The Euro Cup

The United States has the National Football Association or NFL. Europe has the Union of European Football Association or UEFA. Europe's football is often referred to as soccer. Only the best teams from both association memberships are permitted to play in their most impressive, most lucrative, and most competitive games. For Americans it is the Super Bowl. For Europe, that game is the Euro Cup.
 
For the second time in the history of the Euro Cup, two countries hosted the 2008 tournament. Austria and Switzerland shared the honor as host for the thirteenth football tournament which is held every four years. The host countries automatically qualified as participants in the tournament. In August, 2006 the remaining fourteen countries began competing for their place in the 2008 Euro Cup tournament. The 2008 Euro Cup winner was Spain. They will compete in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. From there they will be among 208 countries from around the world competing for one of the thirty-one team positions to bring home the World Cup in 2010.

The excitement and honor that comes with participation in the Euro Cup brings with it the commercial promotion of the game. Just as the Super Bowl has souvenirs available to fans, so does the Euro Cup. In one European country, die-hard fans could play a virtual game of soccer and include three of their friends in the game. Just as the European countries had to qualify for the Euro Cup, the fans had to qualify through a computerized version of the game.