Euro 2008 Hero Shirts...

With the squads having been announced now and the squad numbers set in stone it's time for you to nail your colours to the mast and get out and get your Euro 2008 team shirts.

Kitbag Ltd and SubsideSports.com are two of the top online retailers and both are now selling extensive ranges of teamwear for whatever country you'll be supporting. Whether you're after the official team shirt with your favourite players name on the back, retro shirts, t-shirts, silly hats, caps and even football boot slippers there's something there for everyone.

Check out the SubsideSports.com special Euro 2008 website. It's a well designed piece of web-work and well worth a visit. Also don't forget the great FREE shirt offer being run by bookmakers PartyBets, where you can get a £40 voucher for a shirt from any team competing at Euro 2008 to use at Subside by opening an account and placing a £40 bet on the outright winner of the tournament.

Yahoo / Eurosport Fantasy Football..

Another day and yet ANOTHER Fantasy Football competition for you to get involved in.
Yahoo and Eurosport have teamed up to bring you a free to enter competition, which offers exciting prizes that I seem to be having trouble locating through their site. If you already have a Yahoo account then you just need to log-in at the competition homepage to register.

The Yahoo/Eurosport competition gives you £200m to spend on a squad of at least 14 players and more should you want it. With players like Ronaldo going to set you back about £35m of your budget you have to spend wisely to allow yourself money for your substitutes, which will come in handy as the tournament progresses.

Point scoring is extensive in this competition, with defenders being awarded points for intercepted passes(1pt), blocked shots(2pts) and last-man tackles(2pts) to name just a few of the options. Attackers also receive points for things like winning a foul(1pt), successful crosses(1pt) and set piece goals(3pts). It's well worth studying the scoring methods for this one as there are so many ways to get the points on the board. Choosing your captain is also vitally important. Captain's points are doubled and he can be changed at any time... act wisely!

As with every competition I've found so far there is a Yodeller's Super League set-up for you to join. Just go to the 'Join League' section and scroll down and you should find us near the bottom of the alphabetically organised list. See you there.

Click here to join the Yahoo/Eurosport Fantasy Football competition

Euro 2008 Predictor...

The boys at top footie site The Onion Bag have had their brains in overdrive to come up with a novel, or should that be navel, way of helping you predict the winner of Euro 2008.

Get yourself over to The Onion Bag website and let the lovely Mavie help you work out who will romp away with their respective gropes, I mean groups, stroll through the quarters, reach a semi and frolic in the final to take away the trophy. It's worth a click...trust me

Click here for Mavie's Euro 2008 predictor

Euro 2008- The Chosen Ones...

The deadline has passed for the sixteen countries getting set for Euro 2008 to submit their final squads. Each coach has made some tough decisions and the disappointed players weep into their pillows all over Europe. The 23 man squad for the competing countries are as follows...

Austria (Coach: Josef Hickersberger)
1 Alex Manninger, 2 Joachim Standfest, 3 Martin Stranzl, 4 Emanuel Pogatetz, 5 Christian Fuchs, 6 René Aufhauser, 7 Ivica Vastic, 8 Christoph Leitgeb, 9 Roland Linz, 10 Andreas Ivanschitz, 11 Ümit Korkmaz, 12 Ronald Gercaliu, 13 Markus Katzer, 14 György Garics, 15 Sebastian Prödl, 16 Jürgen Patocka, 17 Martin Hiden, 18 Roman Kienast, 19 Jürgen Säumel, 20 Martin Harnik, 21 Jürgen Macho, 22 Erwin Hoffer, 23 Ramazan Özcan

Croatia (Coach: Slaven Bilić)
1 Stipe Pletikosa, 2 Dario Šimić, 3 Josip Šimunić, 4 Robert Kovač, 5 Vedran Ćorluka, 6 Hrvoje Vejić, 7 Ivan Rakitić, 8 Ognjen Vukojević, 9 Nikola Kalinić, 10 Niko Kovač, 11 Darijo Srna, 12 Mario Galinović13 Nikola Pokrivač, 14 Luka Modrić, 15 Dario Knežević, 16 Jerko Leko, 17 Ivan Klasnić, 18 Ivica Olić, 19 Niko Kranjčar, 20 Igor Budan, 21 Mladen Petrić 22 Danijel Pranjić, 23 Vedran Runje

Czech Republic (Coach: Karel Brückner)
1 Petr Čech, 2 Zdeněk Grygera, 3 Jan Polák, 4 Tomáš Galásek, 5 Radoslav Kováč, 6 Marek Jankulovski, 7 Libor Sionko, 8 Martin Fenin, 9 Jan Koller, 10 Václav Svěrkoš, 11 Stanislav Vlček, 12 Zdeněk Pospěch, 13 Michal Kadlec, 14 David Jarolím, 15 Milan Baroš, 16 Jaromír Blažek, 17 Marek Matějovský, 18 Tomáš Sivok, 19 Rudolf Skácel, 20 Jaroslav Plašil 21 Tomáš Ujfaluši, 22 David Rozehnal, 23 Daniel Zítka

France (Coach: Raymond Domenech)
1 Steve Mandanda, 2 Jean-Alain Boumsong, 3 Eric Abidal, 4 Patrick Vieira, 5 William Gallas, 6 Claude Makelele, 7 Florent Malouda, 8 Nicolas Anelka, 9 Karim Benzema, 10 Sidney Govou, 11 Samir Nasri, 12 Thierry Henry, 13 Patrice Evra, 14 François Clerc, 15 Lilian Thuram, 16 Sébastien Frey, 17 Sébastien Squillaci, 18 Bafétimbi Gomis, 19 Willy Sagnol, 20 Jérémy Toulalan, 21 Lassana Diarra, 22 Franck Ribéry, 23 Grégory Coupet

Germany (Coach: Joachim Löw)
1 Jens Lehmann, 2 Marcell Jansen, 3 Arne Friedrich, 4 Clemens Fritz, 5 Heiko Westermann, 6 Simon Rolfes, 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger, 8 Torsten Frings, 9 Mario Gómez, 10 Oliver Neuville, 11 Miroslav Klose, 12 Robert Enke, 13 Michael Ballack, 14 Piotr Trochowski 15 Thomas Hitzlsperger, 16 Philipp Lahm, 17 Per Mertesacker, 18 Tim Borowski 19 David Odonkor, 20 Lukas Podolski, 21 Christoph Metzelder, 22 Kevin Kuranyi, 23 René Adler

