As Austria and Switzerland prepared for the start of Euro 2008 on Saturday, Austria Post launched a unique postage stamp, a world first, using the latest sophisticated, motionstamp technology.

The state of the art technology for this amazing, self-adhesive €5.45 stamp was developed by Outer Aspect, the world leader in motionstamp production. The company, founded by Jonathan Moon in 1997, is based in Auckland, New Zealand.

The film incorporated into the actual stamp shows the goal scored by Andreas Herzog, the Austrian No 10, on September 6, 1997, when Austria beat Sweden 1-0. About 48,000 fans packed into the Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium on that memorable night to see the goal that helped Austria to qualify for the 1998 World Cup finals played in France.

Erich Haas, director of the philatelic department at Austrian Post , emphasised: “We issued this special stamp to bring back the spirit of 1997 and encourage our national team in Euro 2008.”

The Andreas Herzog stamp is the largest single motionstamp that has yet been produced. The stamp uses three seconds of video footage, which is the highest number of images to be put within a motionstamp stamp.

Preparation for the € 5.45 stamp, the highest face value of any stamp issued by Austria Post, required a large amount of video editing. The number of stamps printed was 350,000.

The stamp launch in May, at the House of Sport in Vienna, captured the drama and excitement of the historic goal. Andreas Herzog, the Austrian record holder with 103 games for the national team, propelled the ball with his left foot 20 metres into the back of the net.

Mr Moon explained: “This single unit is made completely of microlenticular material and therefore cannot be dissected into separate parts. It incorporates security features both overt and covert making it almost impossible to duplicate.” He added: “Outer Aspect developed a special resin that works with most ink cancellation systems around the world.”

Outer Aspect has now produced a motionstamp for six countries: Austria Post, Australia Post, Irish Post, TNT in the Netherlands, Finland Post, and the United Emirates. The company is in discussion with several other postal administrations throughout the world about exciting new stamp projects.

At present Outer Aspect is not able to produce an instant stamp of the winning goal in the final of Euro 2008 to be played in Vienna on Sunday June 29, to have on sale within 48 hours of the final whistle, but Mr Moon was enthusiastic about the future. He said: “With the advance in technology Outer Aspect should be able to respond to such a request from a postal authority in time for the FIFA World Cup finals to be played in South Africa during 2010.”