Why we have a mountain to climb

WHEN it comes to timing you can be sure the Swiss have covered all the angles. As the countdown clock on the Austria-Switzerland EURO 2008 bid website clicks down to mere hours and minutes, decision day is almost here and the Alpine countries’ campaign seems to have peaked at just the right time.

UEFA's executive committee convenes at its lakeside headquarters in the Swiss town of Nyon today to hear the final presentations of the seven prospective candidates hoping to host the third largest sporting event on the planet Austria/Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia, Greece/Turkey, the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the solo bids from Russia and Hungary and the Celtic campaign for the Irish and Scots.

Each have 15 minutes to make their final case for selection but it is the Austrians and the Swiss who appear to have most reason to feel confident when the hulking Swedish frame of UEFA president Lennart Johansson trundles into Geneva's Intercontinental Hotel tomorrow afternoon to announce Excom's decision to the continent's media.

Johansson himself, despite his understandable allegiance to the Nordic bid, has helped push the cause for the central Europeans while at the same time appearing to play down the chances three other bids, most importantly the Celts, who represent possibly the biggest threat to the favourites.

Asked late last month about a number of potential banana skins for the rival campaigns, Johansson alluded to the ongoing kerfuffle here in Ireland over whether Croke Park will be used as one of the two venues on this side of the water in the joint venture with the Scots. He was also asked whether recent crowd violence in a UEFA Cup match between Greek club Panathinaikos and Turkish side Fenerbahce could affect the two countries' joint bid. "That's true," Johansson answered.

"And there was also this terrible hostage drama in Moscow. That will also be taken into consideration for the final decision, as well as what has happened in Ireland. We have to bear all that in mind."

As for the joint bid from Austria and Switzerland, Johansson seemed more positive. "It is a candidature that makes sense," he said. "Switzerland is building new stadiums and possesses long-lasting assets such as financial and political stability, its communication network, its accommodation capabilities and its security. Switzerland's chances are therefore very realistic."

While Johansson is excluded from the initial round of voting tomorrow morning along with five other Excom members sharing nationalities with various bids, the UEFA president does have casting vote if a deadlock is reached in the final round. And if that particular showdown is between the Celtic nations and the Austria-Switzerland bid, Johansson appears to have already nailed his colours to the latter's mast. In Zurich and Vienna, however, nothing is being taken for granted with Thomas Helbling, overall project manager of the Austro-Swiss bid, telling us this week: "Although we consider ourselves a strong candidate we have no guarantee to reach the finale. We are not the favourite, we are one among several strong candidates."

Still, not wanting to hide his bid's light under a bushel, Helbling continued: "But if you want to know what speaks for our bid? First of all, the public and the political support is very impressive. We deliver in time eight, highly modern soccer stadiums with security and comfort guaranteed. We offer short travel by rail, car and air. We are two innovative tourist countries in the heart of Europe, where the stadiums can be filled with fans from all over the continent. And we are a reliable organisation in a stable environment."

Despite high profile endorsements from bid ambassadors Michael and Ralf Schumacher, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hermann Maier, as well as Austria's top tennis player, Barbara Schett, the European swimming champion Mirna Jukic and Swiss skiing champions Sonja Nef and Vreni Schneider, the Austrians and Swiss are confident the quality of their bid will sell itself to Excom today. They will promote the eight stadia, four in each country, from the 50,000-seat Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna to the recently opened Tivoli-Neu in Innsbruck being upgraded to a 30,000-seater and new grounds being built in Klagenfurt (40,000) and Salzbrug (32,700).

In Switzerland, the biggest stadium will be the 40,000-seater Wankdorf Stadion in Berne, venue for the 1954 World Cup final but being redeveloped and due to re-open in 2004. The Zurich Stadium will be ready in 2006 to join other 30,000-seaters in Basle and in Geneva which is due to open next year. They can also boast the unwitting testimony of several European clubs including, ironically, Glasgow Celtic, as well as Arsenal, Roma, Dortmund, Werder Bremen and Fenerbahce. They were among 20 top sides attracted during the summer by the superb facilities the two countries use as pre-season training camps.

Like most other bids, the Austro-Swiss campaign will try to convince Excom that 2008 should be theirs because it is their turn. The last major tournament to be staged in their region was the World Cup in Switzerland in 1954. The Swiss were also successful hosts of this summer's European U21 championships while Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium staged the 1995 Champions League final and is one of UEFA's five-star stadia. They can also point to a superb geographic position in central Europe which makes them an ideal location for fans from neighbouring Germany, Italy and France, although that proximity to the Germans could work against them with their teutonic neighbours staging the World Cup just two years prior in 2006. Helbling and his team are still not tempting fate about their prospects. "We have the full respect for all the candidates," Helbling said. "The Britons and Scandinavians proved in the past that they are able to organise the EURO (Sweden 1992, England 1996). Other bids have a more political input. They are all strong."

