UEFA CONFERENCE/Euro 2008 bid: Senior officials from the governments and football associations of Ireland and Scotland headed for Stockholm yesterday in order to present the case for their joint bid to host the 2008 European Championships to UEFA delegates meeting at the organisation's annual congress.

Dr Jim McDaid represents the Irish Government at the presentation which will also be attended by Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell, and Sports Minister Mike Watson. Also present will be the leading administrators of both the FAI and SFA.

Speaking before he departed, McConnell insisted the bid still had a great deal going for it despite the problems that have dogged it since the start of the year. "All the media have been trying to say that it is not going to work and the Irish are not up for it, but it's all a lot of nonsense," he said. "I know with our fantastic fans, and the grounds that we can offer, the bid will be extremely strong."

McConnell took part in the official launch of the bid's logo yesterday while the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and Packie Bonner attended a simultaneous ceremony in Dublin.

Details of the bid will be presented to delegates tomorrow, a presentation that McConnell yesterday described as "a crucial milestone" in the process. The meeting will be the first opportunity for the seven bidders to make their cases to the people who will influence the decision, due to be taken in December of this year, on where the finals will be staged.

Full bid documents must be submitted to UEFA by May 31st after which each of the cities involved will be visited in order to assess the strength of the proposals made. Those visits are expected to take place between late August and mid-October.

Niall Quinn, meanwhile, has confirmed that he will donate £100,000 sterling from the proceeds of his forthcoming testimonial game to GOAL.

UEFA's president, Lennart Johansson, also called for an investigation into newspaper claims that $100 million (£69 million sterling) of television money owed to FIFA had "disappeared" into a bank account in Liechtenstein. He said: "$100 million is quite a lot of money. If this amount of money has disappeared, then we have to find out where it went. If it really has happened, I cannot think those involved can have any function any longer in football."

The criticisms, made here in a meeting of UEFA's executive committee, spell further trouble for FIFA's president Sepp Blatter, who has been accused of sweeping FIFA's financial problems under the carpet.