Vienna is a hive of activity as preparations continue apace for UEFA EURO 2008™ with the finishing touches now being put in place on the city’s Fan Zone.

Big event
“We have 100,000m² to cable, which is way larger than any other event,” said Thomas Karab who is responsible for constructing the Fan Zone. He and 200 others are installing a 70m² video screen, dozens of toilets and five kilometres of fencing around the Fan Zone at Helden Square which will have a capacity of 15,000 during the tournament.

A free guide to be distributed around Vienna to soccer fans visiting for Euro 2008 will advise them how to order Austrian cuisine, flirt with local women, and find their way to the stadium in the thick local dialect.

Essential phrases such as "Ham Se an Kaiserschmoan mit Zwetschknroesta?", "Do you have a sliced sugared pancake with plum compote?" or "Fia mi bitte no a Soizguakn", "another gherkin for me please", are listed with English and German translations.

Greetings include "Moagn", "Good morning", and "Kuess die Hand, gnae Frau", the phrase to be uttered when kissing a woman’s hand at a first meeting — a traditional Austrian gesture.

Vocabulary is also provided for use at such Vienna institutions as the sausage stand and the coffee house.

For an initial approach to a member of the opposite sex, the book suggests: "Servas, fesche Katz", literally "greetings, hot kitten" but translated as "Hello princess".

The guide is produced by German consumer goods firm Henkel, which says it has had close ties with Vienna for 80 years. The June 7-29 European championship is being staged in Austria and Switzerland.

Preparations continue to run smoothly for the anti-doping programme at Euro 2008. The finalists recently signed an ‘Anti-Doping Charter’ enabling blood tests to be carried out on players for the first time ever. The presidents of the national associations of the 16 teams signed the charter in Vienna last month, allowing for both blood and urine samples to be taken in some 300 tests before and during this summer’s tournament.

The new measures will enable the identification of banned substances, including the blood-boosting drug EPO, while a new technique to test for growth hormones will be used at an international event for the first time. Experts will also be able to determine whether a player’s blood has been abnormally manipulated by means of a transfusion.