Football the focus of closing ceremony

Football and the 16 teams that have provided such rich entertainment and excitement over the past three weeks will be the focal point of the ten-minute closing ceremony before the UEFA EURO 2008™ final between Germany and Spain at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna.

Official song
The official tournament song – Can you hear me? – will be performed live by Spanish star Enrique Iglesias, and 400 artists, many from the Vienna musical comedy school and the Austrian gymnastics federation, will get fans involved as they look back on the tournament. Both the opening and closing ceremonies were put together by French event agency Auditoire, whose artistic director, Martin Arnaud, staged the opening ceremony for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Paralympics in Athens.

Ceremony elements
Field of play: A printed plastic pitch cover will be laid over the Ernst-Happel turf. There will be eight circles on it, each symbolising one of the fields of play where matches in the tournament took place.

Waltzing puppets: Each participating team will be represented by a 2.5m-high puppet. The puppets will be decorated with balloons in the colours of the corresponding team. Like players during the tournament, the puppets will move together, recreating the matches each team has played.

Competition: The puppets will dance together in the order the teams played their matches: from the group phase to the quarter-finals and semi-finals. At the end of each match, the puppets who did not make it to the next round will release their balloons.

Supporters: 320 supporters will take part in the ceremony. They will initially be divided into 16 groups of 20, with each group supporting a different team. They will follow the matches and their outfits will evolve as the ceremony progresses, to end up with two groups of 160, representing the supporters of the two finalists.

Referees: Like during a real competition, there will be referees in the show to ensure fair play on the dance floor.

Lackeys: These distinguished characters on the pitch will make sure the guests are welcomed and shown to their dancing positions.
The closing ceremony will conclude with Spaniard Enrique Iglesias performing the official UEFA EURO 2008™song, Can you hear me?

Props
The 16 puppets are 2.5 metre-high steel constructions mounted on wheels. Each is manned by a technician hidden under the costume. Approximately 5,000 helium balloons were needed to decorate these structures. In addition, 16 balloons measuring two metres across, representing the flags of each team, will lead the supporters onto the pitch.

Costumes
The Lackeys will be wearing 18th century-inspired period costumes with comical details relating to the football world. The referees will wear a distinguished orchestra conductor's tail coat. The costumes of the supporters on the pitch will represent the teams' shirts. A funny and ingenious technique involving sandwich boards allows the supporters to change their shirts throughout the ceremony. For the soundtrack of the show sounds of supporters cheering have been mixed into Vienna waltz pieces to create an original and imaginative atmosphere.