Greece (Coach: Otto Rehhagel)
1 Antonios Nikopolidis, 2 Giourkas Seitaridis, 3 Christos Patsatzoglou, 4 Nikolaos Spyropoulos, 5 Traianos Dellas, 6 Angelos Basinas, 7 Georgios Samaras, 8 Stylianos Giannakopoulos 9 Angelos Charisteas, 10 Georgios Karagounis, 11 Loukas Vintra, 12 Konstantinos Chalkias, 13 Alexandros Tzorvas, 14 Dimitrios Salpingidis, 15 Vassilios Torosidis, 16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos, 17 Theofanis Gekas, 18 Ioannis Goumas, 19 Paraskevas Antzas, 20 Ioannis Amanatidis 21 Konstantinos Katsouranis, 22 Alexandros Tziolis, 23 Nikolaos Liberopoulos

Italy (Coach: Roberto Donadoni)
1 Gianluigi Buffon, 2 Christian Panucci, 3 Fabio Grosso, 4 Giorgio Chiellini, 5 Fabio Cannavaro, 6 Andrea Barzagli, 7 Alessandro Del Piero, 8 Gennaro Gattuso, 9 Luca Toni, 10 Daniele De Rossi, 11 Antonio Di Natale, 12 Marco Borriello, 13 Massimo Ambrosini, 14 Marco Amelia, 15 Fabio Quagliarella, 16 Mauro Camoranesi, 17 Morgan De Sanctis, 18 Antonio Cassano, 19 Gianluca Zambrotta, 20 Simone Perrotta, 21 Andrea Pirlo, 22 Alberto Aquilani, 23 Marco Materazzi

Holland (Coach: Marco van Basten)
1 Edwin van der Sar, 2 André Ooijer, 3 John Heitinga, 4 Joris Mathijsen, 5 Giovanni van Bronckhorst, 6 Demy de Zeeuw, 7 Robin van Persie, 8 Orlando Engelaar, 9 Ruud van Nistelrooy, 10 Wesley Sneijder, 11 Arjen Robben, 12 Mario Melchiot, 13 Henk Timmer, 14 Wilfred Bouma, 15 Tim de Cler, 16 Maarten Stekelenburg, 17 Nigel de Jong, 18 Dirk Kuyt, 19 Klaas Jan Huntelaar, 20 Ibrahim Afellay, 21 Ryan Babel, 22 Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, 23 Rafael van der Vaart

Poland (Coach: Leo Beenhakker)
1 Artur Boruc, 2 Mariusz Jop, 3 Jakub Wawrzyniak, 4 Pawel Golański, 5 Dariusz Dudka, 6 Jacek Bąk, 7 Euzebiusz Smolarek8 Jacek Krzynówek, 9 Maciej Żurawski, 10 Łukasz Garguła, 11 Marek Saganowski, 12 Tomasz Kuszczak, 13 Marcin Wasilewski, 14 Michał Żewłakow, 15 Michał Pazdan, 16 Jakub Błaszczykowski, 17 Wojciech Łobodziński, 18 Mariusz Lewandowski, 19 Rafał Murawski, 20 Roger Guerreiro, 21 Tomasz Zahorski, 22 Łukasz Fabiański, 23 Adam Kokoszka

Portugal (Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari)
1 Ricardo, 2 Paulo Ferreira, 3 Bruno Alves, 4 Bosingwa, 5 Fernando Meira, 6 Raul Meireles, 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, 8 Petit, 9 Hugo Almeida, 10 João Moutinho, 11 Simão, 12 Quim, 13 Miguel, 14 Jorge Ribeiro, 15 Pepe, 16 Ricardo Carvalho, 17 Ricardo Quaresma, 18 Miguel Veloso, 19 Nani, 20 Deco, 21 Nuno Gomes, 22 Rui Patrício, 23 Hélder Postiga

Romania (Coach: Victor Piţurcă)
1 Bogdan Lobonţ, 2 Cosmin Contra, 3 Răzvan Raţ, 4 Gabriel Tamaş, 5 Cristian Chivu, 6 Mirel Rădoi, 7 Florentin Petre, 8 Paul Codrea, 9 Ciprian Marica, 10 Adrian Mutu 11 Răzvan Cociş, 12 Marius Cornel Popa, 13 Cristian Sapunaru, 14 Sorin Ghionea, 15 Dorin Goian, 16 Bănel Nicoliţă, 17 Cosmin Moti, 18 Marius Niculae, 19 Adrian Cristea, 20 Nicolae Dică, 21 Daniel Niculae, 22 Ştefan Radu, 23 Eduard Stăncioiu

Russia (Coach: Guus Hiddink)
1 Igor Akinfeev, 2 Vasili Berezutski, 3 Renat Yanbaev, 4 Sergei Ignashevich, 5 Aleksei Berezutski, 6 Roman Adamov, 7 Dmitri Torbinskiy, 8 Denis Kolodin, 9 Ivan Saenko, 10 Andrei Arshavin, 11 Sergei Semak, 12 Vladimir Gabulov, 13 Pavel Pogrebnyak, 14 Roman Shirokov, 15 Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, 16 Vyacheslav Malafeev, 17 Konstantin Zyrianov, 18 Yuri Zhirkov, 19 Roman Pavlyuchenko, 20 Igor Semshov, 21 Dmitri Sychev, 22 Aleksandr Anyukov, 23 Vladimir Bystrov

Spain (Coach: Luis Aragonés)
1 Iker Casillas, 2 Raúl Albiol, 3 Fernando Navarro, 4 Carlos Marchena, 5 Carles Puyol, 6 Andrés Iniesta, 7 David Villa, 8 Xavi Hernández, 9 Fernando Torres, 10 Cesc Fábregas, 11 Joan Capdevila, 12 Santi Cazorla, 13 Andrés Palop, 14 Xabi Alonso, 15 Sergio Ramos, 16 Sergio García, 17 Daniel Güiza, 18 Álvaro Arbeloa, 19 Marcos Senna, 20 Juanito Gutiérrez, 21 David Silva, 22 Rubén De La Red, 23 Pepe Reina

