VIENNA -- The twin mascots for European Football Championship 2008 (Euro
2008) unveiled at a media conference at the Museumsquartier in Vienna on
Wednesday.
Illustration of the
Euro 2008 football competition mascot. |
The lovely twins with number 20 and 08, dressed in red and white football
strips, symbolizing the national colors of the two joint host countries, Austria
and Switzerland, and their bright red, pointy hairstyles indicated that the Euro
2008 would be hold in two alpine countries.
It's the first time that the European Championships chose more than one
mascot.
"Mascots know no borders. Neither mascot represents one of the countries, but
both represent our united qualities," Friedrich Stickler, Austrian Football
Association president said at the conference.
Lars-Christer Olsson, Chief Executive of the Union of European Football
Associations (UEFA), said: "The twins shall carry the energetic spirit of the
event and it is vital that the fans, and particularly the younger ones, like
them."
At the conference, Bruno Schwobthaler, vice-president of Warner Bros.
Consumer Products., who designed and created the mascots, said that it had taken
4,000 man hours to develop 100 different figures from which the two mascots were
finally selected.
He said that the two mascots, with the number composed of 20, 08, had
different characters and tempers.
"Number 08 is a serious, controlled type, and Number 20 represents
rebellious, creative.
"They indicate the teamwork, which is also our best wishes for the football
players at the Euro 2008," Stickler added.
After the media conference, the two mascots got into a horse-drawn carriage
and set off for Vienna's Stephansplatz. From there, an eight-carriage escort of
32 children accompanied the mascots back to the Museumsquartier.
The names of the twins are still open, which would be given by the football
fans in Switzerland and Austria through a vote between September 27 and October
8.
Three choices are available: ZAGI and ZIGI, FLITZ and BITZ, TRIX and FLIX.
The Euro 2008 will be hold jointly by Austria and Switzerland, distributed in
eight cities in the summer of 2008.
The opening match scheduled on June 7, 2008 in Basel of Switzerland. After 22
days' competition, the final will come out in Vienna of Austria.
