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27/12/02
Home Secretary Nuno Magalhães has told news agency Lusa that security equipment
needed for EURO 2004 but not covered by the national budget will be hired. But he was quick to reassure people that this would not mean corners would be cut: "For many years we've had Champions League games in Portugal and high-risk games like FC Porto v Benfica, and people should know that there is not going to be any civil war."
Security plans
for the tournament are currently being drawn up. Contacts have been established with Spanish counterparts, Spain being the only terrestrial access route into Portugal, and the Portuguese Govenment is considering the suspension of Schengen for the duration of the event. (infordesporto)
07/12/02
CTT, the Portuguese Post Office, became the first Portuguese partner
for the EURO 2004 championship. CTT will issue a range of philatelic products, like stamps and postcards, to commemorate the event.
05/12/02
Ernie Walker and the UEFA
stadium inspectors compelted their most recent round of visits to the ten stadiums to be used at EURO 2004. Once again, Walker was relatively happy with what he saw: "I'm covered in mud from my feet to my knees, I got rain and fog, but I'm satisfied with what I saw," he said after a day visiting FC Porto's Antas and the stadiums of Braga and Guimarães, all in the north. The next visit will be in February of next year.
14/11/02
Vasco Lynce, head of the domestic organizing body Sociedade Euro-2004, said Wednesday that Benfica cannot receive any of the State subsidies it is due for its new Luz
stadium until it submits certificates proving the regualrization of its tax and social security debts.
08/11/02
Only half of the ten stadiums lined up for EURO 2004 have so far received any money from the State: Boavista's Bessa, Sporting's Alvalade XXI, FC Porto's Antas, the Municipal Stadium of Aveiro
(Beira-Mar) and the Stadium of the Algarve. The Bessa is by far and away the greatest beneficiary so far, but it is also the stadium nearest completion. It has received a contribution of 5.36 million
euros towards the total spent of 31.98 million. The final cost is expected to be 40.69 million. Five other stadiums have not received anything yet, mainly because of bureaucratic obstacles: Benfica's Luz,
Braga, Guimarães, Coimbra and Leiria. (A Bola On-line)
07/11/02
Warner Bros. Consumer Products have won from UEFA the licence to be exclusively responsible for the marketing
of products related to the EURO 2004 championship. Among other things, the company will be responsible for creating the EURO 2004 mascot.
UEFA explained Wednesday that the theme song to be composed by Phil Collins
will be the general theme, valid for all Euros from 2004 on, but that each competition will have its own theme, produced locally.
06/11/02
The british singer/songwriter Phil Collins will compose the theme song for EURO 2004, UEFA announced Wednesday. The decision has been met with discomfort in some quarters in Portugal; the Portuguese
were not even consulted in the decision, and the song is not likely to reflect Portuguese culture or tradition. Popular singer Pedro Abrunhosa called the choice "an insult".
29/10/02
The Parliamentary Commission set up to accompany the organisation of the EURO 2004 Championship said Monday that it was worried about FC Porto's new Antas
Stadium. Work on the stadium itself is proceeding well, but work on access routes to the stadium is encountering problems: "It would be unbelievable for the stadium to be ready and there to be no way of getting to it," said the head of the Commission,
Laurentino Dias, a Socialist Deputy.
23/10/02
Prime Minister Durão Barroso told Parliament (A Assembleia Geral) Tuesday that his Government was committed to seeing through the EURO 2004 Championship, but he said: "If I had been Prime
Minister [at the time], there would be no EURO 2004 in Portugal."
18/10/02
Thursday was the day for the UEFA Commission to inspect the stadiums in Leiria and Lisbon (Sporting and Benfica). While Ernie Walker
seemed impressed with the progress of the Lisbon stadiums (confirming that Sporting's Alvalade XXI will be important for the tournament), he seemed less pleased with Leiria's, putting a question mark over
the possibility of the stadium being finished in time.
