Euro 2008 Introduction and Final Rosters for Portugal, Croatia, Spain, and Sweden

Co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland, Euro 2008 is just three weeks away. It’ll be kicked off by a Group A matchup on June 7 between the Swiss and the Czech Republic in Basel, followed up by Portugal-Turkey in Geneva.

The final 23-man rosters, of which three must be goalkeepers, for each nation aren’t required to be submitted until May 28, but a few coaches have already announced their respective squads. Others have announced a provisional roster and will have to trim it down by the 28th. If a player named to the final roster gets injured to the extent that he can’t take part in the competition before his country’s first match, he can be replaced.

Here at EPL Talk, I’ll be covering this tournament much like I did the African Cup of Nations in January and February, with daily recaps and previews of the upcoming action. Sure, England isn’t taking part this time around, but this is the world’s second-largest international competition and it would be ignorant of us to not give it its just due.

Starting next week, I’ll be taking a closer look at all 16 teams in the tournament — two per day for eight days — and then spend the first week of June examining some of the must-watch games and making my full predictions as to who will advance out of the group stage and who will win the whole thing. Keep checking this site as it’s your one stop shop for everything Euro 2008, including the final rosters for each nation.

First on the docket are Portugal, Croatia, Spain, and Sweden.

 Portugal (Group A)- Head Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari

GK: Ricardo (Real Betis), Quim (Benfica), Rui Patrício (Sporting Lisbon)
DEF: Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Jorge Ribeiro (Boavista), Fernando Meira (Stuttgart), Miguel (Valencia), José Bosingwa and Bruno Alves (Porto), Pepe (Real Madrid)
MID: Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani (Manchester United), Raul Meireles and Quaresma (Porto), Petit (Benfica), João Moutinho and Miguel Veloso (Sporting Lisbon), Deco (Barcelona)
FWD: Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Simão (Atlético Madrid), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Hélder Postiga (Porto)

 Croatia (Group B)- Head Coach: Slaven Bilic

GK: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos), Vedran Runje (Lens)
DEF: Dario Šimic* (AC Milan), Josip Šimunic (Hertha Berlin), Robert Kovac* (Borussia Dortmund), Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk), Dario Kneževic (Livorno)
MID: Ivan Rakitic (Schalke 04), Nikola Pokrivac and Jerko Leko (AS Monaco), Niko Kovac** (Salzburg), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Luka Modric and Ognjen Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen)
FWD: Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk), Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Ivica Olic (Hamburg), Igor Budan (Parma), Mladen Petric (Borussia Dortmund)

*Vice-Captain, **Captain

Spain (Group D)- Head Coach: Luis Aragonés

GK: Iker Casillas* (Real Madrid), Andrés Palop (Sevilla), José Reina (Liverpool)
DEF: Raúl Albiol and Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Álvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Juanito (Real Betis), Fernando Navarro (Mallorca), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
MID: Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Santi Cazorla and Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Rubén de la Red (Getafe), Cesc Fàbregas (Arsenal), Andrés Iniesta and Xavi (Barcelona), David Silva (Valencia)
FWD: Sergio García (Real Zaragosa), Dani Güiza (Mallorca), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia)

*Captain

 Sweden (Group D)- Head Coach: Lars Lagerbäck

GK: Andreas Isaksson (Manchester City), Rami Shaaban (Hammarby), Johan Wiland (Elfsborg)
DEF: Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), Petter Hansson (Stade Rennais), Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg), Daniel Majstorovic (Basel), Andreas Granqvist (Wigan), Mikael Dorsin (CFR Cluj)
MID: Tobias Linderoth** (Galatasaray), Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Göteborg), Anders Svensson (Elfsborg), Fredrik Ljungberg* (West Ham), Kim Källström (Lyon), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City), Daniel Andersson (Malmö FF), Christian Wilhelmsson (Deportivo de La Coruña)
FWD: Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan), Johan Elmander (Toulouse), Henrik Larsson (Helsingborg), Marcus Allbäck (FC Copenhagen), Markus Rosenberg (Werder Bremen)

*Captain, **If he fails to recover from injury, Linderoth will be replaced by Ajax’s Kennedy Bakircioglu.