BBC SPORT | Euro 2008 blog

Goodnight Vienna

Phil Gordos
29 Jun 08, 11:35 PM

Vienna

So that's it. Euro 2008 is all over. And I still haven't heard Ultravox's 1980 hit 'Vienna'. Did you know it never made it to number one? It was kept off top spot by Joe Dolce's 'Shaddup You Face'. I have a disturbing feeling I may have bought that, although it's certainly not in my record collection anymore.

I'm not going to do the whole highlights/lowlights thing. I'll leave that to others. What I will say is this: Vienna has been a wonderful host. Sometimes it's felt like the tournament was being played in another country far, far away, but I'd view that as a plus rather than a minus. It has certainly allowed me to retain a much-needed sense of perspective. You can get a little carried away in the hysteria that sometimes grips the big tournaments.

There have been more than 100 postings on this blog in the last three and a bit weeks and hopefully we've given you a flavour of what it's been like over here during the 23 days of competition. Fletch's blogs have certainly proved illuminating - and he plans to write one final entry once he's safely back on home soil - but we've had some great input from all our bloggers. I hope you've enjoyed them. Feedback welcome via the comment box below.

It's not quite time to turn our focus to the next European Championship - after all, there is plenty of football to be played between now and 2012 - but judging by the success of this tournament, Poland and Ukraine have a lot to live up to.

Who knows if we'll have any home interest then. But the chances of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales qualifying for the 2016 championships will no doubt be enhanced if Uefa's plans to expand the competition from 16 to 24 nations get the green light. It looks very likely that will happen. Again, if you've got an opinion on that development, drop us a line below.

Anyway, congratulations to Spain. They certainly deserved their triumph. Auf wiedersehen.

Phil Gordos is a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Sport Interactive. Please check our FAQs if you have any questions.

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Comments

1. At 01:18am on 30 Jun 2008, well_spoken wrote:
Four years to Poland and Ukraine? That's four year's to sort out the characters and fonts available to your bloggers i.e. characters outside the 'standard' English character set. Am I the only one to be fed up with the number of 'Question Marks in a Diamond' appearing recent entries? All we are trying to do is write Spanish and German names and words correctly. In my case, all I did was try to use an umlaut! (At this point, gold star to Graham Taylor for being the only one of you lot to consistently pronounce the German manager's name correctly). How the hell are you going to cope with Polish and Ukrainian names in four years time? (I won't even raise the issue of cyrillic in Eastern Ukraine). Polish diacritics and indicators DO matter. The Polish 'barred L' is NOT the same as an 'L' - not that you'd have known it when you heard Blackburn's opponents in in last year's EUFA Cup described on 5Live as 'Wizzler Crack-ow'. Can you not get advice from your techical bods about character sets, and publish advice to us on how we can use them? I refuse to dumb down on this one - despite what Danny Baker says... But what is the point of learning French, Italian, German and Dutch, and acquiring smatterings of Spanish, Polish and Russian, if your national broadcaster's attitude to linguistic precision is 'sod that!'?

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2. At 01:23am on 30 Jun 2008, classicJM wrote:
As well as missing not hearing Ultravox doing 'Vienna' ( see Phil Gordos' comments ) I was also frustrated that there appeared to be no acknowledgement of the wonderful performance of Mozart's Laudete Domine which was the background to the closing credits of Sunday night's coverage of the European Cup.

Do any of you footie fans know who was singing it???

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3. At 09:30am on 30 Jun 2008, zingblingding wrote:
Thank you to Austria and Switzerland for hosting a wonderful, fantastic tournament.

Thank you to the coaches for believing in attacking footall instead of playing the percentage game and leaving behind an attitude of don't lose at all costs.

Thank you to the players, ( well most of them , anyway) for the skill, athleticism and dedication that created the spectacle.

Thank God the best team by a million miles won and to the losers, a thank you for their dignity in defeat.

Best moments? Any match involving Turkey after 88 minutes.

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4. At 09:53am on 30 Jun 2008, oayche wrote:
well_spoken .. Why is it that people want to write foreign letters in an English language post/ website. I speak/write Arabic, what if I were to write Arabic players names in Arabic, no one would understand them. Of the difference isn't that extreme with latin-based languages, but the principle is just the same.

If you're writing in English you should write the 'foreign' name transliterated into English.

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5. At 09:59am on 30 Jun 2008, quickquip wrote:
So Euro 2008 goes out with a whimper rather than a bang. The blogs are as subdued as the final match itself, which contained little sustained action and was decided on a paltry, 'dolce' goal. Not a bad tourney all-in-all but no better, despite often getting carried away by all the hysteria that gripped the tournament, than Euro 2000 which actually had a much more dramatic finish. One of the reasons these Euro tourney's are so "gripping" is because they usually start off fast, with some of the best matches coming in the early stages. Unlike the World Cup, there aren't as many teams there just to "make up the numbers". To expand the tourney to include more teams in the Euro's would only dilute the quality. It's obviously just another money-spinner for UEFA, which seems to be their chief motive for just about everything they do these days. But yes, there is still plenty of football to be played between now and then, starting next week with the 2008 VIVA World Cup in Sweden. Who knows, if Kurdistan or one of the other participants is successful on and off the pitch, maybe they'll be one of the 24 teams qualifying for the expanded Euro's someday. Hey, twenty years ago nobody could have dreamed Croatia would be there this year!