Sweden (Coach: Lars Lagerbäck)
1 Andreas Isaksson, 2 Mikael Nilsson, 3 Olof Mellberg, 4 Petter Hansson, 5 Fredrik Stoor, 6 Tobias Linderoth, 7 Niclas Alexandersson, 8 Anders Svensson, 9 Fredrik Ljungberg, 10 Zlatan Ibrahimović, 11 Johan Elmander, 12 Rami Shaaban, 13 Johan Wiland, 14 Daniel Majstorovic, 15 Andreas Granqvist, 16 Kim Källström, 17 Henrik Larsson, 18 Sebastian Larsson, 19 Daniel Andersson, 20 Marcus Allbäck, 21 Christian Wilhelmsson, 22 Markus Rosenberg, 23 Mikael Dorsin

Switzerland (Coach: Jakob Kuhn)
1 Diego Benaglio, 2 Johan Djourou, 3 Ludovic Magnin, 4 Philippe Senderos, 5 Stephan Lichtsteiner, 6 Benjamin Huggel, 7 Ricardo Cabanas, 8 Gökhan Inler, 9 Alexander Frei, 10 Hakan Yakin, 11 Marco Streller, 12 Eren Derdiyok, 13 Stéphane Grichting, 14 Daniel Gygax, 15 Gelson Fernandes, 16 Tranquillo Barnetta, 17 Christoph Spycher, 18 Pascal Zuberbühler, 19 Valon Behrami, 20 Patrick Müller, 21 Eldin Jakupovic, 22 Johan Vonlanthen, 23 Philipp Degen

Turkey (Coach: Fatih Terim)
1 Rüştü Reçber, 2 Servet Çetin, 3 Hakan Balta, 4 Gökhan Zan, 5 Emre Belözoğlu, 6 Mehmet Topal, 7 Mehmet Aurélio, 8 Nihat Kahveci, 9 Semih Şentürk, 10 Gökdeniz Karadeniz, 11 Tümer Metin, 12 Tolga Zengin, 13 Emre Güngör, 14 Arda Turan, 15 Emre Aşık, 16 Uğur Boral, 17 Tuncay Şanlı, 18 Kazım Kazım, 19 Ayhan Akman, 20 Sabri Sarıoğlu, 21 Mevlüt Erdinç, 22 Hamit Altıntop, 23 Volkan Demirel

UEFA.com Fantasy Football, Matchday 2...

Matchday 2 of the UEFA.com Fantasy Football is over and there was some great scoring yet again by the YOYWYW managers.

Ian King's Celtic FC remain at the top of the table and sit in 167th position for the overall competition which is a tremendous feat. Jagastonia, managed by ptfc.net's very own William Jarvis managed to make up a small bit of ground on the league leader and sits in 423rd position overall. One big final phase is needed by both these managers if they are to have any chance of winning the Euro 2008 tickets. Good Luck guys.

Another interesting stat is that the YOYWYW Super League sits in 23rd place overall in the League of Leagues, which has 3,426 leagues on the go, not bad at all lads.

Here is how the table stands after Matchday 2, heading into the final Matchday.

1	Celtic FC	Ian King	42	100
2	Jagastonia	William Jarvis	47	93
3	Yodellers XI	P Black	46	88
4	Euro warriors	Donald Larmour	23	73
5	DEF/MID/ATT - R/L/C	Michael Anderson	31	63
6	Black Mapleleafs	t saadiq kamali	42	60
7	banknock thistle	chris paterson	23	55
7	Dynamo Thistle	Adam Reid	12	55
9	FT FC	Greig Forbes	18	51
10	Maryhill Magyars	Steven Campbell	19	49
11	LEAPED LIKE A SALMON	Walter Ferguson	13	47
12	Metatarsal XI	Vinny Ferguson	24	44
13	Scotland Thistle	Scott Grant	25	43
14	Firhill Shed	stuart goldie	6	43
15	the dopes	mark rustigini	19	43
16	LiverPaul73	Paul Lucey	41	41
17	Wuck Fits XI	tony cassidy	40	40
18	Lauras Star	Allan Macmillan	13	37
19	Real Pish	Graham Macaulay	35	35
20	Canucks	Calum Stewart	7	33
21	DerryRhumba	Jon Glassey	7	29
22	Red Yellow Army	Nick Mathers	3	29
23	Fluid_Football	Daniel Smart	24	24
23	Real Portknockie	Willie Milne	9	24
25	OB1 Kenobi0	Ken Rawlinson	23	23
25	Hulkamania Thistle	Paul Mathieson	23	23
27	Guns n Thistle	Kenneth Hughes	21	21
27	Jagtastic	Alan McMillan	21	21
29	TheBloodBeastTerror	Kendo Nagazaki	19	19
29	The Fortunate Sons	Michael Law	19	19
31	Inter Yermaw	dave Mackay	17	17
32	Vanderreal	Lewis Dalgarno	11	11
33	StreetTuneFC	Zarul Hafis	10	10
33	Nordo´s Jags	Iain Norris	10	10
35	Portucal	callum mcconnell	8	8
36	Spam Valley Jags	Frazer McLachlan	7	7
36	baBOON!	Stu McDougall	7	7
38	FC Jaggy Thistle	Alan Abraham	6	6

Matchday 3 gets started tonight when Russia take on Serbia and the transfer deadline is 6pm. If you want to make some substitutions in time for thelast phase then now is the time to do it, don't forget or you'll be stuck with the players you had for Matchday 2.

There's still plenty of time to get your team entered for the main event. Register at uefa.com, go to the league section and use the code 52-10 to enter your team into the YOYWYW Super League.

Hiddink names Russian Tsars...

Gus Hiddink has shown he is concentrating on the job in hand and not getting to caught up in the speculation that he is Chelsea bound by naming the 23 players who will make up Russia's squad who head to Switzerland.

