During meeting today in Bucharest, the UEFA Executive Committee examined and discussed the state of infrastructure preparations for the final tournament of the 2012 UEFA European Championship due to be held in Poland and Ukraine from 9 June until 1 July 2012.
After careful consideration of the evaluation reports prepared by the UEFA administration and consultation with the host associations, the UEFA Executive Committee took the following decisions concerning the selection of host cities for UEFA EURO 2012™:
Host cities in Poland
Progress has been made in the preparation of infrastructure in all four proposed and two reserve cities in Poland. UEFA considers that all six cities are currently in a position to fulfil the conditions for hosting matches at UEFA EURO 2012™ despite the huge amount of work that still must be undertaken to guarantee the full and proper implementation of the tournament requirements.
For this reason, the UEFA Executive Committee decided to confirm the appointment of the four venues initially proposed by the Polish Football Association during the bidding phase and signed by UEFA as official host cities for UEFA EURO 2012™:
* Gdansk
* Poznan
* Warsaw
* Wroclaw
Consequently, the two Polish reserve cities – Chorzow and Krakow – are not appointed as official host cities nor retained as reserve cities.
Host cities in Ukraine
The comprehensive review showed important shortcomings regarding infrastructure in all Ukrainian cities in question. Significant work must be undertaken to meet the minimum requirements for an event the size of a final tournament of the UEFA European Championship. Taking into account the risks associated with the preparation of infrastructure for UEFA EURO 2012™, the UEFA Executive Committee decided:
* to confirm Kiev as host city for group matches, quarter-final match(es) and a semi-final;
not to confirm Kiev as venue for the final match of UEFA EURO 2012™; the final match will be held in Kiev only if specific conditions with regard to the stadium, airport infrastructure, regional transport and accommodation are met by 30 November 2009;
* not to confirm/appoint Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv as host cities for group matches of UEFA EURO 2012™ for the time being; however a last deadline has been granted to these three cities to meet specific conditions by 30 November 2009 with regard to the stadiums, airport infrastructure, regional transport and accommodation. Should these conditions not be met by this deadline, the respective venue will not be confirmed/appointed as host city for matches at UEFA EURO 2012™;
* and not to confirm/appoint Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa as host cities nor retain them as reserve cities. UEFA considers that due to the current shortcomings with regard to the stadiums, airport infrastructure, regional transport and accommodation, these two venues will not meet the tournament requirements.
Commenting on the decision of the Executive Committee, UEFA President Michel Platini said:
“We have seen progress over the last few months but we must remind both countries that there is still a huge amount of work to be undertaken. There are numerous infrastructure issues that urgently need to be resolved in Ukraine to convince the UEFA Executive Committee that the host city candidates can be appointed as UEFA EURO 2012™ host cities.
“We must respect the decision of the Executive Committee of 18 April 2007, when it awarded the organisation of the European Football Championship 2012 to Poland and Ukraine. This was again emphasised by the UEFA Congress in March 2009, when it stressed the importance that the staging of this world-class event will have to further promote and develop football in the eastern part of Europe.
“I also want to take the opportunity to thank the cities of Chorzow and Krakow in Poland, and Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa in Ukraine for their involvement in UEFA EURO 2012™ so far.”
UEFA will continue to closely monitor the progress of the preparations in all of the designated cities and will review the situation of the Ukrainian host city candidates in December 2009.
source: UEFA
