Preparations for the Euro 2012 football tournament in Poland and Ukraine are well on track, the ruling body UEFA said on Friday with nine days left until the qualifying group draw.
The February 7 draw in Warsaw is the first big event around the tournament which created various problems in the early stages after the two Eastern European nations were elected hosts in 2007.
‘Preparations for Euro 2012 are going well,’ UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told the body’s website after an executive board meeting on Thursday in Malta.
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.
Fifty million hryvnas (about 17 million zlotys) for the construction of the stadium will have been given to Lviv before the end of this year.
Such a declaration was made on Tuesday in Lviv by the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko after hearing the report of the city authorities on preparations for the European Football Championships in 2012.
Tymoshenko stressed that the situation of the construction of stadium in Lviv was improving. – All necessary steps pertaining to the construction were taken and auditors were engaged into it. Everything goes according to the schedule set with the UEFA – she added.
Euro 2012 will take place in four Polish and four Ukrainian cities with the final match in Kiev – decided UEFA Executive Committee, which finishes deliberations on the Portuguese island, Madera.
Recent decisions of the government, which granted additional means for preparations and approved financial plan, decided about such division – admitted Michael Platini.
- It’s victory of Ukraine – said, with relief, the Prime Minister Julia Tymoszenko at a special press conference. – I’m happy that the championships will take place in all four Ukrainian cities!
Likewise most of the Ukrainians who were anxiously waiting for UEFA’s decisions. Now Ukraine may breathe a sigh of relief – we got everything we’ve been concerned about since May.
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.
The Ukrainian war between the president, prime minister and parliament and Euro 2012 in the background is gaining in strength.
Viktor Yushchenko has once again refused to sign the law on the preparations for the tournament, and thus he blocked the payment of the money. Local authorities throw down their arms and state that without government support there will not be a cup-final in Kiev.
The Government of Ukraine, which bears the results of the economic crisis is seeking money wherever to save the Euro 2012. There are not so many opportunities. One of the most serious opportunity was to be a national bank, or rather its financial reserves. Of these, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wanted to “snatch” almost 10 billion hryvnia in order that the biggest sport event in this country not resulted in a failure but without success.
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…)
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…)
The anti-racist East Europe Monitoring Centre starts its operation in Warsaw this month.
The newly launched centre is going to monitor, research and document cases of racism and xenophobia across the region, with a special emphasis on Poland and Ukraine.
‘The growing social significance of football in Poland and Ukraine before 2012 provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the pressing issues of xenophobia and racism in Eastern Europe’ – said sociologist Dr Rafal Pankowski, the Monitoring Centre coordinator. ‘Our starting point is racism in football, but we see it in a more general context of discrimination in broader society’ – explains the assistant coordinator Jacek Purski.
Many Eastern European states have witnessed a rise in racism, antisemitism and far right political activities over the past two decades. Over the same period football, which mirrors so many social developments, has also seen overt examples of these problems across the region. (read more…)