17/10/02
Ernie Walker and the Stadium Commission continued their tour of the EURO 2004 stadiums Wednesday. They started in Oporto at Boavista's Bessa and FC Porto's new Antas stadium, moving on to the
Estádio de Aveiro
where the Commission was pleasantly surprised: "At the beginning I was sceptical, I didn't believe that it was possible, but it's progressing within the foreseen time and budget. we have no doubts that Aveiro will have an important part to play in EURO 2004." In
Coimbra, Walker was asked how many games the Municipal Stadium would host. "At least two," he said.
Some of the more striking results of the Euro 2004 qualifiers played Wednesday were:
Luxembourg 0-7 Romania
Germany 2-1 Faroe Isles
Turkey 5-0 Liechtenstein
England 2-2 Macedonia
Wales 2-1 Italy
Ireland 1-2 Switzerland
16/10/02
UEFA's Ernie Walker and his inspection team are back in Portugal to look over the ten stadiums up for the EURO 2004 tournament. Tuesday they visited
Braga and Guimarães
and said that they were satisfied with progress. Braga's new stadium is running two m onth sbehind the initially designated schedule, but Ernie Walker said that this was not a problem as there was a 'pillow of time' in which to work. The stadium is expected to be ready for Sporting braga to use during the 2003/04 season. The
Estádio D. Afonso Henriques of Vitória de Guimarães is expected to be ready in January 2003, and will thus be the first of the stadiums to be up-and-running.
Walker will submit his report on the latest visit to UEFA
next week, and it should then be known if any of the stadiums will be left out of the reckoning. It has been suggested that the tournament could go ahead with as few as six stadiums.
13/10/02
Some of the more interesting scores from Saturday in group qualifying games for EURO 2004:
France 5-0 Slovenia
Sweden 1-1 Hungary
Poland 0-1 Latvia
Iceland 0-2 Scotland
Spain 3-0 N. Ireland
Bulgaria 2-0 Croatia
Italy 1-1 Yugoslavia
Slovakia 1-2 England
11/10/02
Work on Benfica's new stadium will recommence Friday. There has been a stoppage of two days while problems of a debt to the constructors were ironed out.
The UEFA Stadiums Commission will be back in Portugal between October 15th and 18th for yet another inspection of the ten grounds to be used at EURO 2004. The tour starts in the North with the Estádio Municipal de Braga
and ends in the South with the Estádio do Algarve.
09/10/02
Work on Benfica's new Luz stadium was suspended Tuesday. There were several theories as to why. There have been heavy rains
in Portugal over the last two days, which was one of the reasons given by Benfica directors, but there were also rumours that there has been a hitch
in the financing plan because of a delay in official documents coming out of Lisbon City Council offices. (A Bola On-line)
27/09/02
The president of the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol, Gilberto Madaíl, said Thursday that the staging of the EURO 2004
tournament is going to cost the country in the region of 5 billion euros. The money will be spent on stadiums, access to the stadiums, transport, hospital facilities and security. He said that one million
people are expected, and that in cooperation with Spain, Portugal should be able to control well who comes into the country so as to minimise the risk of hooligan elements disrupting the organisation. (infordesporto)
26/09/02
The expected impact of the EURO 2004 competition on various aspects of Portuguese life will be debated in Parliament
on October 7th. The presidents of the FPF and Liga, Gilberto Madaíl and Valentim Loureiro, will talk about the sporting aspects, while in the afternoon, socio-economic considerations will be discussed. (infordesporto )
13/09/02
The Portuguese Stadiums Association (APE) said Thursday that the ten stadiums to be used in the EURO 2004
tournament should be ready by the UEFA deadline of September 2003, and in some cases before. The Association reiterated the importance of having a season's run-up to the competition, in which all aspects of the stadiums' use will be tested, and it revealed that the Sociedade
EURO 2004 wants to stage a mini-tournament in the stadiums during the 2003-2004 season. (infordesporto)
12/09/02
The Secretary of State for Public Works, Vieira de Castro, has told the Parliamentary Commission
that is accompanying the EURO 2004 project how much it is going to cost to build/ improve access routes to the stadiums to be used in the competition. The State is going to have to fork out 68.3 million
euros to create adequate access to nine of the ten stadiums planned for EURO 2004. This value does not include access to Benfica's Luz stadium which may cost as much as 10 million
. The values for each stadium are as follows: FC Porto (20 million euros), Sporting (10.9), Coimbra (9.6), Leiria (5.9), Aveiro (5.2), Guimarães (5.2), Faro/Loulé (4.1), Boavista (3.5) and Braga (3.3).
