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12th European football championship

This article is about the sporting event. For the video game based on this event, see UEFA 🌈 Euro 2004 (video game)

UEFA Euro 2004 Campeonato Europeu de Futebol 2004

(in Portuguese) Vive O 2004! Tournament details Host country Portugal 🌈 Dates 12 June – 4 July Teams 16 Venue(s) 10 (in 8 host cities) Final positions Champions Greece (1st title) 🌈 Runners-up Portugal Tournament statistics Matches played 31 Goals scored 77 (2.48 per match) Attendance 1,160,802 (37,445 per match) Top scorer(s) 🌈 Milan Baroš (5 goals) Best player(s) Theodoros Zagorakis 2000 2008 →

International football competition

The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred 🌈 to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the 🌈 men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The final tournament was hosted for the first time in Portugal, from 12 🌈 June to 4 July 2004.[1][2] A total of 31 matches were played in ten venues across eight cities – Aveiro, 🌈 Braga, Coimbra, Guimarães, Faro/Loulé, Leiria, Lisbon, and Porto.

As in 1996 and 2000, the final tournament was contested by 16 teams: 🌈 the hosts plus the 15 teams that came through the qualifying tournament, which began in September 2002. Latvia secured their 🌈 first participation in a major tournament after overcoming Turkey in the play-offs, while Greece returned to the European Championship after 🌈 24 years.

The tournament was rich in surprises and upsets: Traditional powerhouses Germany, Spain, and Italy were eliminated in the group 🌈 stage, while defending champions France were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Greece. Portugal recovered from an opening defeat against 🌈 Greece to reach the final, eliminating England and the Netherlands along the way. For the first time in a major 🌈 European football tournament, the last match featured the same teams as the opening match.[3] Portugal were again defeated by Greece 🌈 with a goal from Angelos Charisteas.[4] Greece's triumph was unexpected, considering that they had only qualified for two other major 🌈 tournaments: UEFA Euro 1980, at which they managed just one point, and the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they lost 🌈 all three matches. As winners, Greece earned the right to represent Europe at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

During the opening 🌈 ceremony, one of the tableaux depicted a ship – symbolising the voyages of the Portuguese explorers – sailing through a 🌈 sea that transformed into the flags of all competing countries.[5] In the closing ceremony, Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado performed her 🌈 single and official tournament theme song, "Força".

Bid process [ edit ]

Portugal were announced as hosts for UEFA Euro 2004 on 🌈 12 October 1999, in Aachen, Germany, beating Spain and the joint bid of Austria and Hungary.[1]

Summary [ edit ]

Group A 🌈 opened with a shock as Greece, ranked outsiders from start, defeated the hosts 2–1. Giorgos Karagounis put the Greeks ahead 🌈 after only seven minutes and Angelos Basinas made it 2–0 from the penalty spot on 51 minutes. A stoppage-time goal 🌈 by Cristiano Ronaldo proved no more than a consolation.[6] Greece then drew with Spain[7] before losing to Russia in their 🌈 last group stage game.[8] Portugal recovered from their opening defeat by defeating Russia 2–0, who had their keeper Sergei Ovchinnikov 🌈 sent off.[9] Nuno Gomes scored the winning goal against Spain,[10] which ensured Portugal finished top of Group A. Greece advanced 🌈 to the quarter-finals as runners-up, ahead of Spain on goals scored.[11]

Opening ceremony at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto

Defending champions 🌈 France scored twice in stoppage time to go from 1–0 down to beat England 2–1. Zinedine Zidane scored both goals; 🌈 the second from the penalty spot.[12] England's other two games were memorable for the performances of their young star Wayne 🌈 Rooney. Only 18 at the time, Rooney's goal-scoring ability proved instrumental in victories over Switzerland (3–0) and Croatia (4–2).[13][14] France 🌈 and England qualified from the group as winners and runners-up respectively.[15]

Group C featured a three-way tie between Sweden, Denmark and 🌈 Italy. All matches between the three sides had ended in draws and all three had beaten Bulgaria.[16][17][18] Italy were ultimately 🌈 eliminated on the number of goals scored after Sweden and Denmark drew 2–2 and qualified as group winners and runners-up.[19][20] 🌈 The Italians accused Sweden and Denmark of fixing their match,[21] as both sides knew that a 2–2 result would advance 🌈 them both over Italy, but UEFA dismissed the complaint.[22]

