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Euro 2012 Hotels
UEFA Euro 2012
Latest News:
EURO 2012 Qualifying Groups:
Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan
Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, FYR Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands
Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
Group E: Holland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino
Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro
Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein (ANI)
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams sanctioned by UEFA. Poland and Ukraine will be the host nations of the final tournament, scheduled for mid-2012, following the selection of their joint bid by UEFA's Executive Committee, on 18 April 2007, in Cardiff, Wales.
This bid defeated the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary, becoming the third successful joint-bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium/Netherlands, for Euro 2000, and Austria/Switzerland for Euro 2008. This will be the last European Championship finals that only 16 nations will participate in, with Euro 2016 being the first European Championship finals that 24 nations will participate in.
Background
The Polish-Ukrainian hosting is seen as a way of shifting the focus towards regions and nations of central and eastern Europe, whose population demonstrates a strong feeling for football, but are less developed in terms of the quality of the local leagues and football infrastructure, when compared with western Europe.
Apart from Chorzów, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk, the host cities are all popular tourist destinations. However, it is unclear if they have sufficient experience in accommodating large numbers of visitors for extended stays, and the existing transportation infrastructure within and between both countries is inadequate to allow a rapid flow of people between the venues. In order to improve this situation, the bid plans the expansion and modernization of roads and highways (e.g., Poland's southwest-southeast A4 highway). The obligatory improvement of the football infrastructure includes the building of the new Donbass Arena in Donetsk, which fits the 5-star UEFA criteria, and the completed 31,003-seat Dnipro Stadium in Dnipropetrovsk.
Readiness Concerns
As of June 2008, there were no plans to hold Euro 2012 outside of Poland and Ukraine, according to UEFA. However, Scotland has reportedly told UEFA it could step in and host the tournament. In June 2008 Scottish FA chief executive Gordon Smith told BBC Sport: "We have made it clear that we'd like to be considered if it's not going ahead in Ukraine and Poland.... We haven't been told we are on standby or anything like that." Platini has reiterated that "We will do everything possible so Poland and Ukraine can host Euro 2012. The only reason not to go ahead would be the absence of a stadium in Warsaw and Kiev".
In August 2009 Platini stated that Poland, unlike Ukraine, was almost prepared to host the tournament, while suggesting UEFA could cut the number of Ukrainian cities hosting Euro 2012 he left the option for Poland to organise the tournament alone open.
2008
On 30 January 2008, UEFA president Michel Platini went on the record to warn the organisers of the need to avoid "critical slippages" in their preparations. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko replied on 11 June 2008 that Ukraine's preparations for Euro 2012 were proceeding normally and that she was confident all projects would be completed on time. However, an official from the Ukrainian football federation stated the next day that Ukraine could lose the right to co-host the event due to delays in the renovation of Kiev's Olympic stadium. UEFA has been monitoring the situation closely and Platini confirmed on 26 June that a decision would be made in September 2008.
In late September 2008, the Polish government suspended the PZPN (the Polish FA) and assigned an administrator. UEFA promptly issued a letter to the Polish FA. Warsaw was warned it risked losing the right to co-host Euro 2012 alongside Ukraine. Scotland has reiterated their interesting in holding the 2012 tournament, should it be stripped from Poland and Ukraine as a result of this situation. On 31 October 2008, Evhen Chervonenko, the chairman of Ukraine's organizing committee, said that due to the ongoing economic crisis Ukraine is having difficulty building some of the infrastructure needed to host. He said that the major projects such as airports and stadiums are on schedule, but a liquidity crunch has stalled the construction of approximately 80% of the hotels needed to host the event.
2009
In April 2009, UEFA president Michel Platini visited the host countries to evaluate their preparations. He re-affirmed that Ukraine will remain co-host but hinted that most matches could go to Poland. Following his visit to Poland, Platini announced that Polish preparations were on track and he saw no major problems. According to Platini, six to eight cities will be designated and "not necessarily in equal proportion between Poland and Ukraine." In May 2009 prior to the UEFA meeting in Bucharest, the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk stated: "We would be ready to host Euro 2012 in not four but in five to six cities if need be, but I think we should stick to the four plus four formula and not undermine our partnership with Ukraine." On the 13 May 2009 UEFA gave three Ukraine cities, Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv until 30 November 2009 to prove they are capable of staging Euro 2012 games. "There are huge infrastructure problems to be resolved in Ukraine," UEFA president Michel Platini said. A July 2009 Ukrainian poll by research agency IFAK found that 56% of respondents believed that Ukraine will cope with hosting Euro 2012 and that 32% of respondents believed that their country will fail to stage Euro 2012 properly. In September 2009 Platini told reporters after an UEFA executive committee meeting "Ukraine has made sudden progress in their efforts to stage the tournament".
Venues
On 13 May 2009, UEFA confirmed the appointment of the Polish cities of Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk. While Kraków had received top marks from UEFA officials, it was not chosen as there was no justification to drop any of the original favorites whose preparations were all going well. It was later revealed that UEFA, dismayed by the state of Ukrainian preparations, had wanted to name six Polish cities, however, Surkis argued that his country should be granted more time: "During my speech in Bucharest, I tried to persuade the UEFA executive committee to maintain the principle of equal proportion because violation of this principle could lead to social apathy in Ukraine." The review of Ukraine revealed shortcomings in infrastructure in all candidate cities. UEFA has decided to confirm Kiev as host city for group matches, quarter-final match(es) and a semi-final, however, confirmation of the city hosting the final has been postponed.
Kiev risks losing the final to Warsaw unless it meets conditions regarding the stadium, airport infrastructure, regional transport and accommodation by 30 November 2009. Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv were not appointed but remain candidates. A last deadline of 30 November has been granted to these three cities to meet specific conditions regarding infrastructure. If the criteria are not met by the deadline, then only two Ukrainian cities will organize Euro 2012: Kiev and the best prepared city of the other candidates. According to Surkis, the approval of the second tranche of the IMF loan to Ukraine will "open horizons and create new momentum." The President of the Polish FA, Grzegorz Lato has also expressed support for the 4 + 4 solution: "Poles and Ukrainians are in favour of an equal solution. We are a team, and this is a team game."
Infrasructure
Surkis added that the required logistics for a tournament that will take place in two time zones "gives us the impetus to build a new infrastructure and to come close to the European standard". UEFA EURO 2012 will bring new stadiums to Wroclaw, Gdansk and Warsaw in Poland, as well as ensuring the renovation of eight other grounds.