Wrocław, despite the delay in construction of the stadium not only will not lose the possibility to organize Euro 2012, but apart from three group matches it may obtain right to play one of the championships quarter-final meetings.
For the time being, UEFA decided that the Euro 2012 opening match will be played in Warsaw, and the final of championships in Kiev. It is also settled that semi-finals will also take place in these cities. However, the unsettled question is still the place of four quarter-final matches. At some websites devoted to Euro 2012 it is said that Gdansk is supposed to be one of these cities but this information is out of date and not officially confirmed by UEFA.
It was initially assumed that UEFA authorities would indicate cities which will be given the right to organize quarter-final matches during the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee on Madera in December 2009. However, at that time, they postponed the decision. Finally, UEFA was to inform about it on last Sunday in Warsaw during the draw for qualifying groups. But it did not happen – the decision has not been taken again and it is not known when it will.
A practical guide for football clubs published in Poland
News from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association
26.02.2010
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has released a toolkit entitled How to fight racism? It contains practical guidelines and advice concerning the elimination of racist and xenophobic behaviour from stadiums and pitches. The toolkit is tailor-made for Polish football clubs.
The manual has been prepared with the support of UEFA and the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. The Council of Europe, the Polish Football Association and the Polish Former Football Players’ Association have also expressed their support for the project.
-’We have prepared the toolkit in a CD format, we have drawn from the best European experiences, and adapted them for use by Polish clubs. It is supposed to be a powerful instrument in the combat against discrimination, racism and prejudice. We propose good solutions and show how to promote multiculturalism in sport and in the stadiums’ – explains Jacek Purski, a representative of the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums’ campaign.
The toolkit ‘How to fight racism?’ contains explanations of what is racism in sport, what are its most common manifestations as well as information on how to face it successfully. It presents advices and tips, which have already proved to be successful in many Western European and Polish football clubs.
Platini has made it clear that UEFA’s decision to award Euro 2012 to Poland and Ukraine was far from a safe bet…
The focus of the football world is at the African Nations Cup at the moment and will be shifted to the 2010 World Cup come June, but UEFA president Michel Platini is already thinking about Euro 2012.
The tournament will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, and both nations have been criticised more than once for the slow progress in infrastructure improvements and stadium construction projects.
The official logo, visual identity and slogan for UEFA EURO 2012™ have been unveiled at a special event in Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square with co-hosts Ukraine and Poland looking forward to ‘Creating History Together’.
Star guests
Polish Football Association President Grzegorz Lato, his Football Federation of Ukraine counterpart Grigoriy Surkis and UEFA President Michel Platini officially unwrapped the logo as the highlight of the launch proceedings. The ceremony was attended by the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, representatives from the eight host cities – Gdansk, Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kyiv – and numerous other dignitaries.
Visual identity
The purpose of the logo is to give UEFA EURO 2012™ a personality of its own, with the visual identity to be applied across a range of promotional applications from tickets to web banners. The objective is to help promote the tournament – one of the world’s biggest sporting events – by providing an easily recognisable identity with a flavour of the host nations. The logo takes its visual lead from ‘wycinanka’, the traditional art of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine, as a tribute to the fauna and flora of the region. (read more…)
The European Football Union announced on Wednesday a division into six baskets before eliminations of the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.
The ceremony will be held on 7 February 2010 in the Congress Hall in Warsaw.
UEFA made the division based on the team ranking, which incorporates the results in qualifications and tournaments of the World Cup finals in 2006 and ME 2008, as well as eliminations for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
In the first basket, which is made up of nine top teams, the following ones are included: Spain – European Champion, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy – World Champion, England, Croatia, Portugal, France and Russia.
Poland and Ukraine, as owners, are guaranteed a place in EURO 2012, but taking into account the ranking they would be found in the third basket. (read more…)
Four Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv – have been confirmed as the host cities for the Euro 2012 European Football Championship, with Kyiv being chosen to stage the final, a source in UEFA told Interfax-Ukraine.
The UEFA Executive Committee passed this decision at its meeting in Madeira, Portugal, on Dec. 11, the source said.
“I’m pleased to tell that thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Ukrainian government we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland and Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine,” UEFA president Michel Platini told a news conference.
“There remains considerable work to be done and considerable hoops to jump through. I entirely trust Ukraine and Poland as hosts,” he added.
The tournament is being co-hosted with Poland, where four cities — Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Gdansk — were already confirmed by UEFA as able to host matches.
On Saturday, in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine the modernized stadium of the Metalist club was opened. Matches of the European football championships will take place here in 2012.
I am convinced that Euro 2012 matches will take place at the facility – said the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at a ceremony. In his brief speech he stressed that Ukraine organizes the finals together with Poland. “The hosts of Euro 2012 can only be Ukraine and Poland.”
Although, in view of the championships Ukraine has opened two stadiums so far (in September in Donetsk) it is still not known how many Ukrainian cities will be granted the right to host the tournament.
Gianni Infantino, Secretary General of the UEFA has warned that Ukraine can lose the right to co-organize championships in 2012 with Poland.
- At present, nothing can be ruled out but Ukraine knows what has to be done to not to make such situation happen – said Infantino in Florence during discussions of the organization of European champions leagues.
He added that he is concerned with delays in the infrastructure. He reminded that until the end of November, the Ukrainians have time to convince UEFA that they are able to organize the championships.
The final decision on Euro 2012 will be made in 9-11 December at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee. It is known that there is no risk when it comes to the organization of the tournament in four Polish cities – Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk. (read more…)
Poland have appointed local Franciszek Smuda as coach in place of sacked Dutchman Leo Beenhakker.
Having missed out on a World Cup berth and qualifying automatically as hosts for Euro 2012, Smuda’s first competitive game is more than two and a half years away.
Smuda, who is the national team’s 44th coach, has a contract until the end of the European Championship in which Poland are guaranteed an automatic place as co-hosts with Ukraine.
Smuda replaces temporary coach Stefan Majewski, whose team lost the last two games of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. (read more…)
On Saturday evening in Donieck a new stadium for Euro 2012 was opened.
This fact increases the chances of equal sharing of host-cities for the championships in Ukraine and Poland – says the Director of the Ukrainian national organizing committee of Euro 2012, Markiyan Łubkiwski
- The formula of four host-cities of Euro 2012 in Ukraine and four in Poland is the most probable one – said Łubkiwski just before the ceremony of opening the stadium Donbass Arena in Donieck.
Director of the Ukrainian part of the tournament does not hide the fact that apart from the ready stadium, Donieck should deal with the delays in preparing the infrastructure, but he is convinced that the city authorities will manage to do it.
The official logo, visual identity and slogan for UEFA EURO 2012™ have been unveiled at a special event in Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square with co-hosts Ukraine and Poland looking forward to ‘Creating History Together’.
