ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying Group D

The qualifying tournament for the 2008 European Football Championship in Group D was a series of matches played between seven teams from September 2, 2006, to November 21, 2007. The participating countries were Germany, Ireland, Cyprus, San Marino, Slovakia, Wales, and Czech Republic.

On February 9, 2006, the calendar for these matches was determined at a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany. This marked the beginning of a complex schedule that would ultimately lead to the qualification of three teams: Germany, Czech Republic, and later Ireland.

Germany became the first team to officially qualify on October 13, 2007, after a negative draw with Ireland. The Czech Republic followed suit just five days later, defeating Germany 3-0 on October 17, 2007. This victory marked an important milestone in the qualification process for both teams.

The group stage was characterized by intense competition among its members. In total, 42 matches were played across the seven teams, resulting in a cumulative score of 149 goals. On average, each match produced approximately 3.55 goals per game.

Throughout the qualifying campaign, several notable players made significant contributions to their respective teams' performances. For instance, Michalis Konstantinou scored two goals for Cyprus, while Marek Jankulovski and Marek Ľupták netted multiple goals for Slovakia. Other prominent scorers included Clemens Fritz of Germany, Mario Gómez, Kevin Kilbain, Marek Hamšík, Filip Holosko, Miroslav Karhan, Gareth Bale, Robert Earnshaw, Alexandros Garpozis, Konstantinos Makridis, Stelios Okkarides, Yasumis Yasumi, Zdenek Grygera, David Jarolim, Radoslav Kovac, Marek Matejovsky, Jan Polak, Daniel Pudil, Manuel Friedrich, Torsten Frings, Marcel Jansen, Bernd Schneider, Richard Dunn, Steve Finnan, Andy Reid, and several others.

The group stage ultimately concluded on November 21, 2007, with the qualification of three teams: Germany, Czech Republic, and Ireland. These countries would go on to represent their respective nations in the main tournament.