Thinking about Euro2008

[ManU62280]

I am thinking about going to Euro2008 since I couldn't make it Germany for the WC. Is it better to get a package deal (tickets, hotel and flight all together) or just find the best deals for hotel, tickets and flights separately?

[Palermo10]

Separately.

End of topic. Really.

[10percentjuice]

I am also thinking about it. How would you get tickets to the games?

[troutseth]

Well, if you cannot get them through the normal channels, there are plenty of brokers. I used Razorgator for the WC and other than the late delivery, the tickets were fantastic. Look at them and soccertravel.

[buckeye5]

I went to Euro 2004. Fantastic time. I could sit and immerse myself in the tournament as a 'neutral'. In May of 2003 I applied for about 8 or 9 matches, I was granted five. I picked them based on stadium size and location. The UEFA web site, should have something up about ticket lotteries. www.uefa.com


Since Austria and Suisse are extremely safe and easy countries to navigate you should do everything seperately. That's how I've done the last three tournaments (KJ 02, Euro 04, WC 06) for two weeks each, never more than 2500. The most important thing to book early (other than tickets) are hotels. Start looking spring 07.

[10percentjuice]

Great advice. How does the ticket lottery work? For a specific match I assume the majority of the tickets are allocated to each federation as well as some tickets being allocated to sponsors. How many tickets are left over for the general public who are not applying through their federation? I was expecting that the neutral fans would have a very very small chance of getting these tickets but given your success, apparently I am wrong. Is there also a TST package like the WC? Also how did the atmosphere compare to WC 2006?

[buckeye5]

I applied to matches before the teams were drawn into the groups. As such, I was picking 'blind' (i.e. B1 vs. B2 in Lisbon).

The UEFA web site enabled fans with no affiliation (such as myself) to apply for one match per day, up to seven matches (or some sort of stipulations like that). I applied for a match on each day of the second through eighth day of the tournament, solely based on location and stadium size (where I thought I had the best chance). I avoided the TSTs because I assumed they would have higher demand and lower my likelihood of getting tickets. I didn't get a shabby draw, my five matches awarded were...

England-France
Italy-Denmark
Germany-Holland
England-Switzerland
Sweden-Italy

But it is a hard to get a bad match considering the quality of the teams and the small field size (16 teams).

Atmosphere was great, very comparable to the WC. A ton of Swedes, English, and Dutch, in particular. The atmosphere, IMO, is more dependent on the size of the host country, than the teams. For example, in Portugal it was great because, with two stadiums each, Porto and Lisbon probably each had a match about every day, so there was always a 'buzz'. The country was small enough to keep everyone in the same general area.

[Palermo10]

I applied to the UEFA.com lottery for Champions League tickets, and scored those. I assume it will be similar.

[10percentjuice]

How were the seats? Were you seated with other neutral fans? Did the federations and sponsors get the best seats?

[miked9]

I'm definitely going to Euro2008 with my brothers, so I'm glad that this thread is here.

[tacos]

Were you seated with other neutral fans?

there's a fair chance you will be seated with neutral fans in all of the games hosted in switzerland.

[10percentjuice]

there's a fair chance you will be seated with neutral fans in all of the games hosted in switzerland.


Nice.

[buckeye5]

How were the seats? Were you seated with other neutral fans? Did the federations and sponsors get the best seats?

Well I requested Cat III, so naturally I would get 'bad' seats (i.e. behind the goal). For both England matches I was behind the goal, two sections over from their FA allotment, but it was for all intensive purposes an all-English end. Same thing with the Holland match, and the Sweden match. Not bad seats at all though, usually 10-20 rows behind the goal.

The Italy-Denmark match I was Cat II, in a 'neutral' area.

[ManU62280]

Thanks for all the replys. The information has been very helpful.

[dfreshsf]

I followed the same strategy of applying in the initial lottery based on dates and seeds and ended up with:

England-France
Germany-Netherlands
England-Croatia
& A Quarterfinal

I couldn't have done any better than that. After a few friends bailed on me I sold a few extras on e-bay and pretty much paid for the trip. I ended up getting into Sweden-Bulgaria too for free while I was over there. Great trip.

[10percentjuice]

Was it easy to sell your tickets on ebay? Did you have to go through a somewhat annoying ticket transfer process like for WC2006? Were passports checked at the gate?

[colins1993]

My plan is to base in Munchen (because I could not make it down there during GER 2006) and travel down to Innsbruck for a couple matches.
I have made the trip from Munchen to Innsbruck by train about 20 years ago but it is still fresh in my memory because it was soo breathtaking. Can't wait to do it again.

I see UEFA.com already has a link up for the tournament.

[colins1993]

My plan is to base myself in Munchen and train down to Innsbruck for a few matches.

Keep the fire burning baby!

[dirk diggler]

I went to both Euro 2000 & 2004 and had a blast. I read somewhere that for the 2004 tourney more than 10% of tickets were sold to US residents! I applied for tickets via the UEFA ticket site and got QF and Semis matches on the first round of sales. Stadium capacities for 2008 are gonna be smaller on average, so it might be harder to get tickets for this time around. I've traveld to Switzerland before, and if you thought the German rail system was first rate, Swiss Rail is even better!

[ManU62280]

I saw on the Euro 2008 site that they are going to have an accommodation section to book through them. I am wondering from people who have gone before if it is a good idea to go through the euro site or is it better to book hotels on your own?