Having previously announced a 25 man preliminary squad The Goose has chosen to leave at Spartak Moscow's Aleksandr Pavlenko and Krylya Sovetov Samara's Oleg Ivanov. The midfielders will obviously be gutted at missing out but Hiddink, who had always looked like getting rid of players from the midfield area of the preliminary squad has made his mind up, and we all know what that means, that is that!

Interestingly, only one player plays outside Russia, Nürnberg's Ivan Saenko.

Here are the 23 Russian players who will head to Euro 2008...

Goalkeepers
Igor Akinfeev CSKA Moscow
Vladimir Gabulov Amkar Perm
Vyacheslav Malafeev Zenit St. Petersburg

Defenders
Aleksandr Anyukov Zenit St. Petersburg
Aleksei Berezutski CSKA Moscow
Vasili Berezutski CSKA Moscow
Sergei Ignashevich CSKA Moscow
Denis Kolodin Dinamo Moscow
Roman Shirokov Zenit St. Petersburg
Renat Yanbaev Lokomotiv Moscow

Midfielders
Diniyar Bilyaletdinov Lokomotiv Moscow
Dmitri Torbinskiy Lokomotiv Moscow
Vladimir Bystrov Spartak Moscow
Yuri Zhirkov CSKA Moscow
Konstantin Zyrianov Zenit St. Petersburg
Igor Semshov Dinamo Moscow
Sergei Semak Rubin Kazan

Forwards
Roman Adamov FC Moscow
Roman Pavlyuchenko Spartak Moskcow
Dmitri Sychev Lokomotiv Moscow
Pavel Pogrebnyak Zenit St. Petersburg
Andrei Arshavin Zenit St. Petersburg
Ivan Saenko Nürnberg

After announcing the two players who would miss out Hiddink said "I want to point out that we have no complaints about Pavlenko and Ivanov. They worked well in training and left a good impression. We want them to stay with us until the end of the EURO."

Euro 2008 FREE Shirt Offer...

As I said yesterday the bookies are starting the clamour to have your bets for Euro 2008 placed with them and PartyBets have come up with what I believe will undoubtedly be THE BEST OFFER around. If you fancy nailing your colours to the mast for this tournament then before you head out and spend your hard-earned on that new shirt take a look at this. Not only could you win hundreds of pounds but even if your bet goes down you've got the shirt to show for it. You could say it's a 'Don't lose the shirt off your back' special from one of the most competitively-priced bookies around.

Any customer who opens a new account with PartyBets up until 6th June and places a £40 bet on the outright winner of Euro 2008 will receive a voucher for a brand, spanking new FREE replica shirt of the team of your choice from the tournament. It really is as simple as that. Once your bet is placed, PartyBets will send you a code within 48 hours, you head along to the Subside Sports website, choose the shirt you want, enter the code and voila..it's yours, FREE GRATIS!



This kind of free shirt offer has been done before by bookies like Gamebookers and Canbet, and proved to be massive. I've no doubt this one will be the same and if you don't already have a PartyBets account then now is the time to get one.

Click here to head to PartyBets, click the Euro 2008 banner at the top of the right hand menu, open your account and claim your free shirt...EASY!

Canbet Euro 2008 Promotion...

The bookies are going into overdrive for Euro 2008 now in an attempt to get your stakes into their satchels. Over the next 12 days there will be plenty of enticing promotions on offer to try and prise open your wallet and Aussie giants Canbet.com have set the ball rolling with not one, but two cracking Euro 2008 offers.

Join Canbet today and make your first deposit of £30 or more and they will match it with a 100% deposit bonus up to £30. For the bigger players they are also offering a 20% deposit bonus up to the value of £200 if you make an initial deposit of £600 or more. Promotional codes are required for both of these offers and can be found, along with the terms and conditions by clicking on this text or any other Canbet link on this page.

If you're having a bet on Euro 2008 be it on the outright betting, top scorer or any other market then it pays to open an account with Canbet.com, place your initial bet and get yourself a FREE one at the same time.

Once you've opened your Canbet.com account you also still have the chance to enter their Euro 2008 competition where you can win a £1500 travel voucher. The competition ends on June 15th so get in there quick.

Who will be Rome alone?

Italian coach Roberto Donadoni has named a preliminary 24 man pool leaving one poor sod with the embarrassment of being the player to be miss out of the upcoming big one when he announces his final 23 man sqaud.

Donadoni, who has just signed a new contract with the Italian FA surprised a lot of people with his inclusion of Real Madrid striker Antonio Cassano, who has had a decent season while on at Sampdoria. Donadoni also named veteran Alessandro Del Piero, who finished the season as Serie A's top scorer.

AC Milan's veteran forward Filippo Inzaghi, Massimo Oddo and Vincenzo Iaquinta were all omitted from the Italian squad due to injuries. The pool of 24 chosen by Donadoni are...

Goalkeepers
Marco Amelia Livorno
Gianluigi Buffon Juventus
Morgan De Sanctis Sevilla

Defenders
Andrea Barzagli Palermo
Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid
Giorgio Chiellini Juventus
Fabio Grosso Lyon
Marco Materazzi Intern Milan
Christian Panucci Roma
Gianluca Zambrotta Barcelona

Midfielders
Massimo Ambrosini AC Milan
Alberto Aquilani Roma
Mauro Camoranesi Juventus
Daniele De Rossi Roma
Gennaro Gattuso AC Milan
Riccardo Montolivo Fiorentina
Simone Perrotta Roma
Andrea Pirlo AC Milan

Forwards
Marco Borriello Genoa
Antonio Cassano Sampdoria
Alessandro Del Piero Juventus
Antonio Di Natale Udinese
Fabio Quagliarella Udinese Calcio
Luca Toni Bayern Münich

Talking about his new contract, Donadoni said "I'm delighted with the new contract because I consider it a show of faith from the federation. I'll be the first to step down if we don't get good results."

UEFA.com Fantasy Football..

Just a quick heads up to all those playing the UEFA.com Euro 2008 Fantasy Football competition.

Matchday 2 is currently on the go and ends with the Czech Republic v Lithuania match on Tuesday night.

BE WARNED...there's no time whatsoever to get your transfers made for Matchday 3 which starts the follwing day with the Russia v Serbia game the following day. If you're planning on making any changes I'd get the thinking caps on now and be ready to act quick on Tuesday night. You have been warned...

