UEFA Euro 2012

UEFA Euro 2012
Mistrzostwa Europy w Piłce Nożnej 2012 (Polish)
Чемпіонат Європи з футболу 2012 (Ukrainian)'
Tournament details
Host countries Flag of Poland.svg Poland
Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine
Teams 16 
Venue(s) 8 (in 8 host cities)

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 the summer of 2012, following the election of their joint-bid by UEFA's Executive Committee, on 18 April 2007, in Cardiff, United Kingdom. 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.

Contents

Background

Euro 2012 match venues

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).[1] The obligatory improvement of the football infrastructure includes the building of the new Shakhtar Stadium in Donetsk, which fits the 5-star UEFA criteria, and the near-completed 31,000-seat Dnipro Stadium in Dnipropetrovsk.

Readiness concerns

Enduring concerns about the progress of infrastructure improvements are making a change of venue a real possibility. On 30 January 2008, UEFA president Michel Platini went on the record to warn the organizers of the need to avoid "critical slippages" in their preparations.[2][3] 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.[4] 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.[5]. UEFA has been monitoring the situation closely and Platini confirmed on 26 June that a decision would be made in September 2008.[6]

As of June, there were no plans to hold Euro 2012 outside of Poland and Ukraine, according to UEFA.[7] However, Scotland has reportedly told UEFA it could step in and host the tournament.[7] 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.[3] Although Michel Platini has maintained there are no plans to hold Euro 2012 outside of Poland and Ukraine, Gordon Smith and the SFA remain optimistic stating, "I said was that we'd like to be considered if that situation arose. We haven't been told we are on standby or anything like that."[3] "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," said Platini.

In late September, 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.[8] Scotland has reiterated their interesting in holding the 2012 tournament, should it be stripped from Poland and Ukraine as a result of this situation.[9]

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.[10] He said that the major projects such as airports and stadiums are on schedule, but a liquidity crunch and has stalled the construction of approximately 80% of the hotels needed to host.[10]

Venues

Infrastructure

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 Gdansk and Warsaw in Poland and Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk in Ukraine, as well as ensuring the renovation of eight other grounds. "We deserve the right to build a new Ukraine and a new Poland," Surkis said. "Over the next five years we will build new countries - otherwise we won't have such a chance for another 30-40 years."

Poland

City Stadium Capacity Club Host matches
Warsaw National Stadium 55,000 Poland Opening Match, two other Group Matches, Quarter-Final and Semi-Final
Poznań Municipal Stadium 44,000 Lech Poznań (Warta Poznań only in important matches) 3 Group Matches
Wrocław Stadium in Maślice 44,000 Śląsk Wrocław 3 Group Matches
Gdańsk Baltic Arena 44,000 Lechia Gdańsk 3 Group Matches and Quarter-Final
Chorzów Silesian Stadium 47,246 Poland (Górnik Zabrze, GKS Katowice, Ruch Chorzów, Polonia Bytom only in important matches) reserve
Kraków Wisła Stadium 35,000 Wisła Kraków reserve

* Capacity is stated as expected upon completion of construction or reconstruction (year 2012).[11]

Ukraine

City Stadium Capacity* Host Club Host Matches
Kiev NSK Olimpiyskyi 83,450[12] Ukraine, FC Arsenal Kyiv (FC Dynamo Kyiv only in European competitions) 3 Group Matches, Quarter-Final and Final
Donetsk Donbas Arena 50,000 FC Shakhtar Donetsk 3 Group Matches, Quarter-Final and Semi-Final
Lviv Ukraina Stadium 32,000 FC Karpaty Lviv 3 Group Matches
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro Stadium 31,003 FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3 Group Matches
Kharkiv Metalist Stadium 42,000 FC Metalist Kharkiv, FC Kharkiv reserve
Odessa Chornomorets Stadium 34,362 FC Chornomorets Odesa reserve


