Panini Euro 2008 - Austria & Switzerland

Panini presented for the Euro Cup 2008 a renewed sticker collection compared to the previous edition (2004), where only 334 stickers were included. In this album we find for the first time the stickers of hosting cities and stadiums. 

The album opens with five introductory stickers: Calciatori Panini stamp, UEFA Fair Play, the trophy, the logo, and the mascot; then, a double page with the calendar of the competition and 8 stickers of the hosting city logos (these are all shining stickers) are included. The album continues with four pages dedicated to venues and stadiums: for each venue there is a double sticker of the city view and a double sticker of the stadium. The total is 16 stickers of stadiums and 16 stickers of city views. Afterwards, the participating teams are showed in alphabetical order. For each team there are 26 stickers displayed over three pages: the mascot, the team logo (shining), the team photo (4 stickers), and 20 players.

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey

Most famous players of Switzerland are Lichsteiner (now at Juventus), Behrami and Inler (both at Napoli). Czech Republic has Rosicky, Baros and the "giant" Koller. First Euro Cup sticker for Cristiano Ronaldo.

Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland

Both the hosting teams (Switzerland and Austria) were out in the group stage. In this group, Croatia and Germany went through. Here we find the young Modric (now at Real Madrid) for Croatia and Mario Gomez for Germany (both 23 years old)

Group C: Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France

A very tough group! The Netherlands had a very young team and showed great football in the group with Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. Italy got the second place, but was eliminated at penalties by Spain in the quarterfinals. Romania of Chivu and Mutu did a good competition but not enough to qualify. In the French team we find the first national sticker of Benzema and Nasri (both 21 years old).

Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia

This is the group of the winners (Spain). The young Sergio Ramos (22 years old), Fabregas (21) and David Silva (22) are included. Russia made it to the semifinals showing the talent of Arshavin and young goalkeeper Akinfeev (22 years old). Ibrahimovic scored 2 goals for Sweden, but not enough to pass the group stage.

The last part of the album includes stickers of players in action and the history of the European Championship. Players in action are 62 stickers displayed over 6 pages. The History section is a double page with 12 shining stickers of the 12 winners of the European Championship.

Album details:

Full name: UEFA Euro 2008 Austria-Switzerland

Publisher: Panini

League: European Championship

Teams: 16

Stickers per team: 26

Special sections: - Introduction (5 stickers)

                           - Program (8 stickers)

                           - Venues and stadiums (32 stickers)

                           - Players in action (62 stickers)

                           - European Championship History (12 stickers)

Extra stickers: Update of 33 stickers

Total number of stickers: 535 (+33 update stickers)