The Czech Republic won Group D as the only team to win 🌈 all three of their group matches. They defeated Latvia 2–1,[23] the Netherlands 3–2,[24] and Germany 2–1.[25] It was another disappointing 🌈 European campaign for the Germans, who failed to advance from the group stage for the second consecutive time.[26] The Netherlands 🌈 claimed a quarter-final berth as runners-up.[27]

Swedish striker Henrik Larsson taking a free kick against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals

In the 🌈 first quarter-final between England and Portugal, the English opened the score after only two minutes through Michael Owen. Portugal's constant 🌈 attacking pressure from then on resulted in Hélder Postiga's 83rd-minute equaliser. In the dying minutes, Owen hit the Portuguese crossbar 🌈 and Sol Campbell headed in the rebound, but the goal was ruled out by referee Urs Meier for a foul 🌈 on the Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo. The sides exchanged goals in extra-time, sending the match to a penalty shoot-out. Portugal won 🌈 6–5, as Ricardo saved from Darius Vassell and then scored the winning goal himself.[28]

The Greeks, meanwhile, continued to stun everybody. 🌈 Firm defensive play and an Angelos Charisteas goal on 65 minutes helped Greece defeat France 1–0 and progress to the 🌈 semi-finals.[29] This victory made Greece the first team to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament. 🌈 Sweden and the Netherlands played out an exciting but goalless encounter, even after a dramatic period of extra-time in which 🌈 Freddie Ljungberg hit the inside of the Dutch goalpost. The Dutch progressed after winning the penalty shoot-out 5–4, their first 🌈 victory on penalties in a major tournament.[30] The last quarter-final match saw the Czechs dispatch Denmark, as a two-goal effort 🌈 from Milan Baroš helped seal a 3–0 win.[31]

Angelos Charisteas (first from left with white shirt), scoring Greece's winner against Portugal 🌈 in the final.

Portugal and the Netherlands faced each other in the first semi-final. Cristiano Ronaldo put the hosts in the 🌈 lead from a corner kick midway through the first half, and just before the hour mark Maniche made it 2–0 🌈 with a spectacular goal from the corner of the penalty area. An own goal from Jorge Andrade gave the Netherlands 🌈 a glimmer of hope. The game ended 2–1 to Portugal and the hosts,[32] after their opening day failure, were through 🌈 to the final of the European Championship for the first time. The Czech Republic looked likely candidates to face the 🌈 hosts in the final. They were favourites to take the trophy, having won all four of their games. However, they 🌈 would have to see off the upstart Greeks to do so. The Czechs had several chances, including a shot from 🌈 Tomáš Rosický that struck the bar. The game remained goalless until the dying moments of the first half of extra 🌈 time, when Traianos Dellas headed home the winner, the first and only silver goal in a European Championship.[33]

The final was 🌈 a repeat of the opening game of the tournament and Portugal were hoping to avenge their defeat. Portugal attacked and 🌈 dominated possession but once again, sturdy defending and goalkeeping from Greece kept the hosts off the scoreboard. Just before the 🌈 hour mark, Greece earned a corner kick from which Angelos Charisteas scored. Portugal continued to press after the goal but 🌈 even with five minutes of stoppage time, they could not find an equaliser. Greece won the match 1–0 and were 🌈 crowned European champions,[34] a title that they were given a 150–1 chance of winning before the tournament.[35] All of Greece's 🌈 wins in the knockout stage came in an identical manner: a 1–0 win, with the goal being a header off 🌈 a cross from the right wing. Portugal became the first host nation to lose in a European Championship final.

Qualification [ 🌈 edit ]

The draw for the qualifying round was held on 25 January 2002 at the Europarque Congress Centre, in Santa 🌈 Maria da Feira, Portugal. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five and each team played two matches against 🌈 all its opponents, on a home-and-away basis. Qualification matches took place from September 2002 to November 2003. The first-placed teams 🌈 from each group qualified automatically to the final tournament, whereas the ten runners-up took part in a two-legged play-off to 🌈 select the remaining five teams that would join the host nation in the final tournament.[36][37]

Qualified teams [ edit ]

Ten of 🌈 the sixteen finalists participated in the previous tournament in 2000. Latvia made its first appearance in a major football competition, 🌈 while Greece returned to the European Championship finals after a 24-year absence. Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia and Switzerland also took part 🌈 in their second tournament finals since their debut in 1996.

As of 2024, this was the last time that Bulgaria qualified 🌈 for the European Championship finals and also the last time Bulgaria qualified to a major tournament, the only time that 🌈 Latvia qualified, as well as the last time that Poland failed to qualify.

