Group B of UEFA Euro 2008 was played from 8 to 16 June 2008. All six of the group's matches were played at venues in Austria, in Vienna and Klagenfurt. The group was made up of four central European nations; co-hosts Austria, as well as Croatia, Germany and Poland. Austria and Poland were appearing in a European Championship finals for the first time.
Croatia became the first team from the group to qualify for the quarter-finals after following up a 1–0 victory against Austria in their first match with a 2–1 win over Germany. This, in conjunction with Austria's 1–1 draw with Poland, meant that Croatia finish top of Group B. The second quarter-final berth was decided by the group's final matches, with Germany defeating Austria through a Michael Ballack free kick, making the result of the Poland vs. Croatia match irrelevant. Had Germany lost, Poland could still have qualified with a win over Croatia. However, a goal from Ivan Klasnić won the game for Croatia, making the Croatians the first team to gain maximum points in the group stage.
| Draw position | Team | Pot | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | UEFA Rankings | FIFA Rankings June 2008 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2007 | May 2008 | |||||||||||
| B1 | 1 | Co-host | 12 December 2002 | 1st | — | data-sort-value="99" | Debut | 27 | 29 | 92 | ||
| B2 | 2 | Group E winner | 17 November 2007 | 3rd | data-sort-value="5" | Quarter-finals (1996) | 2 | 11 | 15 | |||
| B3 | 3 | Group D runner-up | 13 October 2007 | 10th | data-sort-value="1" | Winners (1972, 1980, 1996) | 7 | 4 | 5 | |||
| B4 | 4 | Group A winner | 17 November 2007 | 1st | — | data-sort-value="99" | Debut | 12 | 13 | 28 | ||
Notes
In the quarter-finals,
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| Man of the Match: Stipe Pletikosa (Croatia) Assistant referees:[1] |
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| Man of the Match: Lukas Podolski (Germany) Assistant referees: |
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| Man of the Match: Luka Modrić (Croatia) Assistant referees: |
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| Man of the Match: Roger Guerreiro (Poland) Assistant referees: |
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| Man of the Match: Ivan Klasnić (Croatia) Assistant referees: |
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| Man of the Match: Michael Ballack (Germany) Assistant referees: |