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.

“We’re not thinking of moving it elsewhere,” Gaillard told The Associated Press. “We have to do it there, but in order to do that the efforts have to increase.”

Gaillard also said UEFA was doing everything it could to crack down on illegal ticket scalping online, but that it faced legal constraints.

“In some countries we cannot get a court order that stops someone from reselling tickets,” he said.

Several websites are selling tickets for Euro 2008 games, with prices for the opening match starting at 640 euros (C$1,000) and the best seats for the final in Vienna going for 4,480 euros (C$7,000).

Gaillard said each ticket will be numbered and spot checks may be carried out to ensure that fans acquired them in accordance with UEFA rules.

He warned that “there’s absolutely no guarantee that when you go to the stadium you can get in” with a ticket bought through unofficial channels.

Treasury minister Aleksander Grad has voiced confidence preparations to the Euro 2012 are in no way jeopardized.

Exactly a year ago UEFA had granted Poland and Ukraine the joint organization of the Old Continent’s football championships.

Speaking on Polish Radio, minister Grad enumerated many key government decisions of the past few months paving the way for concrete actions. However, he considered the planning and preparatory stages to launching specific investment undertakings still require some time.

The treasury minister pointed to the crucial decision of PM Donald Tusk’s cabinet concerning principles defining the legal framework for financing of new stadiums. This includes the National Stadium to be constructed in Warsaw. Work is proceeding full steam, said the minister. Aleksander Grad also voiced hope that the next UEFA inspection commission which will examine the state of preparations to the Euro 2012 championships will appreciate the progress made by Poland to date.

From: Poland.pl

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”.

Polish football’s racism problem

Ukraine could lose the right to co-host Euro 2012 unless the government acted quickly to stimulate investment in infrastructure, Ukraine football federation president Grigory Surkis warned on Monday.

“The country’s government and the opposition should unite their efforts to make all the necessary changes in the country’s legislation to stimulate investment in the country’s infrastructure,” Surkis told a news conference.

“Time is running out. We now have only days and hours - not years and months at our disposal. If we don’t act quickly, Ukraine may lose the right to host the European championships.”

He added however that he did not consider such a move likely and said the problem was more one of government organisation than of will.

“I hope it will never happen,” Surkis said. “I see the desire of the president and all of the country’s top authorities to do all of their best for staging the European championship in Ukraine.”

Last month UEFA president Michel Platini admitted he had been forced to tell the joint hosts of the 2012 European Championships, Ukraine and Poland, to speed up their preparations for the event.

“We’ve had to wake them up a little and tell them it’s time to get going,” Platini said.

“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 warned last month that the co-hosts faced a crucial period after concerns mounted over the state of preparations for the event.

“I have the distinct feeling that the next four to six months will be crucial in order to avoid any critical slippage in infrastructure projects and to protect the credibility of the Euro project,” Platini said.

Ukraine and Poland are both hosting the continent’s footballing showpiece for the first time.

From:  sports.indiatimes.com

Poland and Ukraine have been told by UEFA president Michel Platini to speed up their preparations for the 2012 European championships. Platini informed both countries that their preparations for the tournament must improve.

“I have the distinct feeling that the next four to six months will be crucial in order to avoid any critical slippage in sports and public infrastructure projects and to protect the global credibility of the Euro project itself,” Platini said during executive committee discussions of the planning stage.

UEFA acknowledged that preparations had suffered because of political instability in the two countries since they won the race to host the finals last April.

Platini demanded governments of the two countries to set up proper management structures in order to closely monitor “all the projects related to Euro 2012″.

Michal Listkiewicz, the president of the Polish FA said: “It is true that we are behind in some projects because of the political turbulence of last year but we are confident that everything will be back on schedule.”

In a statement, UEFA said “By choosing Poland and the Ukraine, UEFA took a momentous decision that gave a strong message to central and eastern Europe.

“It is clear that there has been a certain degree of political instability in both countries in 2007. However, this instability now seems to be over with newly established governments in each country, but there can be no doubt that the launch of investment-intensive projects, such as stadiums, airports and motorways has suffered from the instability.”

Platini added: “UEFA is totally committed to do everything possible in the next few months to assist and support the two associations at both the advisory and administrative level in order to guarantee the success of the project.”

World Cup holders Italy were strongly tipped to win last April’s vote and the decision to award the 2012 finals to the joint bid from eastern Europe came as a shock. However, despite the current uncertainty there was no suggestion from Platini that the finals would be taken away from Poland and Ukraine.

From: www.worldsoccer.com

Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski Wednesday in Warsaw signed a package of laws designed to streamline investment procedures and thus speed-up work preparing Poland to co-host UEFA’s 2012 European football championships along with eastern neighbour Ukraine.

In the heat of Poland’s ongoing general election campaign, opposition politicians have slammed the government of President Kaczynski’s identical twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski for dragging its heels with regard to the highly important project. With no world-class football stadiums and virtually no European-class highways, many have expressed serious doubts as to whether Poland will be prepared for the 2012 kick-off. Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, will co-host the Euro 2012 football finals with non-EU Ukraine. Both countries are now faced with the mammoth tasks of building a new motorway and stadium infrastructure.