Final draw [ edit ]

The group stage draw 🌈 took place on 30 November 2003 at the Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon, Portugal, and was televised live: Euro 2004 Draw 🌈 on BBC Sport.

The 16 qualified finalists were drawn from four seeded pots into four groups. The pot allocations were based 🌈 on the 2003-edition of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking, which measured performance of teams in the 2002 FIFA World 🌈 Cup qualifying and UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying. The coefficient was calculated by dividing the number of all points scored (three 🌈 points for a win, one for a draw) by the number of all matches played. Results from the final tournaments, 🌈 play-off matches and friendly games were all ignored.[38] As host country, Portugal were automatically placed in position A1, and would 🌈 hereby play the opening match of the final tournament. The remaining 15 teams were split into four pots, with title-holders 🌈 France seeded alongside Sweden and the Czech Republic in the first pot.[39][40]

Pot 1[a] Team [38] France (holders) [b] 3.000 1 🌈 Sweden 2.389 3 Czech Republic 2.333 4 Pot 2 Team [38] Italy 2.313 5 Spain 2.313 6 England 2.313 7 🌈 Germany 2.188 9 Pot 3 Team [38] Netherlands 2.167 10 Croatia 2.125 11 Russia 2.056 13 Denmark 2.056 14 Pot 🌈 4 Team [38] Bulgaria 1.889 18 Switzerland 1.611 22 Greece 1.563 23 Latvia 1.250 32

Automatically selected as a top-seeded team 🌈 into pot 1, irrespective of their ranking position.

^ Hosts Portugal (coefficient 2.400; rank 2nd) belonged to Pot 1 irrespective of 🌈 their ranking position. Ahead of the draw, they were automatically assigned to group position A1, and consequently removed from pot 🌈 1. ^ Defending champions France (coefficient 3.000; rank 1st) were automatically assigned to Pot 1 irrespective of their ranking position, 🌈 and could be drawn into either Group B, C or D.

The Pot 1 teams were assigned to the first positions 🌈 of their groups. For the purpose of determining the exact match schedules in each group, the 2nd/3rd/4th group positions were 🌈 drawn separately for all other teams drawn from pot 2-4. The draw started by using pot 4 to draw one 🌈 team to each of the four groups in alphabetic order from A to D. This same procedure was followed for 🌈 pot 3 and pot 2. Finally the three remaining teams from pot 1 were drawn in alphabetic order into group 🌈 B, C and D.[41]

The draw resulted in the following groups:[42][41]

Venues [ edit ]

The final tournament was played in ten venues 🌈 located in eight different cities. Lisbon and Porto, the two biggest cities, had two venues each, while Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, 🌈 Faro-Loulé, Guimarães and Leiria had one venue. In order to meet UEFA's requirements on venue capacity and infrastructure, seven new 🌈 stadiums were built – Estádio Municipal de Aveiro (Aveiro),[43] Estádio Municipal de Braga (Braga),[44] Estádio Algarve (Faro-Loulé),[45] Estádio Dr. Magalhães 🌈 Pessoa (Leiria),[46] Estádio da Luz (Lisbon),[47] Estádio José Alvalade (Lisbon),[48] and Estádio do Dragão (Porto)[49] – and three underwent renovation 🌈 works – Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (Coimbra),[50] Estádio D. Afonso Henriques (Guimarães),[51] and Estádio do Bessa (Porto).[52] The Estádio da 🌈 Luz was the largest stadium with a tournament capacity of 65,647 seats, and served as the venue for the final. 🌈 The opening ceremony and match took place at the Estádio do Dragão.

This was the first European Championship where matches took 🌈 place in more than eight venues since the tournament was expanded to 16 teams in 1996.[53]

The table below lists stadium 🌈 capacity for the final tournament, which may not correspond to their effective maximum capacity.

