Germany face Austria, Croatia and Poland in Group B with Ballack expected to play a captain's role as they bid for Euro glory.

Bierhoff - who scored Germany's winner in the final of Euro 96 - said: "The European Championships are going to be a big tournament for Ballack.

"I am convinced that he will lead the team well as captain and leave his mark on Euro 2008.

"He is in very good form and is very decisive. Chelsea have helped him mature further and move out of the comfort zone he was partly in in Germany."

Ballack was a key member of the Germany team which finished third at the last World Cup and runners-up in Japan and Korea in 2002.

But the Chelsea midfielder admits the current squad still has a lot of work to do before they can consider themselves challengers for the Euro 2008 title.

"We don't have the same selection of players as other nations do," he said.

"Therefore, we need to have a fully-fit and settled national team to reach our goal."

But Ballack also says many members of the squad had to rediscover their best form in time for the tournament.

Injuries and poor form have left several of Germany's regular starters short of match practice.

First-choice goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was kept largely on the bench at his English club Arsenal while Bayern Munich striker Lukas Podolski has been sidelined by Italy'sLuca Toni.

Podolski's Bayern team-mate Miroslav Klose has been far below his best while midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and defenders Philipp Lahm, Marcell Jansen and Per Mertesacker have also struggled in 2008.

Ballack acknowledged there are concerns but said there was no need to panic.

"I was asked about this back in January when it seemed almost all the team had some problem or other," Ballack said.

"Back then I said they would all get fitter as the tournament got closer but we are a few months on now and the situation is not actually that different.

"We still have some time to go though and a lot can happen in football. We need a fit and in-form team to achieve our aims and that is not what we have at the moment.

"But we were in a similar situation before the last World Cup and I am optimistic that things will change."

At the same stage of their preparations for the World Cup two years ago, Germany were outclassed 4-1 in a friendly against eventual world champions Italy.

Coach Jurgen Klinsmann turned things around dramatically however, steering his young German team to a surprise third-place finish.

Results under Klinsmann's successor Joachim Low have been positive with just two defeats since the World Cup, although they had to settle for second place in their Euro qualifying group behind the Czech Republic and have not impressed in recent displays.

"I have pointed out to the rest of the team that the World Cup is long since over," added Ballack.

"There is certainly this impression that we have not been playing as majestically as we did in our first few qualifying games, so I made it clear that we have to work that much harder now.

"I remember after the World Cup warm-up against Italy there were a lot of questions and everyone's expectations were in the basement. It's the same thing before every big tournament though and it's important that we speak about it now that we're in that phase again."