Ahern welcomes sponsor's support

Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, yesterday announced it has become the latest sponsor of the Republic of Ireland and Scotland's joint-bid to host the 2008 European Championship. Mary Hannigan reports.

The group joins BT Scotland, who became "Official Communications partner" last month, as one of the bid's major backers, five months before the vote will be taken by the UEFA executive committee to decide which of the seven bids to host the tournament is successful.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, welcomed Diageo's involvement yesterday. "The joint Scotland and Ireland bid for Euro 2008 keeps going from strength to strength," said the Taoiseach.

"The full support of the private sector is a strong element of the bid and we are delighted that Diageo has committed their support.

"With their strong association with both Scotland and Ireland this partnership is an obvious fit.

"We are delighted that they have joined the bid."

The news comes a week after FIFA vice-president David Will, a Scot, claimed that the Irish and Scottish bid was joint favourite with Austria and Switzerland's combined tender to stage the championships.

Will, however, maintained that Austria and Switzerland's hopes of success could be hit by the fact that neighbouring Germany is hosting the next World Cup.

Some on the executive committee may be reluctant to see the same region of Europe having the hosting rights to two major tournaments in the space of two years.

Seven candidates in all, comprising a total of 14 countries, have officially submitted bids to host Euro 2008 but stadium and security problems are likely to damage Greece/Turkey, Bosnia/Croatia, Russia and Hungary's hopes, while the combined bid from the four Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, could present too many organisational difficulties - and only two of the four countries could be granted automatic qualification to the tournament.

Austria and Switzerland will be visited next month and Scotland and Ireland in September by the UEFA inspection team which will examine the infrastructure, accommodation and general facilities offered by the cities which are proposed venues for matches, as well as consulting with all four countries' policing authorities to discuss security issues.

The Republic of Ireland, which would host one group, one quarter-final and one semi-final, is committed to providing two stadiums for the tournament, to Scotland's six - two from a refurbished Lansdowne Road, Stadium Ireland, if built in time, or Croke Park, if made available by the GAA.

The group venue will be required to have a 30,000 all-seater capacity and the quarter-final and semi-final venues 40,000 - with 2007 the deadline for the completion of the stadiums.

Austria and Switzerland have listed Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Zurich, Basle, Geneva and Berne as their venues.

Vienna's 50,000 capacity Ernst Happel Stadium, which staged the 1995 Champions League final, would be offered to host the Euro 2008 final.

If the Scottish/Irish bid proves to be successful the final will be held at Glasgow's Hampden Park, with a capacity of 54,000.

The UEFA executive committee will meet on December 13th to vote on the bids.

Six of the committee's 14 members are from countries which have submitted a bid and, so, will not be allowed to vote unless those countries fail to make the final short-list, expected to be made up of two or three of the bids.