Ticketing [ edit ]

A total of 1.2 🌈 million tickets were available for the 31 matches of the final tournament,[54] of which 77% were to be sold to 🌈 the general public, and the remainder reserved for sponsors and partners (13%), media (5%), and corporate hospitality (5%).[55] Public sales 🌈 for an initial batch of 450,000 tickets (38%) were launched on 28 April 2003,[56] in a ceremony in Lisbon which 🌈 gathered former European football stars Eusébio and Ruud Gullit.[57] Ticket prices were divided in three categories, ranging from €35 (group 🌈 matches) to €270 (final).[55]

In a first phase lasting until 16 June 2003, supporters could apply for tickets via UEFA's tournament 🌈 website or through forms available at the Portuguese Football Federation and match venues. Applicants could request a maximum of four 🌈 tickets per match but were limited to one match per day. In parallel to individual match tickets, UEFA created a 🌈 new category of tickets called "Follow My Team", which allowed supporters to see all the matches of their favourite team 🌈 (group stage and, if qualified, knockout stage matches). If there were oversubscribed matches by the end of the first phase 🌈 of sales, a match-specific draw would take place to select the successful applicants.[55]

Between 1 August and 24 November 2003, available 🌈 tickets were placed again on sale in a first-come, first-served basis.[58] After the draw for the group stage on 30 🌈 November, a third phase of public sales began on 9 December, which included a second batch of tickets (39%) that 🌈 could be bought until March 2004 through the national associations of the finalist teams.[59] Every national association was awarded 20% 🌈 of the venue capacity for each of their team's matches.[55] From 1 to 30 April 2004, surplus tickets from UEFA 🌈 or national associations were made available to the public for the last time.[60] Ticket distribution began in May, after sales 🌈 were officially closed.[55]

Team base camps [ edit ]

Each team was provided a base camp for residence and daily training between 🌈 tournament matches. An initial list of 25 bases approved by the Portuguese Football Federation, following a selection process started in 🌈 November 2001, was announced by the organisation on 5 February 2003.[61]

Squads [ edit ]

Each national team had to submit a 🌈 squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers, at least ten days before the opening match of the 🌈 tournament. If a player became injured or ill severely enough to prevent his participation in the tournament before his team's 🌈 first match, he would be replaced by another player.

Match officials [ edit ]

On 4 December 2003, UEFA revealed the twelve 🌈 referees and four fourth officials.[62] Each refereeing team was composed by one main referee and two assistant referees from the 🌈 same country. In April 2004, the UEFA Referees Committee replaced Russian assistant referee Gennady Krasyuk with Yuri Dupanov of Belarus.[63] 🌈 The switch was made after Krasyuk incorrectly disallowed a second goal from Paul Scholes for offside in the Champions League 🌈 round of 16 second leg between Manchester United and Porto.[64]

Group stage [ edit ]

UEFA Euro 2004 finalists and their result

UEFA 🌈 announced the match schedule for the final tournament on 10 March 2003, in Porto, Portugal. In a change from the 🌈 previous tournament schedule, where two quarter-final matches were played per day, over two days, the quarter-finals at the Euro 2004 🌈 were to be played over four consecutive days, with one match per day.[65][66]

All times are local, WEST (UTC+1).

Tiebreakers [ edit 🌈 ]

If two or more teams were equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following tie-breaking criteria were 🌈 applied:[67][68]

Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; Superior goal difference resulting from the 🌈 matches played between the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in 🌈 question; Superior goal difference in all group matches; Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; If on the 🌈 last round of the group stage, two teams are facing each other and each has the same number of points, 🌈 as well as the same number of goals scored and conceded, and the score finishes level in their match, their 🌈 ranking is determined by a penalty shoot-out. (This criterion is not used if more than two teams have the same 🌈 number of points.); Higher coefficient derived from 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying and UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying (points obtained divided 🌈 by number of matches played); Fair play conduct of the team in the final tournament; Drawing of lots.

Euro 2004 marked 🌈 the introduction of the penalty shoot-out as a tiebreaker between two teams in the group stage, although no match required 🌈 the use of this procedure. The same procedure was used in future European Championship tournaments.

Group A [ edit ]

Pos Team 🌈 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Portugal (H) 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6 🌈 Advance to knockout stage 2 Greece 3 1 1 1 4 4 0 4[a] 3 Spain 3 1 1 1 🌈 2 2 0 4[a] 4 Russia 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 3

a b Tied on head-to-head result (Greece 🌈 1–1 Spain) and overall goal difference (0). Overall goals for was used as the tiebreaker.

Group B [ edit ]

Pos Team 🌈 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 France 3 2 1 0 7 4 +3 7 Advance 🌈 to knockout stage 2 England 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 6 3 Croatia 3 0 2 1 4 🌈 6 −2 2 4 Switzerland 3 0 1 2 1 6 −5 1

Group C [ edit ]

Pos Team Pld W 🌈 D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Sweden 3 1 2 0 8 3 +5 5[a] Advance to knockout 🌈 stage 2 Denmark 3 1 2 0 4 2 +2 5[a] 3 Italy 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 🌈 5[a] 4 Bulgaria 3 0 0 3 1 9 −8 0

a b c [69] Tied on head-to-head points (2) and 🌈 goal difference (0). Head-to-head goals for: Sweden 3, Denmark 2, Italy 1.