To compensate for the expected increase in air traffic, the Governemnt has said that it may have to re-think the current prohibition of take-offs and landings at the airports of Lisbon and Porto
between 24.00 and 06.00.
The Secretary of State for Health, Carlos Martins, told the Commission that no new hospitals
are to be built to coincide with the tournament, but that the emergency network will be reinforced, involving increased investment in equipment, facilities, staff and ambulances. (infordesporto)
Reports on the progress of preparations for EURO 2004 will be top of the agenda when the Executive Committee of UEFA meets in Istanbul on September 18th/19th. (A Bola On-line)
10/09/02
FC Porto spokesman Angelino Ferreira said Monday that work on the new Antas Stadium, to be used at EURO 2004, will be completed at the end of September 2003 , a little later than
originally planned. Work has been set back due to a disagreement with the City Council about the degree of devlopment around the stadium. (A Bola On-line)
08/09/02
Qualifying games for EURO 2004 got under way on Saturday. Some of the shocks and semi-shocks were the following:
Group 4: Latvia 0-0 Sweden
Group 5: Faroe Islands 2-2 Scotland
Group 8: Belgium 0-2 Bulgaria
Group 9: Finland 0-2 Wales
Group 10: Russia 4-2 Rep. Ireland
04/09/02
All the ten
local councils or clubs committed to building or improving stadiums to be used at EURO 2004 have given a firm promise to the Government that their venues will be ready in time for the competition, and within budget. The Government has meanwhile warned once again that it can contribute no more money to the projects, other than that already agreed.
02/09/02
In the match programme of the Sporting v Santa Clara game on September 1st, it was confirmed that Sporting will be able to stay at Alvalade
until the end of the season. It was thought that they may have to move out to another stadium for some games owing to work on the new stadium, being built next to the existing one for EURO 2004. Work has
begun already, however: all the seats have been removed from half of the West Stand and a section behind the goal of the South Stand, in readiness for demolition work. The new Alvalade XXI can already be seen
peeking over the top of the West Stand.
30/08/02
The possibility of the construction workers who are building the stadiums for EURO 2004 going on strike is still in the air. The president of the Northern Construction Workers Union, a branch of ther
national union CGTP, Albano Ribeiro, said Thursday that next Tuesday (03/09) there will be a meeting to discuss action to be taken in the light of the difficulties encountered in satisfying the union's demands. (A Bola On-line)
29/08/02
Director of Operations for the final phase of EURO 2004, Michael Kallen, said Wednesday that all the games will be available on terrestrial television, which means that State Channel RTP
will have the rights in Portugal. Michael Kallen, Swiss, was presented as the Director of Operations to act as a link between Portugal and UEFA. (A Bola On-line)
22/08/02
The construction unions have once again threatened to stop work on the EURO 2004 stadiums in September if they don't receive an increase in overtime rates and meal subsidies. This would seriously
jeopardise the schedule for the construction of the stadiums, already hard pushed. (A Bola On-line)
21/08/02
Responding to an appeal by Liga president Valentim Loureiro for more funds, the Government
today declared that they will not give a single extra euro towards the building of the stadiums for EURO 2004. "There will be no additional direct of indirect support, through finanical subsidies or other means, beyond what was signed for by the previous [Socialist] Government ... the difficulties that the country is going through prevent any type of additional support," said Minister for Sport
José Luís Arnault. He added that an audit of the EURO 2004 accounts will begin as from September 30th.
