Apparently after really enjoyable experiences you have to face the fact that there is "come back down to Earth" moment when you have to face reality again. So after 5 weeks of the volunteer work at Euro 2008 today was the day when I felt this rather depressing chasm hit me. Nope it's not all gloom and doom but it's just not as fun as it was last week, or the week before, or the week before that - oh god  it really is true!!

Sorry, you haven't arrived at this page intending to hear my whining so here's some news from the centre of Europe reagrding major footie stories.

So 20Minuten says, "Schweinsteiger to England?" and I say, "wibble, wibble" as it probably has as much sense. You see this internet thing seems to ensure that any story in one country is regurgitated in most other countries over the next few days. However, without these snippets I suppose all the blogs in the world would fall over through lack of information - maybe that's not such a bad idea. If anyone has any real idea of how you stop continual rumour mongering by Agents, Players & Journalists, I'd love to hear.

On a more enjoyable front, 20 Minuten also shows some of the strangest fans from Euro 2008 in this set of pictures. More like these....

FC Basel now know their potential Champions League Qualification Opponents, they will play either Murata (San Marino) or IFK Göteborg. You would expect them to play Göteborg and the games will take place on 29/30 July & 5/6 August.

And so, after 31 games and 3 intensive weeks, Euro 2008 has ended with just about the right result. Most of the German quotations after the game certainly give the impression of good losers, saying the Spanish deserved to win. Jens, of course, was able to throw a slightly different slant to it!

Watching the game in the busy (though not quite up to Dutch busy standards) Munsterplatz Fan Zone in Basel was good fun. It seems the majority of people were German though Spain were not without their supporters. I think that, overall, the Swiss have hosted and excellent Euro 2008 and

there are some excellent photos from the tournament here on 20minuten's site - Oh I'm sorry it seems to focus on the best looking fans from each country! Basel also says farewell with people being allowed to buy souvenirs from the tournament. However, the company that organised the Fan Camp at Pratteln looks certain to go bankrupt due to the lack of visitors. It wasn't the facilities but just lack of numbers. They probably needed England to qualify!!!

Interestingly, after a very peaceful Euro 2008, 63 FC Basel fans have been temporarily arrested at Zurich train station following a friendly game with Wil. In other Swiss news, Hakan Yakin is set to leave his club, Young Boys of Bern due to a clause in his contract allowing him to leave.

So as Basel bids farewell...

Bis Bald

There's not going to be much today as I'm about to rush out to spend the day by the lake at Thun. I've only one more day of free travel on the Swiss railways so I'm going to make the most of it (thanks UEFA).

I've seen that Arsene Wenger is predicting the end of transfer fees and, to be honest, I've thought this for a while. Two reasons - firstly, the power of players now means that they can pretty much move when they (or their agent) decides they want to; secondly, it's a logical extension of much of what bodies like the EU already require. As far as the EU is concerned individuals have th eright to free movement and, one day, sport (football, in particular) will be challenged.

L'Equipe is suggesting that Germany may play with Frings and Borowski independently of the possible  Ballack injury situation.

Not sure how busy it will be in town tonight for watching the Final in the Munsterplatz fan zone but there are a fair number of Spaniards around plus there is, of course, the closeness of the German border. Could be fun. I want Spain to win but let's look forward to a good game, first of all.

Bis Morgen

I'm just about recovering from the Basel Volunteers' Abschluss Party last night. I really can't remember the last time I strolled home from a night out with the dawn chorus and the sun already up! It's amazing how many catch a train at 5.30 in the morning too!

As a result I thought I would pay tribute to the wonderful Host Nation, Switzerland. Austria may well have been decent hosts but not living there I'll leave their analysis to someone who does. One of the BBC online reporters, Paul Fletcher, has expressed his love of the country in his blog as he moves on to Vienna. He, of course, makes mention of the wonderful Swiss railway, how well the Swiss supported the other nations (the Dutch, in particular) and the general politeness to visitors. However, you do hear the mobile phone music and I must have missed the bottles of champagne allegedly drunk by the volunteers. Certainly if you regard the whole event as a party, the Swiss were perfect, making sure the guests held centre stage and ensuring every need was met. I certainly met many people in the Accreditation centre who didn't realise their pass gave them free travel on all forms of public transport during the tournament.

Just a couple of news snippets from France/Switzerland. Clarence Seedorf expresses a desire to play in England and that he had the possibility of playing for Man Utd or Arsenal in 1996 but went to Real Madrid. There's also Michel Platini's thoughts on Euro 2012, the World Cup in 2018, increasing the teams in the European Championships and the size of stadia.

So last night was the penultimate opportunity to watch a game in one of the three Basel Fan zones. A group of us had intended to watch the Spain v Russia game in one of Basel's more famous and interesting Bars, the Brauerei Fischerstube, home of Ueli Beer. Unfortunately, the small beer garden (with not the biggest TV it has to be said) was unable to accommodate 8 of us. Therefore, it was off to the Riviera by the Rhine for the first half - strangely I saw the first game between Spain and Russia

Meanwhile, in the local paper, the after effects of hosting the tournament has left hundreds of tonnes of rubbish in the 4 Swiss cities. There was also a story (with no online link I'm afraid) to the lives of the England stars(!) and their holiday in Ibiza whilst Euro2008 was taking place!

