Press releases

Ismaning, 2nd June 2008 – Via its subsidiary UEFA Media Technologies SA ("UMET"), UEFA will innovatively showcase the UEFA European Football Championship with new technical standards. PLAZAMEDIA, the only German team among the four UEFA appointed venue production teams, has been integrated into this operation and continues its involvement in international football at the highest level. Germany’s leading sports-TV producer is implementing the football highlight of the year with an 81-strong crew and innovative technology. PLAZAMEDIA will use 90 Camera Moving Systems (CMS) in all stadia for all matches of the top event. These innovative camera systems of PLAZAMEDIA GmbH and TV SKYLINE offer the viewers unique images and out-of-the ordinary perspectives. Ingoalcams, for example, for which a new kind of in-goal mounting system was developed, provide a full view of the pitch from the goalkeeper’s perspective. The Boxcams will monitor both goal lines during the games. And to allow the match to be analysed and observed from above, Tacticalcams and BeautyShotcams deliver global views of the whole stadium. For the duration of the UEFA EURO 2008TM tournament, PLAZAMEDIA and TV SKYLINE will supply an amount of over 28 km fibre-optic connections.

Florian Nowosad, CEO of PLAZAMEDIA, comments: "The amount of technical and personnel resources allocated to UEFA EURO 2008TM shows that PLAZAMEDIA is constantly setting new benchmarks. Having worked on the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, our substantial involvement in UEFA EURO 2008TM now sets us further apart as an innovation driver in the market."

UEFA - the Union of European Football Associations - is the governing body of football on the continent of Europe. UEFA’s core mission is to promote, protect and develop European football at every level of the game, to promote the principles of unity and solidarity, and to deal with all questions relating to European football. UEFA is an association of associations based on representative democracy, and is the governing body of European football.

UEFA Media Technologies SA ("UMET") is a fully owned subsidiary of UEFA and UEFA's arm for digital media.  UMET evaluates, implements and maintains solutions for the web, IT needs and television production for UEFA and develops know-how in digital media convergence for the benefit of football fans and the football family.

Amongst its activity areas, UMET manages UEFA's websites, uefa.com and euro2008.com, develops and implements UEFA's FAME system (the Football Administration Management Environment, dedicated to the administration of European football) and is in charge of UEFA EURO 2008™ host broadcast operations for UEFA.

The core UMET team consists of 130 professionals from 18 different countries, structured in Content, TV Production, ICT and broadcast Partner Services.  It provides multiple synergies dealing with complex projects in converged media for UEFA.