Europeans don’t have much to do but play and watch a sport they call football.

And while that may be the weakest introduction ever made for an article like this, the 2008 UEFA European football championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2008, is set to take place in Austria and Switzerland from June 7 to June 29, marking the second successful joint bid in the competition’s history following the European championships hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands back in 2000.

A total of 16 teams will participate for Euro 2008. Austria and Switzerland automatically qualified as hosts while the remaining 14 teams have been determined through qualifying matches which started way way waaay back in August of 2006.

Austria and Poland will be making their first appearance in the tournament. The winner of Euro 2008 will represent UEFA at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

The other 14 teams who qualified for the European Football championships include the Czech Republic, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey. The are all included in the tournament’s Group A. Group B of the UEFA Euro 2008 finalists include Austria, Croatia, Germany and Poland. France, Italy, Netherlands, and Romania round up Group C, while Group D consists of Greece, Russia, Spain and Sweden.

Of these 14 teams that will be competing for the European title, one country stands out, Germany, the big favorite to win Euro 2008. Germany cruised through qualifying before getting a relatively kind draw.

Germany head coach Joachim Loew is comfortable in that position, although he preaches caution. He is heading into his first major tournament since taking over the team from Juergen Klinsmann after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Loew worked as Klinsmann’s assistant and was chiefly responsible for developing game plans and conducting practice. The duo led Germany to a third place finish at the World Cup.

The transition from Juergen Klinsmann to Joachim Loew went smoothly, and Joachim has retained the core of the team. In his first 20 games in charge, Joachim Loew has 15 wins and only two losses. In its two games this year, Germany manhandled Austria and Switzerland, the co-hosts of the tournament, 3-0 and 4-0, respectively.

However, while Germany may be a three-time European champion, it hasn’t won a game at the continental tournament since its last title in 1996. In 2000 and 2004, Germany failed to even get past the group stage.

Joachim Loew said the team still has a lot of work to do in order to play in a faster pace. Loew also believes the team still needs to improve on precision passing before they even start thinking about lifting the UEFA European title by the end of the tournament.

Which country will win the Euro 2008 Championships? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Italy 8.00

Germany 5.00

France 9.00

Spain 7.00

Want more odds? Visit Bodog for more international football odds and the best betting lines on some of today’s biggest sporting events.

Euro 2008 UEFA Cup