Every four years, the football teams of the European nations square off in a championship series known as the European Soccer Championship. The 2008 version is the 13th playing of the tournament. The first games in the tournament this year were played on June 7 and will be completed in Vienna on June 29, according to schedule.

The sixteen teams competing this year include fourteen who won their places during preliminary matches begun in 2006 while the joint host teams from Austria and Switzerland gain an automatic place in the tournament. The teams are separated into four groups for the preliminary games so that the top ranked teams are not expected to face each other until the final stages of the games.

Group A consists of Portugal, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Turkey. The June 7 games placed the Czech Republic over Switzerland by 1 goal and Portugal over Turkey by 2 goals. On June 11, Czech Republic will play Portugal and Switzerland will play Turkey. On June 15, Switzerland will play Portugal and Turkey will play the Czech Republic.

Group B is made up of Germany, Croatia, Austria and Poland. Their preliminary matches were played on June 8 with the winners being Croatia over Austria by one goal and Germany over Poland by two goals. On June 12, the matches are scheduled between Croatia and Germany, with Austria against Poland. On June 16, the final games of the round are scheduled between Poland and Croatia and between Austria and Germany.

The third group, Group C consists of Netherlands, France, Romania and Italy. The France/Romania contest on June 9 ended in a draw with zero goals and Netherlands won out over Italy at three goals to zero. June 13 games will feature Italy against Romania and the Netherlands against France. The final Group C games are scheduled for June 17 with Netherlands playing Romania and France playing Italy.

The final group, Group D, is made up of Spain, Sweden, Greece and Russia. Their first round of games was played June 10, with Spain over Russia, four goals to one and Sweden over Greece two goals to zero. On June 14, Sweden will play Spain and Greece will play Russia with the final game of this group scheduled for June 18. At that time, Greece is scheduled to play Spain and Russia will face off against Sweden.

The semifinal games will be played on June 25 and 26 at Basel and Vienna respectively with the final game scheduled for June 29 in Vienna. The prize money for participating in the tournament is significant. It is currently set at €184 million and an individual team can win as much as €23 million.

The trickiest prediction in the earliest stages, that of the face off between Germany and Poland, has already been settled. Germany was not looking great in practice sessions while Poland had a patriotic point to prove. Currently the odds makers are backing Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal and France in the top group, Netherlands, Croatia, Czech Republic and Switzerland in the second tier with the other teams making up the outside chance teams. Austria is dead last on the odds charts.