You still have plenty of time to get your teams in for the main event. There's 12 days to go, so get your team selected and get it entered into the ever-increasing YOYWYW Super League. The password is 52-10. Further details can be found in previous blog posts.

Fantasy League, Classic Euro 2008 ...

They're like buses these Fantasy Football competitions. You wait an eternity for one and then they all come along at the one time! I'm not surprised by this to be fair as everyone was probably waiting for the Champions League Final to be out the way to give themselves a chance of as much exposure as possible.

On the back of the Daily Telegraph and Metro getting going, Fantasy Football inovators, Fantasy League, have their game up and running and ready for you all to get involved. With £10,000 worth of prizes on offer this game is another great one to have in your portfolio and if you already play the Fantasy League games you'll know how they work and how good they really are.

To sign up to the Fantasy League competition click here

Entry to this competition costs £5 per team and you can have as many teams involved as you want. You have a budget of €100 million to pick a squad of 15 players. Teams can be in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation and you are restricted to only two players from the same country in the group phases and three during the knockout phase. Each manager has 12 transfers to use during the tournament and unlimited substitutions so pick your squad wisely.

A YOYWYW Friends League has been set up, to join simple use the link below to register your team. Once you've picked your squad, go to your team page and click on the link to 'F & E League'. Once there enter the pin number 62 into the 'Join existing League' box and click go. See you there...

To sign up to the Fantasy League competition click here

Euro 2008, The Mascots...

Every tournament has those cuddly little characters they call mascots and this one is no different. Switzerland and Austria have chosen theirs and after consulting the people a name was chosen for this pair of spikey-headed cartoon characters.

After being given the choice of Zagi and Zigi, Flitz and Bitz and Trix and Flix the people spoke and the winner, with 36.3% was Trix and Flix™!

There's been some legendary mascots over the years for the European Championships. Click here to see some of the past characters and first prize of a strudel to anyone who can tell me what the Italia 1980 mascot is all about?

Metro FREE Euro 2008 Fantasy Football

As expected, it never rains but it pours in Fantasy Football land. On the back of the Daily Telegraph launching their game the Metro, the daily free newspaper, has today launched their free to enter competition.

With £15,000 in prize money and it being FREE to enter the Metro competition is bound to be a popular one. £10,000 is up for grabs for the highest points scorer with the highest scoring manager of each round of group games winning £1,000 each. The group stage prizes will be contested as follows:

Round 1: Saturday 7th June – Tuesday 10th June
Round 2: Wednesday 11th June – Saturday 14th June
Round 3: Sunday 15th June – Wednesday 18th June
Quarter Final: Thursday 19th June - Sunday 22nd June
Semi Final & Final: Wednesday 25th June - Sunday 29th June

You have 75 stars to use to buy your team, with the top players like Cristiano Ronaldo costing 10 stars so you really do have to pick wisely in the competition and make sure you get the main men you want in your team and some good cheap options to compliment them. Managers are restricted to only 3 transfers during the group stages, 10 for the quarter finals matches and 5 for the semi finals and final.

There is a YOYWYW Mini League set-up for this competition and everyone is welcome to join in. Let all your friends know and get your team in there and have a bit of banter as the tournament progresses via the messageboard. To join our mini league, register your team on the Metro website, then go to League section and click 'Join a League'. You then need to enter the following:

League Name: You Only Yodel When You're Winning
League Password: yodeller

Click here to sign up to the FREE Metro European Championship Fantasy Football

Euro 2008 Desktop Widget...

No, not midget...widget!

Yahoo and some boffin-like fella or company called Interwall have come up with a great wee gizmo to keep you posted on the goings on at Euro 2008. The Widget can be downloaded to your desktop and will give you live updates on every game, every goal, team news, fixtures and tables.

Dowload the Euro 2008 Desktop Widget here

Daily Telegraph Fantasy Football...

Finally, after a very long wait another Euro 2008 Fantasy Football game has arrived! This could very well be the start of the deluge of new competitions and keep me on my toes over the next few weeks.

The Daily Telegraph does one of my favourite Fantasy Footy games and one of the most popular.They have today launched their competition for the European Championships in association with electrical store Comet.

The Telegraph competition regularly attracts over 200,000 entries during the regular season and though their is an undoubted apathy to this summer's tournament due to the lack of home nations involved, this competition will be sure to be a busy one.

With £25,000 up for grabs overall there are prizes for the top ten managers as well as a £1000 prize to the leader after the group stages. Entries cost £6 or you can pick three teams for £14 saving yourself a whopping £4. Each manager gets 20 transfers to be used at any time during the tournament so there's no need to buy the paper for transfer passwords like during the regular season competition. Scores and league tables will be updated every day.

Just like the UEFA.com competition we have set up a YOYWYW Super League for this competition. Register your team at the TFF site, go to the Super League tab and in the 'Join existing Super League' section type in 'Yodeller's Super League' for the league name and 'yodeller' for the password. See you there.

Sign up for the Daily Telegraph European Championship competition here

Sons and Daughters...

How proud would you be to see your son or daughter being the Official Match Ball Carrier at a Euro 2008 match?

One of the many tournament sponsors, Kia Motors, are offering the chance of winning this 'lifetime priceless experience' as they so eloquently put it, to one lucky child at the Quarter-Final match to be played in Vienna on Sunday 22nd June.

To be in with giving your child the chance of this 'lifetime priceless experience' then simply follow this link, answer one question (with the answer being Cee'd and Sportage) and fill in the bizarre tie-breaker which asks you to suggest what might be happening in football in the year 2015. The example they give is 'Gary Lineker resigns as England Manager'. Get your crazy thinking caps on and you could be in with a shout.

GOOD LUCK

Continental Video Quiz...

Another one of the Euro 2008 official sponsors has come up with a competition that gives you achance to win tickets and other prizes related to the big tournament. There's a Grand Prize, Champions Prizes, Daily Prizes but unfortunately for me, no booby prizes!

Continental, the German tyre company, has developed a video quiz where you challenge German goalie Timo Hildebrand, who ironically has been left out of Joachim Löw's squad for the big tournament.

