The Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna and the Wortherss Stadium in Klagenfurt will host the qualifying Group B games in the 2008 European Championships. Joint hosts Austria, Croatia, Germany and Poland will all face each other in the quest of qualifying for the knockout stages of the biggest international football competition outside the World Cup and with free bets available from Betfair and Skybet you can feel closer to the action.

Like their joint host counterparts, Austria have had to rely on friendly fixtures in their preparation for Euro 2008 and initially they struggled under their new coach, Josef Hickerberger, with three defeats and a draw from his first four games in charge. However, standing by his “young blood” policy the coach turned events around and recorded two wins before going ten games without a victory. Hickerberger is confident in his side reaching the quarter final stage of the competition despite a string of setbacks.

Croatia finished top of their qualifying group, losing only one game along the way. Their attacking style of football produced 28 goals in their 12 games including a 7-0 win at home to Andorra and a 6-0 win when the teams met again later in the year! Croatia were also too strong for England, beating them home and away with the help of star striker Eduardo’s 10 goals in 12 games. However, Eduardo is likely to be missing from the action after suffering a horrific leg injury playing for his club side Arsenal. Germany will be looking to make amends for an extremely disappointing campaign in 2004 where they failed to reach the knockout stages.

Since then they have finished 3rd in the 2006 World Cup and finished runners-up in their qualifying group for the European Championships behind the Czech Republic. The Germans are always a dangerous outfit and their 13-0 victory over San Marino in qualifying was a European Championship record and one that is likely to stand for a long time. The number thirteen is usually associated with bad luck but for Poland it was 13th time lucky in their quest to qualify for the European Championships. They had a shaky start to qualifying first losing 3-1 at home to Finland and then drawing 1-1,again at home, to Serbia but then an amazing 6 straight wins cemented their place in their first ever European Championship.

With the action sure to be fast and furious there will be many opportunities to bet on the outcome of matches and with up to £25 worth of free bets available from Betfair and Skybet there is no better time to get in on the action.

Germany v Croatia Free Bets Betting Preview

Austria v Poland Betting Preview