Euro 2012

The Silesian Marshal’s Office elected the German design office GMP Architekten from Aachen  for the designer of the roof . The agreement with the company was signed on 25 April.

The roof is supposed to be transparent with the openwork structure of the crown. It will cover the auditorium but not grass. Lamp standards will be closed down and new spotlights will be placed beneath the roof. The number of chairs will rise from 47 up to 50 thousands. Structure (leaned against 40 columns) will be raw, from a distance is will remind industrial structures, which are common on the Upper Silesia.

- At the same time architects want to underline its openness. During evening parties the glow of lights still will be over the stadium. We named (temporary) the project “Crown of Silesian” - Grzegorz Sowiński, the engineer of the contract said. (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…)

A match-fixing scandal and a complacent attitude towards construction may undermine Poland’s ability to co-host Euro 2012

There is a rumour going around that Poland-Ukraine was awarded the rights to host Euro 2012 only by embittered Lennart Johansson acolytes looking to screw up Michel Platini’s reign. It is, almost certainly, nothing more than mischief-making, and yet there was a strange pause as Platini opened the envelope that could, with hindsight, be construed as horror. On that momentous day in Cardiff, west seemed to offer an arm to east and talk of the football family didn’t seem quite so hopelessly utopian, but since then optimism has withered. There are always scare stories ahead of major events, but recent events in Poland suggest these have more substance than most.

Securing the tournament was Michal Listkiewicz’s finest hour, finer even than running the line in the 1990 World Cup final (a photograph of which still adorns the back of his business card). As the president of the Polish football federation (PZPN) spoke about delivering a great victory for the family of Slavs, it was possible even to forget for a moment that it isn’t just his hair that has appeared to be made of Teflon. (more…)

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…)

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…)

The Prime Ministe,r Donald Tusk, ensured the presidents of cities - organizers of the EURO 2012 football championship that the build of stadiums in Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan will be co-financed by the central budget. During a meeting in Warsaw the Prime Minister and the representatives of praticular cities presented a schedule of the championship spadework and

the miniatures of building where the football matches will be played. Additionally, Donald Tusk informed about the calling of the Organizational Committee where he was going to be leader.

The intention of the Wednesday meeting it was not to quiten anybody. EURO championship is a great challenge so we need to work in the high agog. The rebuke of UEFA is not a problem, it is a support. - Tusk comments on the latest Europe Federation rating which put an attention to the ‘delay’ in Polish and Ukrainian preparation to the EURO 2012. The committee included, among others, vice-premiers Waldemar Pawlak and Grzegorz Schetyna, the Minister of Infrastructure - Cezary Grabarczyk, the Minister of Sport and Tourism - Mirosław Drzewiecki, four presidents of the following cities: Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw, the representaitve of PZPN and the leaders of all the parliamentary clubs. Tomasz Arabski was pointed as the committee’s secretary. (more…)

In two-week time the representatives of Polish and Ukrainian football federation will learn the UEFA reports about the conditions of EURO 2012 preparations. On the base of those reports further steps for the coming months will be defined.

During the meeting in Nyon all reports created on the base of UEFA experts’ visit in Poland and Ukraine (October 2007) will be shown. One report will deal with stadiums, the another one: transport infrastructure, which means roads, rails, airports and accomodation - said the leader of PZPN group that takes care of EURO 2012, Adam Olkowicz. (more…)

We need Polish Beckenbauer as soon as it’s possible- it’s the conclusion from the meeting concerning organization of Euro 2012. Franz Beckenbauer, in the past a brilliant footballer, was a chief who led preparations for the World Cup 2006 in Germany.

In the conference which was organized in Warsaw ‘Euro 2012- a chance or a risk?’ representatives of Austria and Switzerland shared their experiences in preparing to next year’s European championships with representatives of Polish municipal government. They discussed preparations to Euro 2012. Conclusions weren’t optimistic…

-I think that we are able to organize championships. It isn’t so complicated, but it seems that no one does nothing. So far we haven’t done a plan. Instead of talking by a few months we should decide who and when has to do something. This is the base- claims well-known enthusiast for football, former premier and at present a chairman of Pekao SA bank Jan Krzysztof Bielecki. – What is important is that we have to appoint a chief of the whole project who will have fixed budget. There is a team in Poland but no one knows if this team has funds. With each month this project is more and more at risk. Someone has to start taking decision. We need Polish Beckenbauer- added Bielecki. (more…)

Safety in stadium in cities-hosts of Euro 2012 its the issue raised during Polish-Ukrainian conference in Dnipropietrovsk. Both countries will be co-hosts of the championships.

Over 60 people take part in the conference which was organized as part of Polish-Ukrainian Self-Government Forum Euro 2012. They are representatives of cities-hosts of Euro 2012, representatives of the Ukrainian policy, the Polish embassy in Kiev and the staff of football federations from the both countries.

‘The European Championships are the third sports event in the world and because of that the requirements of UEFA are huge- said a director for safety in Polish Football Federation Wieslaw Wieczorek. One of the requirements is to come into use all stadiums in June 2012. We already know that it’s impossible and there will be delays. Of course UEFA will be informed about it’. (more…)

Poland wants to set a new deadline for the construction of their Euro 2012 stadiums, Sports Minister Elzbieta Jakubiak said on Monday.

Since Poland won the right in April to co-host the event with Ukraine, early euphoria has been replaced by growing concerns it may not prepare new grounds and upgrade inadequate infrastructure in time.

European soccer’s governing body UEFA says the tournament co-hosts must build the necessary stadiums by mid-2010.

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The Building of National Stadiums on meadows of the Tenth Anniversary Stadium is our A plan – said in Radio Tok FM Mirosław Drzewiecki, the Citizens’ Platform (PO) candidate for minister of sport. This is a change of strategy of PO, for last few days both Drzewiecki and the president of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz espoused the change of the Stadium’s location.

The Building of National Stadiums on meadows of the Tenth Anniversary Stadium is our A plan – said in Radio Tok FM Mirosław Drzewiecki, the Citizens’ Platform (PO) candidate for minister of sport. This is a change of strategy of PO, for last few days both Drzewiecki and the president of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz espoused the change of the Stadium’s location.
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The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) experts first visit has begun on Monday in Warsaw, regarding the arrangement of championship of Europe in 2012.

“UEFA divided the whole complex of preparations into eight classes. The current visit relates to land transport, air transport and accomodation” – informed the chairman of  PZPN unit for Euro 2012 Adam Olkowicz. (more…)

Euro 2012 outside of Warsaw? This scenario is very propable. The capital may be replaced by Chorzów. Mirosław Drzewiecki, a dead cert candidate for minister of sport, does not rule this possibility out.

We may face an outrageous disgrace – championship of Europe 2012 will pass over the capital. Hitherto something like that has been unthinkable. Except for the championship in FRG in 1988, but only because in divided Germany Bonn played a purely administrative role. Now it turns out, that in five years the best players from the Old Continent and tens of thousands of fans will give wide berth to Warsaw. All that because of the argument about the location of National Stadium. (more…)