Not as strong as his own bid, though, a sentiment backed by the bookmakers who make Austria and Switzerland odds-on favourites to win the right to host the 2008 European Championships. Scotland and Ireland are third in the betting at 4/1.

And if it looks a safe bet for the bookies that the votes will be cast in Vienna and Zurich's favour, that is the attraction that will most appeal to Europe's top brass. As one Scottish observer pointed out last week, the Alpine proposal has security written all over it. Even if Helbling remains the embodiment of tact, it is difficult to escape the fact that although his bid is impressive, the cause has been helped by doubts surrounding Croker and the National Stadium in Ireland.

"Planning fiascos and lack of funding will not occur in our bid," its campaigners have declared and unless the GAA publicly validates the use of Croke Park by tomorrow morning, the Scottish-Irish bid will be reliant on a verbal assurance that this country can deliver its side of the bargain.

Of course, the Austrians and the Swiss are still building or redeveloping many of its proposed stadia while two have not even begun construction. But at least they have the luxury of knowing its efforts will not fail because of domestic in-fighting.

Swiss newspaper Blick has been quick to capitalise on the negativites surrounding the Scottish-Irish campaign, promoting as evidence of a "big headache" for the Celts the fact that a BBC Scotland poll had stated 68% of Scots would rather see funds directed into the grassroots game than towards a showpiece championships. Add this spin to the bickering in Dublin and Blick presents a fait accompli.

"What has UEFA always stressed?" Blick wondered last week, before proceeding to tell its readers, "The importance of the support for the bid of the population is a fundamental indicator by which the application will be judged. This, especially in Scotland, where the support and 'footballing spirit' are unbeatable, is a setback."

Blick's citing of footballing spirit and support as an unbeatable aspect of the Celtic bid hits upon the fundamental difference between the two rivals.

While the Irish and Scots will win the hearts of the men in the UEFA blazers, the Austrians and Swiss will appeal to heads and wallets of the footballing politicos.

Consider a tale of the tape. The Austrians and Swiss win hands down on public transport, geographical proximity there ain't no sea between Geneva and Vienna both nations are, of course, filthy rich.

While the Taoiseach passes round the begging bowl looking for private investors to fulfil his dream of the Bertie Bowl, the Austro-Swiss project has the mighty Credit Suisse bank as its main sponsor. Three-nil to the brains and bread.

But there is no doubt that where the Scots and Irish win, they win big. The counter argument begins with bigger, better grounds such as Hampden, Murrayfield, Celtic Park and Ibrox, with more tickets available and thus greater receipts. The triumph of this year's Champions League final at Hampden between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen plus the remarkable affection and respect felt towards the fans of both national teams, plus the reputation of both Glasgow and Dublin as party capitals par excellence give the Scottish-Irish bid director John Henderson grounds for optimism.

"This is the best chance we will have," Henderson said last week. "The opposition's difficult enough, but we don't have to compete with England, Italy or Spain this time. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

"We have the top stadiums that can provide more than adequate facilities for this event and we have fans who are unrivalled throughout the world.

"We are aware that we have tough competition, but I think we will win and I am confident that we have a very good bid.

"Four of our proposed main stadia are in place which none of our competition has, and I feel that Uefa have been impressed with our bid."

Bid ambassador Alex Ferguson will feature in the Scottish-Irish campaign's final 15 minutes on the hustings this afternoon, sending a video address to Nyon. He too believes the historical and cultural aspects which the bid offers are the real strengths.

"You couldn't even suggest that Switzerland and Austria are in the same league as football nations," Ferguson said. "There is nothing like the passion for the game there that has existed here for 130 years.

"The pioneers of football emigrated from Scotland and, even if we are not producing as many great players as in the past, it hasn't extinguished our people's love of the game.

"Don't forget, we have already hosted five European finals at club level. Okay, the first one, between Real Madrid and Eintracht, is remembered because it was the great 7-3 match, but it was unforgettable also because there were almost 130,000 people at Hampden that night.

"At the Champions League final last season, when Real Madrid played Bayer Leverkusen, the Spaniards and the Germans were raving about it. This is why UEFA have kept coming back. They know about the Scottish people's passion for the game and about their hospitality to visitors. In summer, Scotland and Ireland are beautiful, as are Austria and Switzerland, but I'm convinced we have a much higher-level tourist industry. The golf and all the other great attractions about Scotland and Ireland bring a lot of people every year and I'm sure we would handle that side of it better than anyone. We know how to do that.

"Scotland and Ireland deserve the right to host the championships none of the other bidders are better qualified."

Ferguson, however, does have some fears for the threat posed by the Austrians and Swiss.

"You would expect that they might have some powerful allies, because UEFA is based there," the Manchester United boss has said. "If there was one worry for us, it would be that. It shouldn't matter, but it might, and that would be an anxiety."

Unfortunately for us, after the all the hard sell is over and Celtic appeals to the heart have been delivered in Nyon, Ferguson's simple realism and worst fear probably will decide the matter and the Swiss can reset their clocks for a countdown ending in the summer of 2008.