Group D [ edit ]

Pos Team Pld W D 🌈 L GF GA GD Pts Qualification 1 Czech Republic 3 3 0 0 7 4 +3 9 Advance to knockout 🌈 stage 2 Netherlands 3 1 1 1 6 4 +2 4 3 Germany 3 0 2 1 2 3 −1 🌈 2 4 Latvia 3 0 1 2 1 5 −4 1

Knockout stage [ edit ]

The Greece national team at the 🌈 trophy ceremony.

The knockout stage was a single-elimination tournament involving the eight teams that advanced from the group stage. There were 🌈 three rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round, culminating in the final to 🌈 decide the champions. Any game in the knockout stage that was not decided by the end of the regular 90 🌈 minutes was followed by up to 30 minutes of extra time (two 15-minute halves).

For the first time in an international 🌈 football tournament, the silver goal system was applied, whereby the team that led the game at the half-time break during 🌈 the extra time period would be declared the winner.[70] If the scores were still level after the initial 15 minutes 🌈 of extra time, play would continue for a further 15 minutes. If the teams could still not be separated after 🌈 the extra time, there would be a penalty shoot-out (at least five penalties each) to determine which team progressed to 🌈 the next round.[70] The silver goal replaced the golden goal from the previous two championships and was used in the 🌈 semi-final between Greece and the Czech Republic.

As with every tournament since UEFA Euro 1984, there was no third place play-off.

All 🌈 times are local, WEST (UTC+1).

Bracket [ edit ]

Final [ edit ]

Statistics [ edit ]

Goalscorers [ edit ]

There were 77 goals 🌈 scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.48 goals per match.

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Source: UEFA[71][72]

Awards 🌈 [ edit ]

UEFA Team of the Tournament

The UEFA Technical Team was charged with naming a squad composed of the 23 🌈 best players over the course of the tournament.[73][74] The group of eight analysts watched every game at the tournament before 🌈 making their decision after the final. Five players from the winning Greek team were named to the team of the 🌈 tournament. Michael Ballack and Gianluca Zambrotta were the only players to be included whose teams were knocked out in the 🌈 group stage.[74][75]

Theodoros Zagorakis, UEFA Player of the Tournament

Golden Boot

The Golden Boot was awarded to Milan Baroš, who scored all five 🌈 of his goals in three group stage matches and in the quarter-finals against Denmark.

UEFA Player of the Tournament

Prize money [ 🌈 edit ]

Overall, CHF200 million was awarded to the 16 teams, a boost from the CHF120 million in the previous event.[78] 🌈 Below is a complete list of the allocations:[79]

Prize for participating: CHF7.5 million

Extra payment based on teams performance:

Winner: CHF10 million

Runner-up: CHF6 🌈 million

Semi-finals: CHF4 million

Quarter-finals: CHF3 million

Group stage (per match): Win: CHF1 million Draw: CHF500,000

Discipline [ edit ]

If a player was shown 🌈 a red card – whether as a result of two bookable offences or a straight red – he would become 🌈 suspended from playing in his team's next match. A player would also become suspended for one match for picking up 🌈 two yellow cards in separate matches. However, any yellow cards accumulated would be cancelled once a team was eliminated from 🌈 the tournament or reached the semi-finals. In extreme cases of ill-discipline, UEFA could choose to have a disciplinary panel examine 🌈 the incident in order to determine whether or not further suspension would be required.

The following players were suspended for one 🌈 or more games as a result of red cards or yellow card accumulation:

Marketing [ edit ]

Logo, mascot and official song 🌈 [ edit ]

UEFA Euro 2004 mascot, Kinas

The official tournament logo was created by Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper agency and unveiled 🌈 on 13 May 2002 at a ceremony held in Lisbon's Belém Cultural Center.[80] It represents a football in the centre 🌈 of a heart, surrounded by seven green dots. The football – displaying typical Portuguese folk artistic motifs on its panels 🌈 – and the heart – shaped in the traditional style of the filigree art from Viana do Castelo – conveyed 🌈 the football passion of the host country. The seven dots represent significant Portuguese elements and achievements, such as the number 🌈 of castles in the national coat of arms or the conquest of the seven seas during the Age of Discoveries. 🌈 The logo's colour palette was based on the Portuguese flag and its warm tones recall the light and sun associated 🌈 with the Portuguese landscape and climate.[81][82] The competition slogan used was "Vive O 2004!" (English: Live 2004!).[83][84]