15/08/02
The UEFA Stadiums Commission visited the Faro/ Loulé
Municipal Stadium on Wednesday and declared themselves satisfied with the progress, compared to the last visit in May. Earlier in the day, the group, headed by Ernie Walker, had seen the work being done on the new Benfica stadium ("It's like watching a baby grow"), and
Sporting's ("This will be one of the best stadiums in Europe.")
On Tuesday, the Commission had visited the two stadiums in Oporto, Boavista's and FC Porto's, and União de Leiria's.
13/08/02
The UEFA Stadiums Commission, headed by Ernie Walker, is visiting Portugal to inspect the grounds to be used at EURO 2004. They visited the stadiums in the North of Portugal, specifically Vitória de
Guimarães' (modified) and Sporting Braga's
(new) Monday and the verdict was one of satisfaction at the progress achieved, despite some geological problems with the one in Braga. Ernie Walker announced that this will be the last inspection trip by the Commission before a report is sent to the Executive Committee in September. A decision will be made at the end of the year on which stadiums, if any, will not the make the cut. ( infordesporto)
08/08/02
A Sociedade EURO 2004, the organising body for the competition, announced Wednesday that tickets
for EURO 2004 will be available at the beginning of next year via the Internet and the football associations/federations of each country. Exact procedures for the acquisition of tickets will be announced then. ( A Bola On-line)
The team of inspectors of the EURO 2004 stadiums, led by Ernie Walker, will pay another of their regular visits to Portugal next week. The inspections start on Monday in the North (Braga and Guimarães).
On Tuesday they visit Boavista and FC Porto (Oporto) and the municipal stadiums of Aveiro, Coimbra and Leiria in the Centre of the country. The trip ends on Wednesday at Benfica and Sporting (Lisbon) and the
intermunicipal stadium of Faro/ Loulé in the Algarve. (A Bola On-line)
07/08/02
A strike
by civil construction workers is on the cards if six demands "to dignify their work and the profession" (president of the Northern union Albano Ribeiro) are not met. A September strike, if called, would seriously jeopardise work on the
EURO 2004 stadiums. (A Bola On-line)
03/08/02
The Professional Training Centre for the Food Sector has presented FC Porto with a scale model of the Estádio das Antas. It took four pastry chefs 150 hours to make the model, which FC Porto
president Pinto da Costa described as "a work of art". The Centre is to make similar models of all the stadiums that will be demolished ahead of EURO 2004. (infordesporto)
26/07/02
Sporting told the Parliamentary Commission set up to control the preparations for EURO 2004 that a quarter
of the old Alvalade stadium will have to be demolished between September and October to make way for the new Estádio Alvalade Século XXI
. they also revealed that the whole stadium complex will finally cost 137 million euros, and that Sporting will pay back over ten years the bank loans taken out to finance their part of the bill. (A Bola On-line)
25/07/02
Federation president Gilberto Madaíl said Wednesday that the Selecção will be based in Lisbon during EURO 2004. He also announced that the first 450,000 tickets
for the competition will go on sale on the Internet in February 2003. (A Bola On-line)
The Commission to inspect the stadiums to be used at EURO 2004 were told Wednesday that construction on Sporting Braga's new stadium is running two weeks late, but it praised the adventurous
nature of the project (the ground will have spectators only on the two sides). The cost of the project has more than doubled from the original estimate to 13 million euros. (infordesporto)
09/07/02
Leiria City Council has applied for a bank loan (from the Dexia Public Finance Bank) of 12.5 million Euros, to be re-paid over a number of years. The money will go towards work on the
Estádio Magalhães Pessoa, to be used at EURO 2004 and by União de Leiria. Progress on the EURO 2004 project will be under scrutiny by the Executive Committee of UEFA
Wednesday and Thursday in Nyon, Switzerland. (A Bola On-line)
05/07/02
