lefty
12-11-2009, 01:35 PM
Uefa has chosen Ukranian capital Kiev to host the 2012 European Championships final and approved three other cities in the country to stage matches. European football's governing body had already deemed Kiev a suitable city.
However, it had been unhappy with the slow progress of infrastructure work in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv and gave them until 30 November to prove their worth.
And after revisiting the cities, Uefa chief Michel Platini said: "We can have a tournament in Poland and Ukraine."
Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Gdansk had already been confirmed by Uefa as Poland's venues for the co-hosted tournament.
However, Uefa officials were less impressed by the huge infrastructure problems facing Ukraine and in May of this year imposed a six-month deadline on three of the four cities to up their game or lose the championships.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif
The Olympic Stadium in Kiev, which had been touted as a venue for the final, had already been approved at that time, but only for matches leading up to the semi-final.
However Platini was impressed enough with the work that has gone on in the last six months to award the final to Kiev.
He added: "I'm pleased to tell that thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Ukrainian government we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland and Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine.
"There remains considerable work to be done and considerable hoops to jump through but I entirely trust Ukraine and Poland as hosts."
"We knew it would be a difficult undertaking, and that it would be necessary to invest enormously in all of the infrastructure - sporting, hotels andtransport," he said.
"Poland and Ukraine have done this in spite of the devastating international financial and economic crisis, and Ukraine has been one of the countries most severely affected by this crisis," continued Platini.
"The work is not finished. Uefa experts will obviously continue to accompany the two countries towards the final tournament."
However, it had been unhappy with the slow progress of infrastructure work in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv and gave them until 30 November to prove their worth.
And after revisiting the cities, Uefa chief Michel Platini said: "We can have a tournament in Poland and Ukraine."
Poznan, Wroclaw, Warsaw and Gdansk had already been confirmed by Uefa as Poland's venues for the co-hosted tournament.
However, Uefa officials were less impressed by the huge infrastructure problems facing Ukraine and in May of this year imposed a six-month deadline on three of the four cities to up their game or lose the championships.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif
The Olympic Stadium in Kiev, which had been touted as a venue for the final, had already been approved at that time, but only for matches leading up to the semi-final.
However Platini was impressed enough with the work that has gone on in the last six months to award the final to Kiev.
He added: "I'm pleased to tell that thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Ukrainian government we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland and Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine.
"There remains considerable work to be done and considerable hoops to jump through but I entirely trust Ukraine and Poland as hosts."
"We knew it would be a difficult undertaking, and that it would be necessary to invest enormously in all of the infrastructure - sporting, hotels andtransport," he said.
"Poland and Ukraine have done this in spite of the devastating international financial and economic crisis, and Ukraine has been one of the countries most severely affected by this crisis," continued Platini.
"The work is not finished. Uefa experts will obviously continue to accompany the two countries towards the final tournament."