The Swiss Football Association (ASF) announced yesterday that they would bid to host the 2004 European Championship. Marcel Mathier, the president of the ASF, believes they have a good chance of beating Spain and a joint Austro-Hungarian bid because two of football's main ruling bodies, UEFA and FIFA, celebrate their 50th and centenary birthdays respectively that year and both are based in Switzerland.

The final choice as to who will host the 2004 finals will be made by UEFA's executive committee in June 1999. Holland and Belgium will co-host the 2000 finals.