The mayor of Aveiro, Alberto Souto de Miranda, said Friday that the government is six months behind on the payment of 7.4 million euros promised for the construction of the Municipal stadium in the town, which
will host some of the EURO 2004 games and will later be the home of Beira-Mar. The stadium is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2003. (A Bola On-line)
02/07/02
The Secretary of State for Sport, Hérminio Loureiro, admitted Tuesday that some of the stadiums to be used for EURO 2004 were behind schedule
but said that the organisation of the tournament was not at risk. "We have to step up the work," he said. (A Bola On-line)
30/06/02
The president of the National Association of Professional Firefighters
said Saturday that just two years away from EURO 2004, to be held in Portugal, none of the stadiums to be used has a definitive safety and evacuation plan. Fernando Curto
also said that he was sceptical that the current firefighting force was sufficient to cover the event, and that he was worried about the lack of dialogue between the different entities responsible for security. He was speaking at the General Council of the Association in Lisbon. ( A Bola On-line)
28/06/02
The Portuguese Government have suggested that they may suspend the country's committment to the Schengen agreement (regarding the openness of borders between European Union countries) during EURO 2004
. The news comes after two Members of Parliament belonging to the Left Bloc were prevented from entering Spain earlier in the week. They were on their way to demonstrate at the Seville
summit and were stopped by police on the border with Spain. The incident has caused outrage in many circles and was the subject of debate in Parliament, where the Prime Minister Durão Barroso
said: "We too have the right to suspend the Schengen agreements, and we will prbably do so in 2004." (A Bola)
26/06/02
President of the Higher Sports Council, and Mayor of Sintra (near Lisbon), Fernando Seará, called Monday for a change to the constitution that would allow the courts special powers to deal with troublemakers
at EURO 2004. On Tuesday, the spokesperson for the Order of Lawyers
, José Miguel Júdice, said that such moves could be illegal. "The last thing we want is for football to affect citizens' fundamental rights," he said. (infordesporto)
29/05/02
UEFA stadium inspector Ernie Walker
is once again in Portugal to check up on progress on the stadiums being built for EURO 2004. The Scotsman has so far seen work on the stadiums of Coimbra, Sporting and Benfica and has declared himself satisfied with progress. ( A Bola On-line)
15/05/02
The new logo for EURO 2004
was unveiled in Lisbon Monday. It consists of a heart encircling a football and features that are allusive to Portugal: the sun, the colours of the flag ... The logo was designed by Wnek Gosper for the company RSCG, based in London. The
Portuguese Football Federation, however, were not 100% happy with the design; they had preferred one that was more overtly allusive to Portugal. The Wnek design won because, according to the Executive
Director of UEFA, Gerard Aigner "It is more appealing to European audiences". (A Bola)
25/01/02
The draw took place Friday for the qualifying phase of EURO 2004. Santa Maria da Feira was the venue for the draw for the ten groups of five teams each which will battle it out for a place in the
finals, to be played in Portugal. (See 25/11 for the qualifying system). The draw is as follows (Portugal qualify automatically as hosts):
Group 1: France, Slovenia, Israel, Cyprus, Malta
Group 2: Romania, Denmark, Norway, Bosnia-Herz., Luxembourg
Group 3 : Czech republic, Holland, Austria, Belarus, Moldova
Group 4
: Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, San Marino
Group 5: Germany, Scotland, Iceland, Lithuania, Faroe Islands
Group 6 : Spain, Ukraine, Greece, N. Ireland, Armenia
Group 7
: Turkey, England, Slovakia, Macedonia, Liechtenstein
Group 8: Belgium, Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Andorra
Group 9 : Italy, Yugoslavia, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan
Group 10
: Rep. Ireland, Russia, Switzerland, Georgia, Albania
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