The quiz consists of a questions and picture questions relating to previous tournaments and can be played on easy, amateur or pro level. You have to answer three questions in a row correctly to score a goal and if you get three wrong in a row Timo scores. Don't really know the point of this but let's put it this way, Timo was regularly kicking my arse when I gave it a go.

Get yourself over to the UEFA.com Euro 2008 website and give it a go or to make life simple just click this Video Quiz link. Good Luck, I've given up already.

They think it's Raul over...

Spanish coach Luis Aragonés has decided on the 23 players who will attempt to turn his country from being the perpetual under-achievers of the past into European Champions and shocked many in the country by leaving out Real Madrid's Raul Gonzalez.

Raul, who has 102 caps and 44 goals for his country, scored 18 goals in Real Madrid's championship winning side and has been ceremoniously dumped and replaced by Real Zaragoza striker Sergio García (no, not the golfer), who's side were ironically relegated on the final day of the La Liga season. Aragonés, who has proven he is not afraid of controversy in the past, has also chosen not to take Valencia pair David Albelda and Joaquín Sánchez, while has included uncapped midfielder Santiago Cazorla of Villarreal. Aragonés also became the only manager who will pick a player with a woman's name when he chose Villarreal's Capdevilla, first name...JOAN!

The 23 players chosen to finally turn the Spaniards from zeroes to heroes are...

Goalkeepers
Iker Casillas Real Madrid
Pepe Reina Liverpool
Andrés Palop Sevilla

Defenders
Sergio Ramos Real Madrid
Álvaro Arbeloa Liverpool
Carles Puyol Barcelona
Carlos Marchena Valencia
Raúl Albiol Valencia
Juanito Real Betis
Joan Capdevilla Villarreal
Fernando Navarro Mallorca

Midfielders
Marcos Senna Villarreal
Xabi Alonso Liverpool
Xavi Hernández Barcelona
Cesc Fábregas Arsenal
Andrés Iniesta Barcelona
Rubén De la Red Getafe
David Silva Valencia
Santiago Cazorla Villarreal

Forwards
David Villa Valencia
Daniel Güiza Mallorca
Sergio García Real Zaragoza
Fernando Torres Liverpool

On his surprise decision to leave out Raul coach Aragonés said, "I have chosen the players in relation to how they have performed over many games. I'm the one, for better or worse, who has to choose and I have chosen."

Fantasy Football...where are they all?

With the tournament only 21 days away I find it astonishing that only the official UEFA site has their competition in place and accepting entrants. Hopefully with the Champions League Final coming up and domestic football coming to an end over the next week we will see an influx of games appearing and we can get down to the real business of what this blog is about...Euro 2008 Fantasy Football!!

You can still get entered into the YOYWYW/UEFA.com Super League by signing up at the official tournament website, going to the Leagues tab and entering the code 52-10. If you spot any other competitions that are already out there that I may have missed then please leave a comment and let me know...CHEERS

In the meantime, here's a bit of REAL fantasy football just to keep you ticking over...

Germany announce provisional squad...

Euro 2008 favourites Germany have announced their provisional squad for Switzerland and Austria. Coach Joachim Löw surprised many by included a hat-trick of players who don't even play in the top flight of German football by calling up Marko Marin, Oliver Neuville and Patrick Helmes. Mari and Neuville both play for Borussia Mönchengladbach while Helmes stars for Cologne.

One shock omission was Valencia goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand, who has been replaced by Bayer Leverkusen's René Adler. Other omissions include the experienced Tim Borowski through injury, Manuel Friedrich, Jermaine Jones and Piotr Trochowski.

The full provisional German squad is, with three of these players set to miss out when the squad gets it's final cut to 23 for the 28th May deadline...

Goalkeepers
Jens Lehmann Free Agent
Robert Enke Hannover
René Adler Bayer Leverkusen

Defenders
Christoph Metzelder Real Madrid
Per Mertesacker Werder Bremen
Philipp Lahm Bayern Münich
Arne Friedrich Hertha Berlin
Marcell Jansen Bayern Münich
Clemens Fritz Werder Bremen
Heiko Westermann Schalke

Midfielders
Michael Ballack Chelsea
Thomas Hitzlsperger VfB Stuttgart
Simon Rolfes Bayer Leverkusen
Torsten Frings Werder Bremen
Bastian Schweinsteiger Bayern Münich
Piotr Trochowski Hamburg
Tim Borowski Werder Bremen
Jermaine Jones Schalke
David Odonkor Real Betis
Marko Marin Borussia Mönchengladbach

Forwards
Miroslav Klose Bayern Münich
Lukas Podolski Bayern Münich
Mario Gómez VfB Stuttgart
Kevin Kuranyi Schalke
Oliver Neuville Borussia Mönchengladbach
Patrick Helmes Cologne

On announcing his squad Coach Joachim Löw said "In the last couple years we have watched around 200 Bundesliga games and have had numerous practice sessions watched. We also staged international matches and held meetings with the coaching staff. It was a tough decision, but we have now decided to give these players our confidence for this important tournament."

Tommy Burns...RIP

This has nothing to do with Euro 2008 but I couldn't let this sad day pass without paying my dues to Tommy Burns, Celtic Legend and thoroughly decent human being.

Tommy died today at only 51 after battling skin cancer. He was a man of great faith and a man highly respected by Scotsmen from all faiths and football followings. A true one club man who lived in amongst the game of greed and ego with a genuine love of the game. A TRUE Scottish football legend who will be sadly missed.

RIP Mr SellickFooballClub

Swedish Shock, Henrik Larsson returns...

Swedish coach Lars Lagerbäck today announced his squad and the whole nation, and the majority of the East End of Glasgow was delighted as Henrik Larsson decided to come out of international retirement to take his place at the tournament.

36-year-old Larsson has been continuing to impress this season while playing for his boyhood heroes Helsingborgs and after receiving a surprise call while playing golf the prolific marksman couldn't pass up the chance to head to Switzerland and Austria. One thing's for sure, the sale of Sweden tops in Glasgow has just dramatically increased as the Celtic fans who idolise Larsson after his historic spell with the club will most certainly be snapping them up.

