Were you in Germany during the summer of 2006? If so, you must remember the amazing electric atmosphere generated by the country’s hosting of the World Cup. If you didn’t make it to a game, maybe you made it to one of the Fan Zones that were set up in the host cities where it was possible to view the match on a wide-screen projection. Barring that, surely you passed by an outdoor cafe where crowds of people sat glued to the TV, laughing, cheering and crying. Those were heady days.

Perhaps you’d like to repeat the experience. But the next World Cup isn’t until 2010, and this time, South Africa is the host country. While that sounds far away, at least we are fortunate in that we are only one time zone apart, meaning that we won’t have to view games at odd hours.

Meanwhile, in the year 2008, we can content ourselves with Euro 2008, which runs from June 7-29.

Playing host to the UEFA - the Union of European Football Associations—Championship in 2008 are a handful of cities in Austria and Switzerland, including Vienna, Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich. Sixteen pre-qualifed nations will compete for the title, including Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey.

Surely there is one country among them to adopt and root for! Cheer for your host nation, or choose one of the underdogs.

What are your chances of scoring tickets to one of the games? Virtually nil, as they sold out long ago, and supply never even came close to meeting demand. But if you do visit one of the host cities, you are bound to find a fan zone and thousands of co-revelers. If you’re elsewhere in Europe, you probably won’t be too hard-pressed to find a nice outdoor cafe where the TV is tuned in to one of the biggest events on the summer European sports calendar.