EURO 2004 Portugal

EURO 2004 Portugal

UEFA EURO 2004™ in Portugal was definitely a ravishing and thrilling sport event. Dramatic matches at a very high level of skills attracted crowds of fans and the unexpected victory of Greece proved that  a team is more than just a collection of individual players.

Organization
For the first time organization of EURO tournament was divided between UEFA, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and Portuguese government. A special company, EURO 2004 S.A., was set up to implement efficient organization of the event. It was divided into departments of operations, marketing and administration, managed by the Director of Operations. Some responsibilities were vested in the Tournament Director. The management board had oversight over the operations of the company.

Fans
About half a million fans came to Portugal for EURO 2004. They not only watched matches but also spent holidays there. Between football events they visited beautiful beaches, admired views  and tried typical Portuguese wine and food. The atmosphere during the tournament was friendly, no serious fights were recorded. Fans – wearing colors of their national teams, with painted faces and hearts full of hope – changed this grand sport event into a month of never-ending fun under the sun of Portugal.

Sale of tickets
Initially UEFA considered sale of over 90% of 1.2 million tickets a success. But in the very beginning it turned out that tickets for 25 were sold and sent to fans in over 100 countries. Eventually about 96% of tickets were sold.

Website
The official UEFA EURO 2004 tournament website, euro2004.com, received over half a billion (500 million) page views and over 40 million visits, making it one of the most popular sports event websites of all time. The site, available in nine languages, received visitors from 230 countries, with over 50% coming from outside Europe. An online survey of over 10,000 euro2004.com users showed that 97% of respondents valued the site as a source of accurate information.
 
TV coverage
EURO 2004 matches were broadcast to over 200 countries all over the world. On the turn of June and July 2004 live coverage took 50 to 90 percent of prime time. In Great Britain, Germany and Italy, live broadcasts were watched by over 20 million viewers, including as many as 7 million in Japan alone, despite the fact that many of them started at 1 at night. Compared to EURO 2000, the length of television coverage went up by 28 thousand hours, i.e. by 165 percent. 

Sponsors
17 firms from eight countries were sponsors for EURO 2004. The sponsorship program was divided into two levels: Official Partners with international marketing rights and National Support of Portugal and Spain. Sponsors were satisfied with the comprehensive promotional package of EURO 2004. They had at their disposal tickets for promotional purposes, billboard space, promotional campaigns on stadiums, the right to use the Championship’s logo and mascot, advertising in UEFA publications.

Finances
Increased interest in EURO 2004 tournament was also reflected in financial matters. The total revenues of CHF 1.31 billion Swiss francs are over threefold bigger than those generated by Euro 2000. The revenues came first of all from sales of television broadcasting rights (860 million francs), advertisements (275 million), tickets (130 million), and sale of special packages (45 million).
200 million francs were distributed between the competing teams. Another 460 million francs were allocated by UEFA HatTrick Programme to football unions associated in UEFA for future development of football and investments in football infrastructure. This amount is six time larger than the one committed after previous Championships.

Benefits for Portugal
To host EURO 2004, Portugal constructed 10 new stadiums, which continue to be used as important sport facilities. It should be borne in mind that Portugal spent millions of euros for the construction of the stadiums at the time when it experienced a serious budget deficit and struggled under economic crisis.

Hosting of EURO 2004 brought many other benefits to the country. New investments were attracted to Portugal, many monuments were restored, new roads and bridges as well as new hotels were constructed.