Sunny weather forecast for Euro-2008 final match

The playing surface at Ernst Happel Stadium for the European Championship final between Spain and Germany on Sunday is expected to be in excellent condition despite the spectacular thunderstorms of the past two days.

Photo: Sunny weather forecast for Euro-2008 final match

The storms around Vienna led to power cuts and an 18-minute worldwide TV blackout during Wednesday's semifinal between Germany and Turkey, even though that game was played in Basel, Switzerland. UEFA is still working out how many channels were affected.

Despite forecasts there would be only a 15 percent chance of rain for Thursday's semifinal at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, another storm hit the venue only a few minutes into Spain's 3-0 victory over Russia and heavy rain continued to fall for several hours.

The playing surface appeared to stand up to the conditions, however, and UEFA spokesman Thomas Giordano said Friday that even the forecast sporadic showers shouldn't cause problems because conditions over the next three days are expected to be mostly fine.

"We had experts go onto the pitch straight after the game yesterday," Giordano said. "Even though it rained quite a lot we were really satisfied with the playing surface after the match, so we are quite confident that the pitch will be in excellent condition for the game.

"The weather forecast as you can see today is quite sunny. We still expect from time to time some showers, but we are quite confident that even if it continues to rain from time to time the playing surface will be in a very good condition."