The official mascot was 🌈 a boy named Kinas – derived from quinas (English: inescutcheons), one of the symbols of the Portuguese coat of arms[85] 🌈 – who wore a football kit with the Portuguese colours (red shirt and green shorts) and was constantly playing with 🌈 a football. He possessed the knowledge and talent of generations of highly gifted football players, and embodied the energy and 🌈 passion of football.[86] Created by Warner Bros., Kinas was officially unveiled on 29 March 2003 at the Casa de Serralves, 🌈 in Porto, Portugal.[85]

The official song, called "Força" (English: Strength), was written and performed by Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado.[87] The song 🌈 was taken from her second studio album, Folklore, and released as its third single, soon after the start of the 🌈 tournament. Furtado was selected to sing the official song of the tournament, because of her familial connection to the host 🌈 country (her parents are both Portuguese from the Azores).[88] She wrote "Força" with "the passion the Portuguese people have for 🌈 football" in mind.[88] The song was played at every match, and performed live by Furtado at the closing ceremony prior 🌈 to the final.[89][90]

Match ball [ edit ]

The official match ball was presented during the final draw ceremony on 30 November 🌈 2003 in Lisbon.[91][92] It was produced by Adidas and named Adidas Roteiro, after the logbook (Portuguese: roteiro) used by Portuguese 🌈 maritime explorers such as Vasco da Gama.[91] Roteiro was the first official tournament football to employ the new thermal-bonding technique 🌈 in its production, which resulted in a seamless surface and a more homogeneous design.[91] Portuguese Football Federation president Gilberto Madaíl 🌈 praised the ball, stating: "Adidas has delivered a stunning, modern and state-of the-art Portuguese football. This is very much how 🌈 we envisage the UEFA Euro 2004 event to be".[91] Roteiro was also used at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup,[93] and 🌈 during the mid-season of the 2004–05 German Bundesliga.[94]

The new ball received mixed reactions from players and technical staffs. England midfielder 🌈 David Beckham, who was asked by Adidas to test it, was pleased with Roteiro's performance, particularly in free-kicks.[91] France midfielder 🌈 Zinedine Zidane believed the ball would "improve the game".[94] Several Spanish players, however, regarded it as "horrible, difficult to control 🌈 and to pass", with Real Madrid footballer Iván Helguera describing it as a "beach ball".[95] Notable players of the Italy 🌈 national team, such as Francesco Totti, Andrea Pirlo and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also voiced criticisms.[96]

Trophy tour [ edit ]

During the 🌈 two months ahead of the tournament, the Henri Delaunay Trophy travelled across Portugal to promote the European Championship finals in 🌈 the host country. The tour began on 8 April 2004 at the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon, where the launching 🌈 ceremony took place with the presence of Portuguese football legend and tournament ambassador Eusébio.[97] A total of twenty towns and 🌈 cities were visited by the trophy tour caravan, including the ten that would host matches.[98]

Merchandise and memorabilia [ edit ]

In 🌈 November 2002, UEFA appointed Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) as the tournament's exclusive worldwide licensing agent.[99] As the global licensing 🌈 rights owner, WBCP was responsible for negotiating product licence contracts with third parties on the behalf of UEFA and delineate 🌈 product sales strategies across the host country. Other tasks included setting up and managing marketing plans, product distribution and prices, 🌈 and prevent illegal use of trademarks and product sales.[100] Over 2,000 merchandise items were developed by the 28 licencees chosen 🌈 by WBCP, and were distributed not only within Portugal but also in major European and Asian markets.[101]

To celebrate Portugal's hosting 🌈 of the Euro 2004 finals, commemorative coin and stamp collections were issued by the Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, the Portuguese 🌈 national mint and printing house,[102] and CTT, the national postal service.[103]

UEFA distinguishes between global sponsors and national sponsors. Global Euro 🌈 sponsors can come from any country and have together exclusive worldwide sponsorship rights for a UEFA European Football Championship. National 🌈 sponsors come from the host country and do only have sponsorship rights within that country. Eight sponsors were announced by 🌈 UEFA in December 2002.[105]

Broadcasting [ edit ]

Nineteen cameras were used in each of the ten venues to broadcast the live 🌈 matches, with three additional cameras in the opening and knockout stage matches.[123][124]