ESPN Deportes Offers Exclusive Coverage of Scotland vs. Italy UEFA EURO 2008 Qualifying Match

November 14, 2007 -- ESPN Deportes will offer an exclusive live presentation of the Scotland vs. Italy EURO 2008 qualifier Saturday, November 17 at 11:55 a.m. ET from Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2008, ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 31 matches of the quadrennial tournament set to take place Saturday, June 7 – Sunday, June 29, from Austria-Switzerland.

ESPN Deportes lead soccer play-by-play commentator Fernando Palomo will call the match with World Cup legend Mario Kempes as analyst.

Italy is third in Group B, two points behind France and one behind Scotland. A victory in Glasgow on Nov. 17 – or a draw and a subsequent victory against the Faroe Islands on Nov. 21 – will book the Azzurri's place in UEFA EURO 2008. A victory for Scotland in this, their final qualifying match, will guarantee a place in next year's final tournament, but anything less than a win will make Italy favorites to qualify with a game still to play against the Faroe Islands.

ABOUT UEFA EURO 2008 ON ESPN:

In 2006, ESPN reached a multimedia agreement for the domestic and international rights for UEFA EURO 2008. Under the deal, ESPN’s U.S. domestic television networks will provide exclusive coverage of all 31 matches of the quadrennial tournament – featuring the top 16 European national soccer teams, including Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes. Outside the United States, rights include telecast in Canada and Latin America, not including Brazil. Like other recent ESPN rights acquisitions, the agreement provides access to extensive content that will fuel ESPN’s multimedia assets and ESPN International networks. These include ESPN.com, ESPNSoccernet.com, ESPNdeportes.com, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile Properties, and other ESPN distribution platforms. Additionally, in-progress and post-match highlights can be featured across key ESPN outlets.

ABOUT UEFA EURO 2008

The UEFA European Football Championship is the main soccer competition of the men’s national teams governed by the UEFA. It is held in even-numbered years every four years, since its inception in 1960. It was called European Nations Cup until 1968 when the named changed to European Football Championship. Considered the second most important competition among national teams after the FIFA World Cup, championships are often referred to by the specific year they are held, such as UEFA EURO 2008.

Teams representing 16 nations compete in the championship, following a two-year qualifications process. Currently, 50 UEFA member nations are competing for the 14 spots for UEFA EURO 2008 – host nations Austria and Switzerland have the two automatic berths. The final draw for UEFA EURO 2008 will be held in Lucerne, Switzerland on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007. Greece won the last championship – UEFA EURO 2004 – hosted by Portugal.

Source: ESPN

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