UEFA gives an ultimatum. Stadiums in Warsaw and Kiev have to come into being. Otherwise, we will lose championships.
There is no plan “B” for Warsaw and Kiev. If the stadium are not built in these cities on time, the Europe championships will be taken away by Germany or Russia.
– UEFA does not imagine the situation in which Euro 2012 would not take place in the capitals of Poland and Ukraine – Warsaw and Kiev’ says Michael Listkiewicz, the chairman of the Polish Football Association.
Michel Platini has already been talking about it after the meeting of Executive Committee of UEFA making organizers think about it ‘Whether Euro will take place in Poland and Ukraine depends on the pace of works in the main arenas in Warsaw and Kiev.
Meanwhile the reconstruction of the Olympic stadium in Kiev where the finals of Poland-Ukraine will take place has a year delay! The chief of the Ukrainian association thinks that the worst is already behind us. ‘We have to go ahead and develop the infrastructure’ says Hryhorij Surkis.
The building of the National Stadium in Warsaw has just began. The president of PZPN wants to use this fact in the next debate with UEFA.
‘I asked Rafał Kapler, the president of the National Sport Centre, about the preparation of documents that in the nearest days will be sent to UEFA. We will show them that works take place not only in the office but in the stadiums in both cities’ added the chairman of the Polish Football Association
Michael Listkiewicz said that the number of stadiums where Euro would take place in four years is not known. We also don’t know anything about the division of matches. Earlier, when two countries organized a tournament (Belgium and Holland and recently Austria and Switzerland) everything was settled in details. Now the situation don’t have to be same. There may not be so many selected cities, regardless of whether it will be six or eight cities. On the other hand, logically there should be four cities but the division may be 5-3 or 6-2. Obviously without suggesting the advantage for any country – he added.
The president of the football center said that many factors would decide on the arrangement of games for individual cities. – It would be enough to compare the reports from which you can see that Polish cities are in the better situation than Ukraine. I am certain that stadiums will not a problem in both countries. The number and the quality of hotel vacancies and the capacity of airports will decide on the arrangement of meetings but not in the year or two-year context but one day. The way of connection with city centers with different means of transport is very important, too.
‘Railways have been treated by UEFA as the alternative mean of transport. It turned out that a certain official from the European federation arrived in summer with his wife to Poland and it were trains that he had been travelling by. He was walking to the cash desks, he was buying tickets and was asking about any vacancies in cities. He stated that railway connections in Poland are quite good. However, he asked if it would be possible to travel faster and if the trains could be longer – says Listkiewicz.