Participation

Euro 2012 is set to feature 16 national teams, as has been the format since 1996. Many European football associations were in favour of expanding the tournament to 24 teams due to the much-increased number of UEFA members in recent years (53 in April 2006 compared to 33 prior to the break up of the Soviet Union[13] and of Yugoslavia). However, on 17 April 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against an expansion in 2012.[14]

Qualified teams

Country Qualified as Date qualification was secured Previous appearances in tournament
Flag of Poland.svg Poland 00Co-hosts 0018 April 2007 11 (2008)
Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 01Co-hosts 0118 April 2007 01 (debut appearance)

Host selection process

Bid history

UEFA 2012 Youth Art Exhibition in support of a joint Poland-Ukraine bid

The organization of the event was initially contested for by five bids representing seven countries: Croatia/Hungary (joint bid), Greece, Italy, Poland/Ukraine (joint bid), and Turkey.

On 8 November 2005, UEFA's Executive Committee whittled the candidates down to a short list of three:[15]

On 31 May 2006 all three bids completed the second phase of the process by submitting more detailed dossiers. In September 2006, UEFA conducted site visits to candidate countries. The hosts were chosen on 18 April 2007 in Cardiff, Wales. The results of the voting are:

Voting procedure

The voting would have been made in a maximum of two rounds. For the vote to be valid, there had to be a quorum in the meeting room, i.e. at least eight Committee members, excluding the president and his deputy who did not have the right to vote. In the first round, each member had one vote. As the Poland/Ukraine bid received an absolute majority of 8 votes, it was announced the winner and the second round was not required.

The voting committee was composed of 14 members:

  1. Michel Platini (France) - President
  2. Şenes Erzik (Turkey)
  3. Geoff Thompson (England)
  4. Angel María Villar Llona (Spain)
  5. Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany)
  6. Marios N. Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
  7. Franco Carraro (Italy)
  8. Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia)
  9. Gilberto Madaíl (Portugal)
  10. Joseph Mifsud (Malta)
  11. Per Ravn Omdal (Norway)
  12. Mircea Sandu (Romania)
  13. Dr Mathieu Sprengers (Netherlands)
  14. Hryhoriy Surkis (Ukraine)

Surkis and Carraro were not entitled to vote in any of the ballots, as they represent candidate countries. (UEFA official voting rules) This left 12 votes available for the three competing bids.

Other candidates

Italy

Italy had already hosted the European Football Championship finals in 1968 and 1980, and also hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1934 and 1990.

The Italian bid appeared to be the most solid of the three due to Italy's generally excellent transportation infrastructure, the wide availability of lodging for visiting fans, and the Italian football association's past experience in organizing major tournaments. None of the other short-list candidates had ever hosted the finals of a major football tournament independently or as part of a joint bid, with the partial exception of Croatia. Also, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin demonstrated the Italian ability to host a sporting event comparable to the Euro in magnitude. Italy's current status of World Cup holder was also thought to be a positive factor.

However, the recent scandal in Italy's first division and the football-related violence in Catania, which led to the death of police officer Filippo Raciti and revealed safety deficiencies in many stadia, have damaged the overall standing of Italian football. Yet the Italian government's resolve to assist football authorities in solving the problem – e.g., by introducing anti-hooliganism laws and allocating funds to immediate safety improvement measures in stadia – gave hope that it might partially mitigate the risk to Italy's Euro bid. Another minor risk was potential apathy of domestic fans after repeatedly re-using the same host nation, though 22 years would have elapsed since the last major tournament at home if Italy was selected to host Euro 2012.

The following venues were proposed by the Italian Football Federation:

There were four "reserve" venues:

Rumours appeared about two of these cities being added later (bringing the stadia to ten, as in 2004), with Bologna and Genoa the most probable "nominees".

The cities were basically the same as for Italia 90 - and so were the stadia, with the exceptions of the Neapolitan (San Paolo) and Palermitan (La Favorita) venues, replaced by new facilities, and the Turinese Delle Alpi, under reconstruction. The remaining sites were to be improved and made safer, in order to reach the four star UEFA stadium rating required to host a game (only the five star Olimpico and San Siro and four star San Nicola currently meet the criteria).

