Royal decree pulps programmes

Royal rulers: The photos of King Albert and Queen Paola were not flattering

By Pete Lansley in Brussels.

Trainspotting collector types will have been disappointed by the lack of publications at the start of Euro 2000.

Truth is, the first run of programmes had to be trashed because unflattering pictures of the Belgian royal family had been included.

Most things have been late or disorganised at the tournament but the appearance of the first match-day programme on Tuesday, for Norway against Spain, three days and seven matches into the event, begged a few questions.

The programmes were finally released

Uefa told BBC Sport Online that the Euro 2000 organisers, independent of European football's governing body, had delegated the publishing of the programmes.

When they came back on the eve of the competition, it was clear King Boudouin and family were not going to be over-impressed with the family portraits.

"In the introduction to the programme, the pictures of the Belgian royal family were all wrong. They weren't the best ones," said a Uefa spokeswoman.

"But the programmes are a Euro 2000 responsibility. The original pictures might have offended, it was a silly error, so the programmes were withdrawn and new ones printed."