Live from Luzern, after the Vienna Boys Choir sang their classical number, the multi-national presentation started with a reminder of just how special the European Championships are.

Oh the black and white footage from Finals gone by; a classic in itself.

173 goals have been scored in the previous 12 European Championships Finals.

A draw can never be as exciting as the football itself but the draw can help to bring the excitement together and that's what this long-drawn out event is all about.

Next up was José Carreras; one of the original Three Tenors; rolling rhythmically through the full scale of his tenor sound.

Fifty minutes into the live event and we start to get a taste of the goals; that the qualified teams have scored, to get themselves into the Euro 2008 Finals draw - a 'mini World Cup'.

Swiss tennis star, Roger Federer introduced the Swiss host cities while Austrian ski-ace, Hermann Maier did the same for his home country.

Fifty-five minutes gone and another musical interlude with a tribute to Switzerland's Wilhelm Tell.

BBC Two's viewers came to the event one hour into the show, but with no home nations' teams in the draw I doubt they'd feel that they'd missed much.

Enter the official match ball - Europass. The BBC didn't show that but highlighted where the British and Irish teams failed to qualify.

Players from all the previous winning teams were presented to the audience. Again, no-one from Britain or Ireland; so BBC viewers didn't get to see that either.

With the European Championship trophy in place, the draw could officially get under way - 12.38pm local time. This is the start of Euro 2008.

But first the technicalities need to be explained - 12.40pm.

The positions in the group will determine the match schedule - of course.

12.43pm - Pot 1 to determine C1 and D1.

Netherlands go into Group C (C1) and reigning champions Greece go into Group D (D1).

Turkey, semi-finalists of the World Cup 2002 go into Switzerland's group - as A4.

Poland go into Austria's group - as B4.

France go into Group C - as C4.

And Russia into Group D - D4.

All teams in positions one and four are known.

Portugal go into Group A - as A3

A small gasp goes out as Germany get drawn into Austria's group - as B3.

Romania into Group C - again as position 3.

Spain, who have played more European Champuionship matches than any other country go into D3.

All remaining teams will take the 2nd position.

And now for the opening match: Switzerland vs Czech Republic.

Croatia into Group B, Italy into Group C with France (another deep breath from the crowd) and Sweden into Group D.

So, just to recap:

Group A:
Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey.

Group B:
Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland.

Group C:
Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France.

Group D:
Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia.

Technorati: Euro 2008, live draw