There were no other real surprises in Lagerbäck's squad though veteran Teddy Lucic has decided not to join Larsson in coming out of retirement. Rosenborg's Fredrik Stoor is in ahead of Peter Larsson and Tobias Linderoth, who hasn't played all year has been included but will be replaced by Kennedy Bakircioglu if he fails to prove his fitness at a pre-finals training camp.

Here is the full Swedish squad...

Goalkeepers
Andreas Isaksson Manchester City
Rami Shaaban Hammarby
Johan Wiland Elfsborg

Defenders
Mikael Dorsin CFR 1907 Cluj
Petter Hansson Rennes
Daniel Majstorovic Basle
Olof Mellberg Juventus
Mikael Nilsson Panathinaikos
Andreas Granqvist Wigan Athletic FC
Fredrik Stoor Rosenborg

Midfielders
Niclas Alexandersson IFK Göthenburg
Daniel Andersson Malmö
Kim Källström Lyon
Sebastian Larsson Birmingham City
Fredrik Ljungberg West Ham
Tobias Linderoth Galatasaray
Christian Wilhelmsson Deportivo La Coruña
Anders Svensson Elfsborg

Forwards
Marcus Allbäck FC Copenhagen
Henrik Larsson Helsingborgs
Johan Elmander Toulouse
Zlatan Ibrahimović Inter Milan
Markus Rosenberg Werder Bremen

Suprise inclusion in the squad, Henrik Larsson said "When I said I was retiring, I was in a disappointed frame of mind. I wasn't happy with our performance in that match against Germany, and I wasn't happy with my own performance either. At that point I didn't know that I'd keep playing football for as long as this – or that I would enjoy it as much as I am right now. Lars Lagerbäck phoned me yesterday while I was out playing golf. When I checked my voicemail I made a quick decision to say 'yes'."

Portugal squad announced...

Portugal's enigmatic leader Luis Felipe Scolari has named his 23-man squad for Euro 2008 and the shock omission is Inter Milan's Maniche. The midfielder has struggled to gain a starting slot since moving to Italy on loan from Atletico Madrid and this seems to have cost him dear as the player, who was outstanding at Euro 2004 will be left kicking his heels during the summer as his younger brother, Jorge Ribeiro heads to Portugal's Euro base of Neuchatel.

There's no other real surprises in Big Phil's squad other than the call-up of uncapped keeper Rui Patricio of Sporting Lisbon, who will be lucky to get any game time ahead of regular keepers Ricardo and Quim. Ronaldo, Ferreira, Carvalho and Nani represent the Premier League and will be pivotal to Portugal's chances, these players will also be joined in England next year by £16m Chelsea signing Jose Boswinga. Here is the full squad....

Goalkeepers
Ricardo Real Betis
Balompié Quim Benfica
Rui Patrício Sporting Lisbon

Defenders
Paulo Ferreira Chelsea
Ricardo Carvalho Chelsea
Jose Bosingwa Porto
Bruno Alves Porto
Jorge Ribeiro Boavista
Miguel Valencia
Fernando Meira VfB Stuttgart
Pepe Real Madrid

Midfielders
Petit Benfica
Deco Barcelona
Raul Meireles Porto
Miguel Veloso Sporting Lisbon
João Moutinho Sporting Lisbon

Forwards
Nuno Gomes Benfica
Simão Sabrosa Atletico Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United
Nani Manchester United
Hugo Almeida Werder Bremen
Ricardo Quaresma Porto
Hélder Postiga Panathinaikos

Coach Scolari said, "My expectations are the same as those that I had in 2004. I hope these players know what it means to represent their country well and reach the second stage. I have total belief in this squad."

Portugal face Georgia in a friendly match later this month before their opening Euro 2008 fixture against Turkey in Geneva on June 7th.

Euro 2008... Top Goalscorer betting

With the domestic season now over the bookies will be going into overdrive to try and get your wagers on Euro 2008. A popular market during any big tournament is who will be the Top Goalscorer and some of the firms have already priced up on this one with some huge differences of opinion between their respective odds compilers. Here's some of the players who are quoted and the best prices on offer...
Miroslav Klose 9-1 Bet365
Cristiano Ronaldo 11-1 Betfred
Luca Toni 12-1 SkyBet
Lukas Podolski 14-1 SkyBet
Fernando Torres 14-1 Bet365
Thierry Henry 16-1 SkyBet
Ruud v. Nistelrooy 16-1 SkyBet
David Villa 20-1 Betfred
Mario Gomez 25-1 Bet365
Kevin Kuranyi 33-1 SkyBet
David Trezeguet 33-1 SkyBet
Robin Van Persie 33-1 Betfred
Karim Benzema 40-1 Bet365
Nicolas Anelka 40-1 Bet365
Michael Ballack 50-1 SkyBet
Milan Baros 50-1 SkyBet
Jan Koller 66-1 SkyBet
Franck Ribery 80-1 Betfred
Sidney Govou 100-1 SkyBet
Cesc Fabregas 100-1 Betfred

As I say, though there are only three bookies giving odds just now, their compilers differ greatly with some of these players having very different prices with different firms.

Miroslav Klose is the firm favourite with both SkyBet and Betfred at 9-1, but Bet365 have plumped for Luca Toni as their favourite at 8-1. If you fancy the big Italian, to score the most goals that is, the you can get 50% more for your money by betting him at SkyBet and Betfred.

One of the other interesting differences is Liverpool's lethal young Spaniard Fernando Torres. OK, the Spaniards are regularly fancied in big tourneys to do well and always let everyone down, but Torres is quoted as 9-1 joint favourite with Ronaldo and Klose with SkyBet, but is available at a huge 14-1 with Bet365.

Others are Spain's David Villa who is 20-1 with Betfred but only 12s at Bet365, Arsenal's Robin Van Persie at 33-1 with Betfred, but only 20s at Bet365 and Karim Benzema who's generally 25-1 but is 40-1 with Bet365.

Good Luck with whoever you go for and if you don't have a Skybet account then take advantage of their £20 free bet to new customers by signing up using the link below.

YOYWYW banner...

I've kind of lost the will to live with adding to the YOYWYW banner at the top of this blog of late.

