Group B of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 8 to 16 June 2008. All six of the group's matches were played at venues in Austria, in Vienna and Klagenfurt. The group was made up of four central European nations; co-hosts Austria, as well as Croatia, Germany and Poland. Austria and Poland were appearing in a European Championship finals for the first time.
Croatia became the first team from the group to qualify for the quarter-finals after following up a 1–0 victory against Austria in their first match with a 2–1 win over Germany. This, in conjunction with Austria's 1–1 draw with Poland, meant that Croatia finish top of Group B. The second quarter-final berth was decided by the group's final matches, with Germany defeating Austria through a Michael Ballack free kick, making the result of the Poland vs. Croatia match irrelevant. Had Germany lost, Poland could still have qualified with a win over Croatia. However, a goal from Ivan Klasnić won the game for Croatia, making the Croatians the first team to gain maximum points in the group stage.
Draw position | Team | Pot | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
UEFA Rankings | FIFA Rankings June 2008 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 2007[nb 1] | May 2008[nb 2] | |||||||||
B1 | ![]() |
1 | Co-host | 12 December 2002 | 1st | — | Debut | 27 | 29 | 92 |
B2 | ![]() |
2 | Group E winner | 17 November 2007 | 3rd | 2004 | Quarter-finals (1996) | 2 | 11 | 15 |
B3 | ![]() |
3 | Group D runner-up | 13 October 2007 | 10th | 2004 | Winners (1972, 1980, 1996) | 7 | 4 | 5 |
B4 | ![]() |
4 | Group A winner | 17 November 2007 | 1st | — | Debut | 12 | 13 | 28 |
Notes
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | ![]() |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 | |
3 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1[a] | |
4 | ![]() |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1[a] |
In the quarter-finals,
Austria ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report |
Attendance: 51,428[1]
Referee: Pieter Vink (Netherlands)
Austria[2] |
Croatia[2] |
|
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[2][3]
|
Germany ![]() | 2–0 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
|
Report |
Attendance: 30,461[4]
Referee: Tom Henning Øvrebø (Norway)
Germany[5] |
Poland[5] |
|
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[5][3]
|
Croatia ![]() | 2–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
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Report |
|
Attendance: 30,461[6]
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Croatia[7] |
Germany[7] |
|
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|
Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[7][3]
|
Austria ![]() | 1–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report |
|
Attendance: 51,428[8]
Referee: Howard Webb (England)
Austria[9] |
Poland[9] |
|
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[9][3]
|
Poland ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report |
|
Attendance: 30,461[10]
Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)
Poland[11] |
Croatia[11] |
|
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[11][3]
|
Austria ![]() | 0–1 | ![]() |
---|---|---|
Report |
|
Attendance: 51,428[12]
Referee: Manuel Mejuto González (Spain)
Austria[13] |
Germany[13] |
|
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:[13][3]
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Stages |
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General information |
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Official symbols |
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UEFA Euro 2008 finalists
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Champions | |||||||||
Runners-up | |||||||||
Eliminated in the semi-finals |
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Eliminated in the quarter-finals |
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Eliminated in the group stage |
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