Euro 2012

GENEVA — UEFA president Michel Platini will visit Poland and Ukraine in July to check on their preparations for co-hosting the 2012 European Championship.

The two countries have to intensify their efforts over the next few months in order to meet UEFA’s requirements, Platini told a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

But “there is no Plan B,” he said, referring to possible alternative venues in case the former eastern bloc states fail to put in place the necessary infrastructure to host the event.

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said Platini will travel to Poland and Ukraine after Euro 2008, held in Austria and Switzerland in June.

Gaillard said UEFA’s main concern is whether the hotels and transportation networks - including airports, railways and roads - will be sufficient to host the hundreds of thousands of fans expected for the event. (more…)

Jewhen Czerwonenko - the boss of the Ukrainian National Agency for Euro 2012 said on Wednesday, that if works connected with preparation for Euro 2012 in Lvov will not speed up, the role of the host Odessa or Charkow - reserve cities can get.

Visiting Odessa Czerwonenko said this city have great chances to be the host for future finalists of the European championships.

It is already next, after the UEFA representative Matteo Gambuto, statement giving the distinct signal that Lvov can lose the status of the city - host. Let us remind, that a few days ago telling about problems of “different cities” Gambutto meant exactly Lvov. (more…)

The Silesian stadium has more and more chances for matches of Euro 2012. Above faults in the stadium a great infrastructure overbalanced. And very object is supposed to be restructured by a renowned company from Germany

Chorzów has great chances for organizing at least one match, and Cracow will be the hotel-tourist back - we managed to confirm such information in a few sources on Wednesday.

Meanwhile less than the month ago seemed, that already everything was wasted. From it, what until now we thought, is our advantage i.e. the modernization of the stadium lasting for fourteen years, experts from UEFA made one of main accusations and they poked out the lack of progress in this matter. They also among others criticized us for the low amount of toilets and lack of permanent eating places. They suggested that hosts of the stadium weren’t able to coordinate modernization works and they advised renting the professional company which would do it. (more…)

The euphoria which gripped Ukraine and Poland on April 18, 2007 after winning the right to host Europe’s football championship, EURO 2012, has come to nothing.

A year after the triumphal hugs and kisses, the two countries’ preparations have progressed so poorly that Football Federation of Ukraine President Hryhoriy Surkis, and Football Federation of Poland President Michal Listkiewicz had to explain the situation in detail to the Union of European Football Association’s executive committee in last March.

The National Agency to Prepare and Host EURO 2012 was established to coordinate all state structures in Ukraine. Its chair, Yevhen Chervonenko, constantly criticizes the Cabinet of Ministers for ignoring his organization’s problems.

“I consider the level of financial support for the Agency by the government to be embarrassing,” he said of the EURO 2012 preparation funding. “The government scoffs not at me (I don’t care — I’m a self-sufficient person), it scoffs at Ukraine,” adding,”I have been spending my own personal money to maintain the agency. The cars, computers in the office – everything was bought with my own money. I have spent and spend without regret.” (more…)

Polish-Ukrainian government contract about the cooperation by common organization of the Football European Championships - Euro 2012 will be signed on 18 April. A minister of sport and tourisms Mirosław Drzewiecki expressed such belief in the published on Saturday conversation with the Kiev weekly “Dzerkało Tyżnia”.

- I would like that the agreement should be signed 18 April, that is year after granting Poland and Ukraine the right to carrying out of finals of the European championships in the football - said. The minister thinks that the intergovernmental agreement about the cooperation in the matter of the organization Euro 2012 should lead to the closer coordination of action of Poland and Ukraine. (more…)

Over 100 projects of stay- training centers were proposed in Poland as possible places of the accommodation participating in finals of the football European championships in 2012 teams - a minister of sport and tourisms, Mirosław Drzewiecki informed in the interview for TVN24.

The time of submitting an offer for bases of individual teams is passing on Friday, of 15 February. Drzewiecki said that through two next weeks the commission consisting from workers of the Ministry of Sport and the Polish Association of the football would select the centers, and chosen will be proposed to UEFA. - We will reject the ones which do not fulfill conditions required by the European Football Union. I hope that there will be over 30 for the European federation - said.ry “.

(more…)

The president of UEFA, Michel Platini appealed to organizers of the football European championships in 2012, Poles and Ukrainians, in order to “wake them up” in the realization of the program of preparations for this event.

Euro 2012 found the good place, but some people say that more brisk movements are needed from the side of both countries - on the webpage pointing to the opinion of Platini was written. The UEFA in 30th of the January presented the critical report on preparations of organizers of championships, underlining, that “the closest months will have deciding meaning in order to avoid harmful delays in the realization of projects concerning the infrastructure”.

