International Tournaments and Fans' Embassies

The European Football Championships are the third largest sporting events in the word and regularly attract global attention. The upcoming EURO 2008 should be considered a football festival. More than 1,5 milion people will come to Austria and Switzerland to follow the matches and to enjoy the culture and the various events.

The many football fans who visit the host country are a major factor in the success or failure of a European Championship. But there also is no other time at which their behaviour is under comparable public scrutiny.

Over the past decade, the current core group members of the FSI network have therefore been campaigning and lobbying for a view on football supporters coming to an international tournament that doesn't consider them as a potential danger for public safety but as guests that need adequate support and information during the time of their stay in the host country.

Such a positive perspective includes a better balance between measures of hospitality and safety and this contributes crucially to a welcoming, positive atmosphere during a tournament that cannot be underestimated and is the best guarantee for friendly, peaceful and safe course of the competition...

Two major elements of the football supporters work that has been carried out by the FSI members at these tournaments in the past (and in case of the FSF even at friendly and qualifying matches of the English and Welsh national team) in order to contribute to a perspective on fans as mentioned above are

• Fans' Embassies
• Fan Guides  

These services were, for instance, offered to travelling fans at tournaments like EURO1992 EURO1996, EURO2000, EURO 2004 as well as at the World Cups in 1998 and 2006 and they are being organised for the upcoming EURO2008 in Austria and Switzerland.