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6. At 10:49am on 30 Jun 2008, respectedterry wrote:
Vienna reached number two in 1981.

A small point, but one would think you could get your facts right.

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7. At 10:59am on 30 Jun 2008, hooptastic wrote:
I support #2's campaign - tell us who was singing the 'Laudete Domine' over the closing credits on Sunday, what a voice!

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8. At 11:03am on 30 Jun 2008, hooptastic wrote:
Here's the juice_

Closing montage

Mozart's Vesperae Solennes De Confessore In C Major, K. 339: V Laudate Dominum Omnes Gentes (ps. 116/117). The version used was from the cd Mozart: Requiem, featuring the Swedish Radio Choir and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

But I still don't know who the vocalist was...

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9. At 11:10am on 30 Jun 2008, hooptastic wrote:
And the singer was Rachel Harnisch. Gold star to me.

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10. At 11:17am on 30 Jun 2008, English Football Is An Oxymoron® ™ © 2009 Myself wrote:
well spoken -- ? ?????????? ??????? ??? ??? ? ???

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11. At 11:19am on 30 Jun 2008, abc_220 wrote:
You haven't yet heard Ultravox's Vienna yet - you haven't lived !

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12. At 11:35am on 30 Jun 2008, Sourdust wrote:
"Shaddup You Face" was the first single I ever bought. The fact that it kept that overblown New Romantic dirge off top spot only doubles my perverse pride in this fact. :-)

A decent final to a great tournament, worthy winners and nary a hiccup. Even the blogs were good. More, please.

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13. At 12:13pm on 30 Jun 2008, well_spoken wrote:
What I was trying to say is: In 2012, if for example someone writing a comment wants to spell 'Lodz' with a barred L and two 'acute' accents, they should at least BE ABLE to do so. This would also help explain to the unelightened why 'Lodz' is pronounced (approximately) 'Wootch'. Try travelling round Poland by rail, without aquiring even the basics of the Polish alphabet and its pronunciation. It's bad enough trying to buy a train ticket, but even worse when you can't pronounce your destination! (I see that Polish was recently judged by some academics to be the fifth most difficult language in the world to learn. I can only endorse that).

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14. At 12:36pm on 30 Jun 2008, Phil G - BBC Sport wrote:
#6
Vienna was released in November 1980. That makes it a 1980 hit in my book, but let's not split hairs.

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15. At 12:42pm on 30 Jun 2008, GuyCrouchback52 wrote:
High spot for me was Queen Sofia giving her victorious boys a peck on the cheek. What a gesture. Regal and human, a rare combination. Rather a contrast with Angela Merkell's handshake.

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16. At 12:43pm on 30 Jun 2008, Suterman1 wrote:
When did this turn into pedants corner?

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17. At 1:05pm on 30 Jun 2008, swissgeneva wrote:
Well last night we said a fond farewell to the spectacle that was Euro 2008.

The fanzone in Geneva was mainly populated by very happy Spanish fans with me managing to just about see the screen between the sombero guy and 10 foot guy (he had his kid on his shoulders)

Fell asleep to the dulcit tones of car horns blaring and champione chants - magic!!

Rest assured in usual Swiss efficiency the fanzone will be a distant but fond memory this afternoon when all traces of football related entertainment will be swept up and filed under "success".

And i predicted the Spain Germany final in the works comp - bring on the prize money - should just be able to afford a beer - result!

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18. At 2:04pm on 30 Jun 2008, Snaggers wrote:
Re Post#6

The song was released in 1980, just because it hit #2 in 1981, doesn't make it an '81 hit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultravox

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19. At 2:25pm on 30 Jun 2008, stephencweeks wrote:
Phil, I'll have to correct you there - Ultravox's Vienna single was released in January 1981, and was kept off the top spot first of all by John Lennon's "Woman" and then Joe Dolce's novelty hit.

The Vienna single reached number 2 in February 1981 (it's 4th week on release) and stayed there for a further 3 weeks before dropping 2 places to number 4.

Interestingly in regard to total sales figures for 1981 single releases, Vienna outsold both the tracks which kept it off the number one spot. (It was the 5th best selling single that year).

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20. At 9:23pm on 30 Jun 2008, leggylady01 wrote:
Yes, Steve is right.....
The ALBUM "Vienna" was released in 1980, the title track, the SONG Vienna was released in 1981.... hope that clears up any confusion :D ;)

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21. At 12:30pm on 01 Jul 2008, t23 wrote:
K

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22. At 4:31pm on 02 Jul 2008, Skellington66 wrote:
After a most enjoyable and spiritually fulfilling time spent in switzerland for this truly memorable tournament, I'm back home and the contrast is just too depressing! after the beautiful scenery, wonderful arcitecture and almost too friendly hospitality, coupled with the most extraordinarily tidy towns i have ever seen, I was walking to work yesterday morning when suddenly a plastic cup full of tea flew from a passing work van and splashed on the ground around me. as the lukewarm liquid seeped into my socks i turned around in time to see a man shrug at me and drive off. I almost cried.

And I'm moving to Zurich...

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