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What are the expectations for the team?
Most Swedes expect the team to get out of the group.

Are there any players who have appeared in TV commercials?
Fredrik Ljungberg, of course, was the face and body of Calvin Klein underwear for over two years and is now in a Pepsi advert with Ronaldinho, Frank Lampard and Lionel Messi. Anders Svensson is nicknamed Taco-Anders by opposing fans in the Allsvenskan after being in an advert for a company selling pizza, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now one of Nike’s hottest properties. It is a far cry from the start of his career when he was the face of Garnier Fructis, with the slogan: “You don’t think Zlatan has dandruff, do you?”

Is the coach popular?
Lars Lagerbäck is quite popular because he has taken Sweden to five consecutive major championships but is often criticised for the team’s negative approach. Remarkable, really, considering his achievements.

Which players are good interviewees and who are the worst?
Any journalist getting more than monosyllabic replies from Tobias Linderoth will have done really well. Mikael Nilsson is quite good and Ibrahimovic can be superb or awful depending on what mood he is in.

Do any of the players have famous girlfriends or wives?
Christian Wilhelmsson’s girlfriend, Oksana Andersson, is the most famous face at the moment. The Russian-Swedish model writes a blog about the couple’s life in Spain (he is on loan at Deportivo La Coruña) and has attracted a cult following (not necessarily because it is that good; one recent headline was “how nice it is with newly washed clothes”).

Are there any players involved in politics?
Not noticeably, but the current assistant coach, Roland Andersson, protested vehemently against the Argentinian junta before the 1978 World Cup. He threatened not to go to the tournament but in the end went and filmed everything he could concerning the regime.

What will be the media coverage be like?
Swedish Channel 4 has got the rights and their pundits are normally Magnus Hedman (ex-Coventry City) and Pontus Kåmark (ex-Leicester City). They are both good and professional – but nowhere near as popular as the former Sweden international Glenn Strömberg, who works for state channel SVT and will not be commentating on games this time around. The best newspaper columnist is, without a doubt, Aftonbladet’s Simon Bank.

Will there be many fans travelling to the tournament?
Loads of fans will travel, around 30,000 at the latest estimates. Sweden were voted Fans of the Tournament at the 2006 World Cup with the highlight being 55,000 Swedes in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. 170,000 people applied for tickets. The two most popular songs are Vi är svenska fans allihopa (We are Swedish fans all of us) and In med bollen i mål (Put the ball in the goal).

Marcus Christenson

Some of the biggest global websites rely entirely on contributions from users. Ian Plenderleith looks at what two of them have to offer football fans and finds some artificial community spirit elsewhere

Going in to the “soccer” section of YouTube is a little like entering a massive second-hand record shop that has no categories or alphabetical order. You feel a shimmer of excitement, knowing there’s probably some good stuff in there somewhere, and possibly even everything you want. The difficulty, though, is wading through all the crap to find it.

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The Italian authorities have reacted hard to recent embarrassments, but are also groping their way towards a more positive ‘English solution’, writes Paul Virgo

The shower of flares that halted Internazionale’s Champions League derby with AC Milan triggered some tough talking from the Italian authorities. Police have been instructed to call off matches at the first sign of trouble, inside or outside the stadium. Likewise, the Italian federation (FIGC) has given referees instructions to suspend matches if fans hurl flares or other missiles. Turnstile checks have been beefed up to make it more difficult to smuggle flares or offensive banners into the grounds. Teams whose fans are responsible for trouble causing a match to be abandoned will automatically lose the game 3‑0. If the trouble involves both sets of fans, both teams lose 3‑0.

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Challenging for the title is the exclusive prerogative of a privileged few in most of Europe's leagues. But no one has told AZ Alkmaar, writes Derek Brookman

Out of the 32 million or so eyebrows in the Netherlands, the number raised when AZ Alkmaar vis­ited PSV Eindhoven two games into the Dutch season and lost 5-1 probably didn’t exceed single figures. After all, this was the natural order: big eating small, famous club and previous European Cup winner putting team from cheese-market town with an 8,390 capacity stadium in their place.

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England go into Euro 2004 confident that they can finally live up to expectations, with the steps taken to prevent violence likely to stop the country being embarassed by its supporters as in previous years. But is enough being done to control their mouths, as well as their fists?

Cautious optimism seems in order for England, on and off the pitch, as they head for Portugal. The team’s prospects are considered as good as they have been for a major tournament since before Euro 88 – but we all know how that ended. More, though, has been done than ever to try to ensure that England are not embarrassed by their support. Everyone knows there is a risk the team could be sent home unbeaten due to violence from a minority of fans and at last some ser­ious steps have been taken.

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