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some websites devoted to Euro 2012 it is said that Gdansk is supposed to be one of these cities but this information is out of date and not officially confirmed by UEFA.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.
Preparations for the construction of the stadium’s roof are underway: the first of 72 huge elements has arrived from Italy.
On Thursday the first of 72 elements of the inner ring truss arrived from Italy, one of the main elements of the roof. The element is over 12.5 meters long and weighs 48 tons.
First attempts at laying out the concrete for the floor construction on level +1 have begun, over the main entrance to the stadium. Work on the foundations under the columns of the steel roof is being done under a heated tent.
48 out of 72 steel support pillars for the roof’s construction have also arrived. Each element weighs 3.5 tons. The steel construction’s assembly will begin in March.
In Poznan, Gdansk and Wroclaw people are happy that thanks to Euro 2012 they will have a modern stadium for 40 thousands of spectators.
At the same time, activists of the Lech, Lechia and Silesia clubs are worried and wonder what to do so as not to make the tribunes empty during the top league matches.
A 40-thousandth facility occupied in the middle looks pretty gloomily. It will be better if all seats of the 15-thousandth stadium are occupied with spectators – said Michael Lipczyński, marketing director of Lech. In the last season Ruch Chorzow played at the Silesian Stadium.
Over 40 thousands of people watched the match only with Górnik Zabrze, others had lower results.
Will the tribunes of new stadiums after Euro 2012 be occupied at all during the matches of Lech, Lechia or Silesia?
On Monday morning, lifting of the 400-tonne truss, one on the elements of roof structure, was supposed to begin.
The construction has to be lifted by three cranes excavators at the height of 58 meters and placed on two already mounted trusses. Meanwhile, works have not yet begun because builders of the Poznan stadium again have problems with the installation of roof construction.
Ryszard Dembinski, chief executive of Euro Poznan 2012, states that such a situation will no affect the deadline of returning Lech players to the stadium at Byłgarska street. Lech players were supposed to play their first match at the end of September, then it was 21 November and finally Kolejorz in Poznan is to play in March next year.
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.
UEFA is delighted with the progress of Ukraine in preparations to organize the European football championships in 2012 in recent months – assessed on Wednesday in Kiev, Martin Kallen, UEFA chief executive for Euro 2012.
- Now, the situation looks good, works are being made, so we are pleased with the progress made by Ukraine – said Kallen at the press conference.
When asked by journalists how he assess the level of preparations in Poland and Ukraine Kallen said that “it is equal.”
He also pointed out that the Ukrainians still have a lot to catch up but if they deal with it, the division of host cities for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine according to the 4×4 formula will be maintained. (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.
Over the next few months the construction of a football stadium in Lvov, which is to host the European Football Championships of 2012, will be carried out in the system of a 24-hour period – informed Ukrinform, the Ukrainian news agency.
Speeding up the works is the result of a general contractor’s agreement Azovintex from Mariumpola with the city authorities. According to the new work schedule, the delay of construction in relation to the deadlines set by the UEFA is to be eliminated during the two months before the announced visit of the stadium by the UEFA representatives.
The total cost of building a stadium in Lvov is to be close at 609.5 million hryvnias (about 78 million dollars) and the completion of the work is planned for June 2010.
Engineers of the technical office of the contractor of the national stadium construction have changed the system of constructing ten of the twelve staircases in order to speed up part of the construction works – announced on Sunday the construction manager on behalf of the contractor of the consortium Alpine Construction Poland, Marcin Zareba.
- From Saturday, one of 12 staircases is built at a speed of 2 cm per hour – Zareba said. – We decided to construct staircases in the sliding system, rather than, as originally planned, in a traditional system – explained the construction manager. He added that the sliding system is the technology used in the construction of chimneys and it is a continuous concreting along with simultaneous lifting of formworks (a temporary form used to give shape of the concrete mass) for the total and target height of the staircase – about 40 m.
The city authorities have devoted 173.7 millions of hryvnias for the preparation of the Charkow region for the EURO 2012.
The largest part of these funds will be spent on the modernization of a stadium and the runway of the Charkow airport.
100 millions of gryvnias devoted to the reconstruction of Metallist stadium, 56.7 millions of hryvnias for the reconstruction of the runaway of the International Airport in Charkow and 17 millions of hryvnias for the reconstruction of roads.
The authorities also freed from the duty goods and commodities (total 10 names), which are not produced in Ukraine and which were not imported to the country and were used as an equipment for the Metallist stadium.
