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Platini says Poland could be sole host for Euro 2012
The Uefa president, Michel Platini, has said that Poland could host the
2012 European Championship alone if construction problems persist in Ukraine.
The Uefa president, Michel Platini, has questioned Ukraine's
preparations for co-hosting
duties at Euro 2012. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff / Action Images
In an interview with the Daily Dziennik newspaper in Poland, Platini sought
to dampen speculation that the tournament could be moved to Germany, which
hosted Euro 2008, but revealed continuing concerns over the pace of work
on the Kiev Stadium.
Asked about Germany, Platini said: "Only if the bulldozers are still
working at the National Stadium in Warsaw in June 2012, but I doubt that."
"Kiev is another matter," he said. "If there are late with
the stadium, then there is a possibility that Euro 2012 will be hosted
only by Poland."
The 2012 tournament has been dogged by speculation that work on preparing
facilities is not progressing quickly enough, mainly in Ukraine. In October,
the newly elected Polish football federation chief, Grzegorz Lato, said
that Poland would look to co-host the tournament with Germany if Ukraine
failed to meet deadlines.
That sparked an angry reaction in Ukraine and relations were only repaired
this week when Poland's minister of sports and tourism, Miroslaw Drzewiecki,
backed Ukraine's preparations while on an official trip to the country.
"The Olympic Stadium in Kiev is being built," Drzewiecki said.
"Despite the very difficult conditions, we saw a lot of people doing
construction work and lots of work going on throughout the city. This
mutual understanding [between Poland and Ukraine] is good for us."
Guardian.co.uk,
12 December 2008
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