Decision, in which Polish cities matches of Football European Championship 2012will be played, will be taken after making reports on the subject of stadiums and the infrastructure by UEFA - said a director of 2012 PL company Marcin Herra.

The company is responsible for a coordination of all works connected with the organization of finals of the football European championships in 2012 in Poland. Herra met with regional and self-government authorities of Cracow, Katowice and Chorzów on Wednesday. At the beginning of the April an UEFA delegation will come to Poland in order to judge the state of building works of stadiums on Euro 2012. In May an infrastructure report is supposed to be done. (more…)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Polish counterpart Donald Tusk on Friday promised their countries would co-host the European football championship in 2012 successfully.

Tymoshenko and Tusk made the remarks after the two sides signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in organizing and holding of the 2012 football championship. (more…)

Michel Platini, the head of the European football body UEFA, has warned Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine and Poland to speed up their preparations. Neither Ukraine nor Poland has hosted a major championship before, and Platini has stressed his growing concerns over their progress.

“We’ve had to wake them up a little and tell them it’s time to get going,” Platini told French radio France Info on Thursday. “The 2012 Euro will still be held (there), but we’ve told them in the nicest possible way to speed things up a bit.”

Platini first warned the co-hosts back in January, highlighting the importance of the next six months. (more…)

They were completely shocked that they cannot organize the EURO 2012. Few months later they snapped out of the defeat and  attacked. The Italian want to retake our EURO 2012! Antonio Matarrese, the president of Italian football league has already rocked the boat.

- Poland and Ukraine are undeveloped - said Matarrese during the interview for one of the radio stations. If there is anoter country that supports Italy, we are able to organize the championship - he added.

Matarrese does not want to reveal what country he is talking about. It is presumed that about Croatia which unsuccessfully tried (with Hungary) take the initiative of EURO 2012.

JSK Architekci company has shown a visualization and a miniature of the National Stadium. Its elevation refers to the national colours and imitates the waving Polish flag. It is so-called conceptional project.

Zbigniew Pszczulny from JSK Architekci assured that the building fulfills all the UEFA requirements. The new stadium will be located at the existing embankment (strenghtened by stairs) of the 10th-Anniversary Stadium. The pitch will be located about nine meters higher than the existing one. Parkings for about 1700 cars will be build below the pitch and the access will be enabled by special tunnels.

The elevation made from pellucid elements will provide to the viewers the eye-contact with the stadium surrounding. Two encircling galeries will enable a proper communication. The designers has proposed very original construction of the roof which will be built over the bleachers. The pitch will be partly roofed - a kind of ‘umbrella’ folding outwards. The National Stadium will receive 55 thousands viewers. The tribunes will contain special press seats (860), 2000 so-called ‘premium’ seats for guests of honour, seats for the disabled and about 900 seats in lodges for VIPs. (more…)

Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk declared a donation from the national budget - the one-third of the whole building cost - for those cities that organize football Euro Championship. Confederation of Polish Employers claims that it is a good step in a good direction.

The present-day press conference of the Prime Minister showed that all the preparation to the EURO 2012 are conducted on schedule. However, UEFA has recently criticized our previous achievements and rebuked an organizational chaos with too much politics’ influence on championship’s preparation - claim CPE representatives.

On many occasions, Confederation Polish Employers showed the borders that had hindered proper arrangements of EURO 2012 and presented posibilities of their solution. CPE also indicated that the wrong building code will just elongate the completion date of the whole investment (sometimes their formal arrangement occupies a half of the whole investment’s time). (more…)

Austrian corporation Alpine Bau Gmbh won the competition for a build of a new stadium in Lviv.

On Thursday, the mayor of Lviv informed that the football matches of the Euro 2012 championship, that is organized by Poland and Ukraine, will take place in the mentioned stadium. According to Lviv city hall, the stadium that is rated for 33 thousands seats, will cost 85 millions Euro. The design of the building took its pattern from the stadium in Bern, where the participants of EURO 2008 will stay.

Alpine Bau will also build a parking (17 millions Euro) and a 3-starred hotel near the stadium. There was another Austrian company that participated in the auction. It was Implenia Global Solution Ltd which offered the build of a stadium that would contain from 32 to 55 thousands seats and cost 150 millions Euro.

EURO 2012 football matches will take place in at least four Ukrainian cities - Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Lviv.

Scotland is able to take charge of EURO 2012 instead of Poland and Ukraine - declared Gordon Smith, the general director of the Scothish Football Association.

During the interview for ‘Sunday Herald’ Smith asserted that the championship could be held in Scotland in case Poland and Ukraine did not manage to take care of the event.

In his opinion, there are three stadiums in Glasgow where international matches could be organized: Celtic Park, Hampden Park and Ibrox Park.