Croatia and Hungary

The following cities were proposed by the Hungarian Football Federation and the Croatian Football Federation:

Hungary was bidding for the third time consecutively after failing to win either the Euro 2004 or the Euro 2008 bid. It teamed up with Croatia after its previous partner, Austria, opted to associate with Switzerland to (successfully) bid to host Euro 2008.

Some elements of a successful bid were already in place, though gaps remained when compared to Italy. The two capital cities, Budapest and Zagreb, as well as the popular tourist destinations of Rijeka and Split, already had decent transportation and lodging infrastructure. The favourable economic conditions of the two countries were likely to keep funds available to improve road, rail, or air networks and make the necessary infrastructure improvements in the other host cities. For instance, Croatia built more than 700 km of new highways and expressways in the last 10 years (including a new highway to the Hungarian border) despite the recent war, and further improvements between all host cities were planned by 2012.

Despite these recent improvements, however, the road and rail networks of the two candidate countries fell short of Italy's. In addition, several factors were hampering the bid. The lack of high-quality accommodations in some areas in Hungary and Croatia and the 2006 protests in Hungary and the protest of a group of Hungarian fans during the UEFA delegation's visit to Budapest (claiming that Hungary should focus on improving its own football instead of hosting Euro 2012). Another challenge for the bid was poor league attendance in Hungary and Croatia comparing to other bidders, among all nation Hungary had the lowest average attendance with approximately 2,354, which is almost four times lower than in Ukraine and almost nine times lower than in Italy.[16]

Neither of the two countries had ever hosted similar major tournaments, although Croatia's capital Zagreb did host one semi-final and the third-place match of Euro 1976 when the country was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

If the Croatian/Hungarian bid had succeeded, Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium would have hosted the opening ceremony and the opening match – and Budapest's Ferenc Puskás Stadium would have been the venue for the final.

References

  1. ↑ Poland 'confident' on Euro 2012 chances despite jitters
  2. ↑ Platini warns Poland, Ukraine on Euro 2012 delays
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Scots eye Euro 2012 rescue plan", BBC (5 June 2008). 
  4. ↑ Popeski, Ron (11 June 2008). "Soccer-Ukraine Prime Minister optimistic on Euro 2012 plans", Reuters UK (Kiev), Reuters. Retrieved on 11 June 2008. 
  5. ↑ Sorokina, Lyubov (12 June 2008). "Ukraine may lose Euro 2012 due to stadium, says official", Yahoo! Sports (Lviv, Ukraine), Reuters. Retrieved on 12 June 2008. 
  6. ↑ "Mehr als 16 Teams? "Es wäre gut für die Engländer" (Michel Platini interview)" (in German), Kicker Magazine (26 June 2008). 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "No plans to hold Euro 2012 outside of Poland and Ukraine, UEFA says", International Herald Tribune (Vienna), AP (12 June 2008). Retrieved on 12 June 2008. 
  8. ↑ "FIFA hand Polish government FA ultimatum", ESPN (Brussels), Reuters (1 October 2008). Retrieved on 2 October 2008. 
  9. ↑ "Scotland ready to be saviours of Euro 2012", ESPN (1 October 2008). Retrieved on 2 October 2008. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Crisis threatens Ukraine as Euro 2012 host", Sports Illustrated (Kiev), AP (31 October 2008). Retrieved on 31 October 2008. 
  11. ↑ Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The Official Presentation Website
  12. ↑ After reconstruction (Ukrainian)
  13. ↑ UEFA to consider 24-team EURO [1], [2]
  14. ↑ UEFA verdicts from Cardiff [3]
  15. ↑ Chaplin, Mark (2005-11-08). "Trio in EURO 2012 running". UEFA. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.
  16. ↑ Italy Favored to Host European Soccer Tourney in 2012 (Update1)

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