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Monday, 9 December, 2002, 10:32 GMT
The planned venues
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Six Scottish and two Irish stadia will be used to stage Euro 2008 games.
Hampden Established in 1867, Hampden can claim to be the oldest soccer stadium in the country and is regarded as the home of Scottish football.
Nevertheless, it has excellent facilities and successfully hosted the 2002 Champions League final. It will host the opening match and one of the semi-finals.
Ibrox Rangers' stadium has long been recognised as one of the finest arenas in Europe.
With a capacity of just over 50,000, it can prove an intimidating place for visiting teams.
Celtic Park Another stadium that can lay claim to being one of the best in Europe after an extensive refurbishment in recent years.
The largest club stadium in Scotland, it will host one of the semi-finals.
Murrayfield The biggest of all the Scottish venues involved with a capacity of 67,500, the home of Scottish rugby is another outstanding sporting venue.
Although not a regular footballing venue, it will do Scotland proud during such a high-profile event and has been given the honour of staging the championship final.
Only two from three of the following three proposals by Hibernian, Aberdeen and the Dundee football clubs will get the green light if the Scottish-Irish bid is successful.
Easter Road
Hibs have ambitious plans to extend Easter Road in order to be part of Euro 2008. Their current capacity of just over 17,000 would be doubled, with the current east stand being replaced by a new three-tier stand.
Aberdeen Aberdeen FC plan to build a new stadium in a new leisure park on the outskirts of the Granite City, incorporating a football academy.
But the new facility has been plagued by planning problems and has yet to be given the go-ahead.
Dundee Dundee United and Dundee have agreed to share a brand new stadium in a ground-breaking move for Scottish clubs. Again, the plan is to build a 30,000 all-seater stadium on the outskirts of the city. It would be the first and only stadium in Scotland with a retractable roof and would also be home to the Scottish Claymores American Football Team. Two of out of the following three Irish stadia will be chosen to host some of the Euro 2008 games.
Croke Park The impressively-redeveloped stadium would be ideal for Euro 2008. But the owners, the Gaelic Athletic Association, do not allow 'foreign' sports to be played on their grounds. Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is urging the GAA to allow Croke to be used for Euro 2008 on a one-off basis.
Stadium Ireland Irish PM Ahern wanted the centrepiece of Ireland's Euro 2008 campaign to be a brand new stadium and because of his personal involvement in the project it was nicknamed the 'Bertie Bowl'. However, due to spiralling costs, the government was forced to concede it could not fund the scheme. Attempts are now being made to attract private finance to get the stadium built.
Lansdowne Road The oldest international rugby venue in the world will need major revamping to meet Euro 2008 requirements. The Republic of Ireland play their home games at the Ballsbridge venue, with temporary seating brought in to replace the terracing. The ground is owned by the Irish RFU who may embark on a redevelopment programme now that the Stadium Ireland project has hit financial difficulties.
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