Group A
Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari
Group A: PORTUGAL, Czech Republic, Turkey, Switzerland
Key Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Midfielder, Manchester United)
Portugal have appeared in the last four UEFA European Championship finals having first qualified for the finals in 1984. Their best performance to date in the competition came in 2004 when they lost in the final to Greece. Prior to that, Portugal had appeared in two semi-finals where they lost on both occasions to France.
Coach: Jakob Kuhn
Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic, Turkey, SWITZERLAND
Key Player: Tranquillo Barnetta (Midfield, Leverkusen)
Roared on by their fans, the home nation will look to qualify from the group stages this summer. This is the first time the UEFA EURO 2008 co-hosts will have played in consecutive UEFA European Championship finals and the 2008 tournament will be their third finals overall. Their record prior to the finals of UEFA EURO 2008 was 80 matches played with 29 wins, 22 draws and 29 losses, with 119 goals scored and 108 conceded.
Coach: Fatih Terim
Group A: Portugal, Czech Republic, TURKEY, Switzerland
Key Player: Tuncay Sanli (Striker, Middlesbrough FC)
Despite playing in all 13 UEFA European Championship qualifying rounds, Turkey’s first participation in a final tournament took place at UEFA EURO ‘96. They finished 3rd in the 2002 World Cup and will look to build on that after failure to qualify for the tournaments in 2004 and 2006. Turkey have appeared in all 13 UEFA European Championship qualifying competitions. Prior to the finals of UEFA EURO 2008™, they have played 95 matches. In that time, they had won 35, drawn 22 and lost 38 of those fixtures with 110 goals scored and 135 conceded.
Coach: Karel Bruckner
Group A: Portugal, CZECH REPUBLIC, Turkey, Switzerland
Key Player: Tomas Rosicky (Midfield, Arsenal)
The Czech’s lost the 1996 final to Germany through the ‘Golden Goal’ rule. They won their qualifying group ahead of Germany after defeating them 3-0 in Munich. They secured their biggest victory in UEFA European Championship qualification by beating San Marino 7-0 in Liberec on 7 October 2006. The also Czechs retain a 100 per cent qualification record for the UEFA European Championship finals with four appearances from four attempts.
