Austria flaunts quirkiness for Euro 2008

By Sylvia Westall

VIENNA (Reuters) - With yob insurance, football-shaped cakes and 100 life-size statues of former soccer hero Hans Krankl, joint host Austria is gearing up for Euro 2008 in its own special way.

In a country better known for mountains and Mozart than midfielders, gradual preparations for the three-week tournament are taking on a distinct Austrian flavour.

To make football fans feel welcome in Vienna, organisers are erecting plastic Krankl statues to blend into a city already dotted with stone statues of Austrian composers, philosophers and political figures.

Krankl helped the Alpine nation to beat West Germany in a 1978 World Cup match, which led to the defending world champions being eliminated.

Retailers around the capital are stacking their shop windows with soccer ball-shaped smoking pipes, black-and-white cups and ashtrays as well as porcelain cows painted in red and white -- Austria's national colours.

CREMATION URN

Vienna's renowned cake makers are busying themselves by carefully icing Euro 2008-themed cakes.

Not everyone sees the June 7-29 event, being hosted jointly with Switzerland, as a good thing for Austria: the Viennese are being encouraged to buy vandalism insurance for fear of gangs of hooligans rampaging through the capital's immaculate cobbled streets.