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UEFA pressures Poland, Ukraine
19/04/2008 10:30 - (SA)
Jonathan Fowler
Warsaw - One year on from winning the race to hold Euro 2012, Poland and Ukraine are under mounting pressure from UEFA to step up efforts to get ready for the football showcase.
In the face of repeated warnings from European football's governing body about the mammoth task, both countries had been pushed on to the defensive.
On April 18 2007, UEFA raised eyebrows by choosing Poland and Ukraine over Italy and joint bidders Hungary and Croatia to host the quadrennial, 16-nation European championships.
It would be the first time either had ran a major tournament - and in Poland it was seen as a way to improve the image of the domestic game, tarnished by match-fixing.
It also marked UEFA's first big foray into the ex-communist bloc, where stadiums, hotels and transport were undergoing a major upgrade - with an estimated price tag of $67bn in Poland and Ukraine.
Stadium 'should be delivered by 2011'
UEFA chief Michel Platini had been turning up the heat, urging the hosts to "protect the credibility" of Euro 2012, and last month issued a new "wake-up call".
UEFA recently sent inspectors to Poland, but had refused to comment on their findings.
According to leaks in the Polish press, they noted a "speeding up" of overall plans, but were deeply concerned about the stadiums.
They spotlighted a "very high risk" that the new, 55 000-seat venue for the opening match, in the heart of Warsaw, would not be ready.
Michal Borowski, who was in charge of the $637m state-funded project, this week played down the worries.
"The stadium should be delivered by 2011. That's a little later than promised by the government. But there's no other chance of doing it before," he said.
UEFA also allegedly pointed to a "high risk" in the Baltic port of Gdansk, but saw progress in Poznan and Wroclaw to the west.
Wroclaw's mayor, Rafal Dutkiewicz, said things were going "quite well", with the 44,000-seat stadium there due to open by the end of 2010. "We'll have challenges, but what's nicer than challenges?" he said.
The stadium situation looked better in Ukraine. Kiev's main ground was already being transformed into an 85 000-seat venue for the final.
To the east, work was winding down in Dnepropetrovsk, with a new 50 000-seat arena set to open this summer, while a similar-sized venue in Donetsk should be ready by the end of the year. Some local authorities were gloomy, however.
"Preparations for Euro 2012 are going worse and much slower than they could be," said Donetsk's mayor, Alexander Lukianchenko. Infrastructure remained a major worry.
Currently, the 1 900km trip from Gdansk to Donetsk requires serious stamina.
A lucky driver could do it in 23 hours - not counting the wait at the border - with just 23km of motorway and most of the rest on single-lane roads.
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