spain’s 44 year quest for a major trophy after skipping past Bayern Munich outside back Philipp Lahm in the 33rd minute and cheekily chipping the ball up and over on onrushing Jens Lehmann with the inside of his right foot at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

This after out jumping German centerback Per Mertsacker in the 22nd minute and heading off the post, a header that had looked to beat the slow reacting Lehmann.

During the knockout stages keeper Iker Casillas, along with the back four of Sergio Ramos, Carlos Puyol, Carlos Marchena and Joan Capdevila held the fort tight, not allowing a goal scored against since their 2-1 win over Greece in the last match of Group D play.

FC Uptown & Dunny

images via Sun-Sentinal

UEFA has officially fined the Croatian Football Federation after it’s supporters we found guilty of “displaying a racist banner and showing racist conduct.”

Croatia has three days to appeal the $19,680 (12,500 Euros) fine.

I wish everyone could take a second out of their day and watch this.

image via BBC

We’ve already seen David Villa hit the shelf with a thigh strain in Spain’s Semi-Final win and now it looks as if Germany’s midfield engine might miss out as well.

Chelsea’s Micheal Ballack has been unable to train since Friday with what Head Coach Joachim Low has described as a calf injury.

It’s really no surprise that you’re starting to see players breaking down physically (look at Turkey as a great example) as more and more games are heading into extra time to decide the winner and the further you go, the more games you play without a great amount of recovery time in between matches.