Co-hosts confirm Germany contests
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Article summary
UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts Austria and Switzerland will both encounter three-time European champions Germany in the build-up to the final tournament.
Article body
Final preparations
Austria will take on Germany, who triumphed at the UEFA European Championships of 1972, 1980 and 1996, in a friendly international in Vienna on 6 February 2008 while the Swiss will face the same opposition at a venue to be decided on 28 March of the same year. Both countries have a negative record against Germany based on previous meetings. Austria have encountered German opposition on 33 occasions and managed just eight wins to Germany's 19. Switzerland, meanwhile, have registered the same number of victories from 48 past matches, 34 of which have been German successes.
'Dream opponents'
"Germany are, to my mind, absolute dream opponents," said Austria coach Josef Hickersberger. "The match against Michael Ballack and company, almost four months to the day before our first EURO 2008™ game in our own country, will give us a very clear idea of where we stand. The experience our players will gain from this fixture is extremely important, especially in view of the start of the tournament in June 2008."