Poland currently has no world-class stadium facilities and a only a very limited motorway network. Poland is also struggling with a hooligan problem, which came to the fore again in July when European football’s ruling body UEFA threw Legia Warsaw out of the Intertoto Cup and banned the Polish club from European competition for a year. The ban came in the wake of crowd trouble when Legia fans ran amok during a second round first-leg match against FK Vetra Vilnius in the Lithuanian capital. Poland’s Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski subsequently apologized to Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas for the violence.

From: www.earthtimes.org

Poland wants to set a new deadline for the construction of their Euro 2012 stadiums.

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.

“We need additional time and the year 2011 will be the most suitable,” Jakubiak told a news conference.

The surprising choice of Poland and Ukraine as co-hosts ahead of Italy was originally touted by the Polish government as an opportunity to put the country on the international soccer map.

But a growing number of critics say Poland might have taken on a near-impossible task.

“Beside the announcement, nothing has been done so far,” said Zbigniew Chlebowski, deputy head of the parliamentary finance committee and a member of the opposition Civic Platform party.

“There are also no ideas where to get the money from to finance the huge projects.”

Poland is estimated to need about three billion zlotys ($1.09 billion) to build or restructure four main Euro 2012 stadiums.

WARSAW HEADACHE

The planned national stadium in the capital Warsaw has proved the biggest headache.

The new ground is to be built at a dilapidated communist-era stadium now being used as Europe’s largest outdoor market, with Jakubiak saying hundreds of traders will be asked to leave by mid-September.

Polish authorities have not decided whether the old stadium will be razed or if a new facility will be built next to the old one to save time.

The transport ministry also estimates it will need 164 billion zlotys to build 2,400-km (1,500-miles) of motorway to prepare for the tournament.

Only six kilometres of motorway was built last year and none so far this year.

Source: reuters.com

Stadium in Donieck will be the first arena of Euro 2012 which will come into use. Its opening is expected to be in July next year- announced the representative of city council Aleksander Gromakow during the conference of Polish-Ukrainian Self-Government Forum Euro 2012.

‘It will be the biggest and the most modern object in the eastern part of Europe. A roof made of glass will be its main feature. Apart from the stunning visual effect it is also a practical solution because it has a good effect on the grass preservation’- said Gromakow.

Stadium is patterned on the modernized Benfica’s object in Lisbon. It will hold 55 thousand spectators and its building cost is estimated on 250 million dollars.

‘There will be cafes, restaurants, fast foods and places where one could relax on the area around the stadium. This area will be available for everyone and everyday. So if a family comes to watch a match but a wife doesn’t want to watch it she can spend time visiting one of the facilities around the stadium’- added Gromakow.

So in the next year a new stadium in Dnipropietrovsk is expected to come into use.

‘Conversion of stadium in Charkov is finished in 90 percent. UEFA can add this city to the group of organizers’- said Andrij Mikitiw expert for stadiums in the Ukrainian Football Federation.

Over 60 people, representatives of cities-hosts Euro 2012, the Ukrainian police, Polish embassy in Kiev and the staff of football federation from both countries took part in the conference of Self-Government Forum which lasted a few days in Dnipropietrovsk and Donieck and finished on Saturday.

To build a stadium for 30-40 thousand people two, or two and half a year is enough- said in the interview of ‘Rzeczpospolita’ Heinz Palme, the chairman of company ‘Austria przy Pilce’ which coordinates preparations of Austria to Euro 2008 finals.

– Every organizer of championships has a similar problem as Poland. We also have elections and changes of government. In Klagenfurt we managed to begin works at the last moment because first environmentalists protested, politicians quarreled and then documentation concerning a tender leaked out to the press and a court had to intervene. UEFA demands building of stadium for one year before the sports event- we can work longer on its infrastructure- but it’s understanding.

-All stadiums apart from the one in Vienna have capacity of 30-40 thousand. Two and half a year for building such object is enough. In Zurich we managed to do it in two years- added Austrian.

– I think that stadiums aren’t the major problem of Poland and Ukraine. They will be built for sure. Instead of that we should worry about roads, airports, ect. In reply to a question concerning problems during preparations to the world championships in Germany Palme thinks that comparison to Germany isn’t a good idea.

– They hit on idea to do the 2006 World Cup in the mid-90s and started doing plans.

Besides they had Beckenbauer who managed to organize everything and had experts such as Secretary-General of German Football Federation Horst Schmidt who has been send to save the World Cup in the Republic of South Africa. Palme is surprised that Poles want to economize on expensive help from abroad.

–Experts are very expensive. We spend amounts of money which run into millions of euro, but it’s worth. We pay to save on something else. Ask for help is not a shame. Even Germany asked me Austrian for help. It wasn’t easy for them because managers especially those from Bundesliga were convicted that they did everything the best in the world and they didn’t need advice.