Colosseum of tussle

A quick look at the all the arenas that will host the Euro 2008 Championships

Klagenfurt

The Klagenfurt stadium for the European Championship has been newly constructed and can accommodate 32,000 football fanatics. Built in a time span of just 20 months, it was officially inaugurated on 7th September when Austria played with Japan. The Wörthersee Stadium is located close to the borders of Carinthia with Friuli-Julia Venetia and Slovenia, on a superb site between the city of Klagenfurt and the banks of Lake Wörthersee. Surrounded by meadows and hills, with the Karawanken mountains as a backdrop - there can be no more spectacular location for a new football stadium anywhere.

It is quite different in its appeal when pitted against the other venues of Euro 2008, largely owing to its thespian architecture. The makers of this stadium have been successful in amalgamating a compact size with the maximum visual and working appeal. Moreover, the stadium has been affectionately dubbed the "UFO" by the local people.

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is home to the re-constructed Tivoli Stadium, the Tivoli Neu is multi-use but primarily will be used for football matches. FC Wacker Tirol plays its home matches here. It has been expanded to seat 30,000 people for the Euro 2008 extravaganza.

The Bergisel Stadium will serve as fan zone in Innsbruck, offering public viewing on large screens. Maria-Theresien-Straße in the center of town is the location of the fan mile, where fans will gather between matches.

Salzburg

The state-of-the-art Salzburg Stadium in Wals-Siezenheim turned into a European Championship stadium on 8th March, 2008.

The seating capacity of the stadium has been increased to 30,000 keeping in mind the big numbers of football enthusiasts who come to watch matches. The highlight of the stadium is the hydraulic roof-lifting operation. The 17,000 M2 roof, weighing over 2,150 tons, was raised by 10.5 meters, requiring 12 large and 56 smaller temporary supports.

To comprehend the magnitude of this enterprise, the weight of the roof (2,150 tons) is equivalent to 10 Boing 747 jets or 270 elephants. Due to the favorable weather, the roof-raising operation, which took all of two days, was carried out at the end of June under ideal weather conditions with no wind. A total of 25 people were involved in the spectacular operation, which went smoothly. The enlarged stadium has been completed and ready for action. Geneva

The Stade de Geneva is a venue for matches of Euro 2008 in Geneva. The Stade de Geneve cost USD 70 million to construct and includes 22 hospitality suites holding 10 people each, an integrated shopping and leisure complex, a hotel and restaurants.

Built over three years on a brownfield site in fashionable Carouge in the La Praille district in the south of Geneva, the ground has hosted a number of prestige international friendly games, including Argentina v England in 2005, rugby matches and other sporting events.

Bern

One of the most eco-friendly stadiums of Euro 2008, the Stade de Suisse was built on the site of the old Wankdorf stadium. The original stadium was the venue of the 1954 World Cup final (the so- called "Miracle of Bern", when Germany defeated Hungary) and was demolished in 2001 and rebuilt, opening again in July 2005. The stadium has solar panels in the roof supplying much of the stadium's power needs.

A unique feature of the Stade de Suisse is a single, red seat set amongst the normal black and yellow seats (the team colors of Young Boys). This seat was the first seat installed at the new stadium and is reserved for visiting celebrities, often those with ties to the club. Apartments, a shopping center, restaurants and a school are integrated into the stadium site, which is approximately 3km from Bern city center.

Basel

With a present seating capacity of 42,500 spectators, St Jakob's Park replaced the old Joggeli stadium in 2001.

The stadium has a solar power unit on the roof of the stand which provides sufficient power for much of the stadium's energy needs. The stadium's area also includes restaurants, cafes, a fitness center, a shopping centre and a 107-apartment old people's home in an annex of the stadium.

Before the extension work for Euro 2008, St Jakob's Park had a capacity of 33,200 including 9,000 standing spots. The stadium will be all-seater for Euro 2008. Wien

The Ernst Happel Stadium is the largest football stadium in Austria with a massive seating capacity of 53,000. It is where the Austrian national football team plays, but is rarely used at the club level.

Until 1992, the stadium was known as the Prater Stadium (Praterstadion). It was built between 1929 and 1931 for the second Workers' Olympiad, and designed by the German architect Otto Ernst Schweizer. It was renamed in 1992 for Ernst Happel, a great Austrian coach and player.

Zurich

The stadium of Letzigrund is built on the site of the old stadium and the constructed costed a whooping USD 100 million. The old stadium had a reputation as a world-class athletics venue and the annual Weltklasse Zürich is a competitors' favourite with numerous world records having been set in the old stadium including Sebastian Coe's then record for the mile in 1981.

Also the home ground of FC Zurich, the new stadium is multi-purpose with an athletics track and indoor training facilities and will be used for other sports as well as music concerts. The new stadium has two 52 square meter video screens, an 8-lane athletics track which is 8m below street level and individual lighting columns that can be positioned to form the shape of an open flower.

The constructors have not forgotten the green side while making this stadium and as an eco-friendly measure, the stadium roof will be covered with vegetation and will rise just 16m above street level at its highest elevation.