That's not 100% accurate to be honest. I'm actually at a complete loss as to what else there is that is Swiss and Austrian that can be added. If you've any ideas, and please don't say Josef Fritzl or a dungeon, then please leave a comment and the top ones will be lovingly crafted in and you'll get a big shout out for the suggestions.

Euro Legends...

The Official Euro 2008 website has gradually been evolving as the tournament gets closer and the History section is now well worth a look. Going back to the first tournament in 1960 this is a concise insight into the European Championships. The winners, the losers, star players, tournament information and much, much more.

Check out the excellent Euro Legends section where you'll find biographies of all the players from the winning teams throughout the years, bizarre caricatures of them all and everything you ever needed to know about them.

It really is a good read and a must for all you Euro Stattos out there.

The Contenders...Czech Republic

Contender's ready.... here we take another look at one of the final sixteen Euro 2008 teams, today's choice is...

Czech Republic

THE MANAGER...
The Czechs will be led to Switzerland and Austria by 68-year-old Karel Bruckner, one of the real characters of international management. Bruckner, has been in charge of the national side since 2001 and will be retiring at the end of Euro 2008. Bruckner built up the Czech Under 21 team that went on to victory in the 2002 Under 21 European Championships in Switzerland and was then given the job of leading the country to Euro 2004, where they lost out to eventual winners Greece in the semi-finals.

QUALIFYING STAGES...
The Czech Republic qualified for Euro 2008 by coming out on top of a group that consisted of Germany, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, Wales, Cyprus and San Marino.
Here is how the Group D qualifying table finished up...

Czech Republic	12	9	2	1	27	5	29
Germany	12	8	3	1	35	7	27
Republic of Ireland	12	4	5	3	17	14	17
Slovakia	12	5	1	6	33	23	16
Wales	12	4	3	5	18	19	15
Cyprus	12	4	2	6	17	24	14
San Marino	12	0	0	12	2	57	0

THEIR GROUP...
The Czechs have been drawn in Group A alongside Portugal, hosts Switzerland and Turkey.

PLAYERS TO WATCH...
Marek Jankulovski... Left back Jankulovski has been a fixture in the AC Milan squad since joining from Udinese in 2005. The marauding style of this defender gives the Czechs good width and he has been known to unleash a vicious strike at goal in the past.
Jan Koller... Striker Koller, pictured, seems to have been around for years but still manages to get in amongst the goals. The 35-year-old has a great scoring record with 50 goals from his 80 international caps. Koller is undoubtedly coming to the end of his career, but will still prove a danger to every team he comes up against.

THE KIT...
The Czech Republic play in kit made by Puma.
Their home kit consists of red top with blue collar, white shorts and blue socks with white piping. The away kit is a white top with red collar, white shorts with red piping and white socks with red piping.

Buy the Czech Republic home and away strip here...

THEIR CHANCES...
The Czechs on their day can be an exciting, fast-flowing side who play some great football and entertain. Having had a great qualifying campaign and a decent draw this really could be their chance to shine and give boss Karel Bruckner a great send off as he heads into retirement.

EU've had you're chips...

Panic not! If you're heading to Switzerland to take in any of the Euro 2008 games then the fear that has been gripping the nation about the availability of that much-loved Swiss delicacy THE CHIP is over!!

It seems that Switzerland has been engulfed in potato rationing due to a national shortage of spuds. Thankfully, the Swiss government have stepped in to avert a roasting and are allowing an extra 5000 tonnes of totties into the country. The restrictions on the importation of potatoes was enforced after the excellently-named Swisspatat, the Swiss potato industry, warned supplies were running low in the build-up to the big tournament.

All is not well though. It seems reserves of a favourite Swiss delight, Cervelat, is also running low so you may be denied the opportunity to sample this savoury snack. The sausage-like delicacy, which is made of intestines from Brazilian cows, may well be off the menu when you sit down to soak up the beer so it looks like you may have to make do with chips. Bugger eh?

UEFA.com Fantasy Football..join our league...

Matchday 2 of the UEFA.com Euro 2008 Fantasy Football is only a couple of weeks away now so if you've not already joined the YOYWYW Super League the get your entries in.

The Russia v Kazakhstan match on the 23rd May is the start of the next phase so if you are in the league it may be an idea to start thinking about some substitutions.

Getting your teams entered now means you're in and ready for when the tournament gets going proper and also allows you a bit of practice time to work out how the site works. C'mon you know you want to...

Sign up here and when registered go to the 'Leagues' tab and enter the code 52-10 to join the YOYWYW Super League...

First squad named...

Croatia have become the first country to name their chosen 23-man squad for Euro 2008.

Coach Slaven Bilic, who has just signed a new two-year extension to his contract, produced no real surprises when he named the men he hopes will take the Henri Delaunay trophy back to Zagreb in July. The Croats have also named two youngsters who they will be taking to the tournament as reserves, players Bilic believes are future stars. The squad is...

Goalkeepers
Stipe Pletikosa Spartak Moscow
Vedran Runje Lens
Mario Galinović Panathinaikos

Defenders
Dario Šimić AC Milan
Robert Kovač Borussia Dortmund
Josip Šimunić Hertha Berlin
Vedran Ćorluka Manchester City
Dario Knežević Livorno
Hrvoje Vejić FC Tom Tomsk

Midfielders
Niko Kovač FC Salzburg
Jerko Leko AS Monaco
Darijo Srna Shakhtar Donetsk
Niko Kranjčar Portsmouth
Luka Modrić Tottenham Hotspur
Danijel Pranjić Heerenveen
Ivan Rakitić Schalke 04
Ognjen Vukojević Dinamo Zagreb
Nikola Pokrivač AS Monaco

Forwards
Mladen Petrić Borussia Dortmund
Ivica Olić Hamburg
Ivan Klasnić Werder Bremen
Igor Budan Parma
Nikola Kalinić Hajduk Split

Reserves
Manuel Pamić FC Salzburg
Anas Sharbini HNK Rijeka

Bilic said, "We chose 23 players and we are also taking two youngsters. Not because we want to give them a chance to fit in or to thank them, but because they are young, talented and playing in the positions we need."

Croatia face Moldova in friendly matches later this month before their opening Euro 2008 fixture against Austria and Bilic will be hoping his players come through the next couple of games unscathed.