Euro 2008 organisers have claimed they hosted the best tournament yet after UEFA announced record net profits.

Austria and Switzerland were commended for their organisation of the tournament which earned  US$390 million (250 million euros). Having entertaining football on the pitch also helped.

"We set ourselves the challenge of organising the best European Championship final round," read a joint statement from Austrian Football Association president Friedrich Stickler, his Swiss counterpart Ralph M. Zloczower and Euro 2008 chief operating officer Martin Kallen.

"The results of studies and surveys show that we succeeded."

Income in all areas increased significantly to 1.3 billion euros in comparison to the 852 million euros raised from Portugal's staging of Euro 2004.

Some of the income will be used to fund youth and women's tournaments and the rest will be distributed among UEFA's 53 member associations in the form of lump-sum payments and project sponsorship.

Organising committee chief Kallen, who held the same position for the previous tournament, added: "It would be fair to say that, from an organisational perspective, we have greatly progressed and improved in almost all areas."