Just thought I would post this wonderful poster that is apparently showing itself around Bergamo. Here Atlanta fans really don't want to see the return of Vieri, and having seen his appaearances for Fiorentina against Rangers I can't really blame them.

Oh and one final story (though really no surprise) - despite his own confidence Domenech doesn't seem to have the confidence of the French fans - most want him to leave though not a huge majority, which I find odd.

The photo below is, so far, the only one I've managed to find on the web today but it will have to suffice. You can just make out my bald head next to Uefa's Unite Against Racism flag behind the turkish team. It was great that after working in the interesting, but not so exciting recently Accreditation centre, to have the opportunity to actually operate inside the stadium for once. I was asked to assist 7 others in holding on the pitch the two flags, standing right behind the Turkish team - enabling me to see rather too closely the number of Tattos on Colin Kazim Richards arms!

Like other games held at St Jakob Stadium the ground was full of "extras" watching the game from the concourse - many of whom seemed to know far more about football than the corporates and VIPs in the seats. There was a great atmosphere, particularly from the Turks, throughout the game. The Turks had 2 or 3 individuals whose job it was to stir the fans into a frenzy and they got very worked up when some fans didn't join in! I heard that there were problems with the TV coverage last night and I'm sure there was little coverage of the lone protesting fan in the second half.

After the game I was dragged into Basel by many of the other German volunteers intent on celebrating the result and I finally got home at 4.00am!

One final comment on the whole Uefa, "Unite Against Racism", campaign. It would be good if they could actually hand out much stiffer sanctions against clubs or national teams (or their fans) that exhibit racist behaviour and attitudes. Fines like this don't work and the sooner FIFA and UEFA deal with it more effectively the better.

It only seems like yesterday that I turned up for work at the Volunteer centre, here at St Jakob Arena, and now it's the final match day. Tonight Germany take on Turkey and it's expected to get lively around town, if not anything like Saturday. Basel is expecting around 100,000 fans for the game though yesterday's work at the Accreditation centre didn't exactly give the impression of much happening today - it was too damned quiet.

I mentioned my lovely friends, ticket touts, last week and L'Equipe reports that 300 Black Market tickets have been seized by Austrian Police. It does seem a rather small drop in the ocean but any action has to be good. The paper also reported that one Russian fan, unfortunately, lost his life, falling from a car whilst celebrating the quart final win on Saturday.

I'm not sure whether it's the fact that Switzerland have been eliminated or the general level of enthusiasm for football in the country but you sometimes struggle to realise there is (or has been) a major sporting event taking place. Yes, when the Dutch or German fans arrive you can't miss it but on a very quiet day like yesterday (NO ACTUAL FOOTBALL) it's subtle or non-existent.

As part of the Volunteer arrangements I get free travel around Switzerland for the duration of the championships and, yesterday, I went to Geneva for the day. The only significant nod to Euro2008 is the modification to Lake Geneva's famous Jet D'eau.

In order to forget their team's performance, the Swiss have all gone to the beach according to 20Minuten. Geneva generally seems to feel that the Fans haven't attended the extra facilities as much as they thought they would, though they did get a record attendance for the Spain v Italy match.

An unusual and rather disturbing (though maybe a touch exagerrated) story from Geneva regarding discrimination for jobs during Euro2008.

So finally, after 16 absorbing days filled with football intensity, there is a break in Euro2008 from the matches. Perhaps, even for the biggest fan, we need a break to try and analyse what has taken place so far in Switzerland and Austria. I may even come up with some reviews of the tournament myself. However, it's a short blog today as the break (plus the free Swiss Rail travel provided to all volunteers during the tournament) means I'm off to Geneva today and it's a long trip so must dash.

Having watched the Spain v Italy game with a number of German colleagues (from the Volunteer Centre), they now believe that Germany will win since their main rivals, Italy, have been eliminated.

Some brief news from here; L'Equipe says that Ribery supports Domenech (!!) and apparently over 500,000 litres of beer were drunk during the wild Oranje party on Saturday!

Bis Morgen

Ever since the hosts elimination from Euro 2008 the Swiss have looked to continue the celebration of football by supporting another team. Plenty have Italian or Portuguese connections and none have anything to do with Germany, of course. However, yesterday in Basel it seemed that the invasion of Dutch fans had enthused the entire city to become Dutch for the day. Shops were orange, people of all ages and nationality wore Dutch flags on their cheeks and, even, the Famous Hammering Man became orange for the day. A combination of sun, beer and a frustration did lead to 65 Dutch fans ending up in Hospital, but considering the total numbers this was very few.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Group winners  have yet again been beaten at the Quarter Final stage and so Spain (already fearng the worst against Italy) will try to reverse the trend this evening.

 L'Equipe is reporting that, quite amazingly, Raymond Domenech may get to keep his job as French coach. How this is possible for a man who so ineptly managed a talented group of players is of English FA standards.

Here is gratuitous picture of pretty Dutch girl ......