UEFA Euro 2012 bids

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Lviv, Ukraine: counting down to start of UEFA Euro 2012

The bidding process for UEFA Euro 2012 ended on 18 April 2007, when a joint bid from Poland and Ukraine was selected as the host.

Selection process[edit]

The organisation of the event was initially contested by five bids representing seven countries: Croatia–Hungary (joint bid), Greece, Italy, Poland–Ukraine (joint bid), and Turkey.

On 8 November 2005, UEFA's Executive Committee narrowed the candidates down to a short list of three:[1]

  • Italy Italy (11 votes)
  • Croatia Hungary Croatia–Hungary (9 votes)
  • Poland Ukraine Poland–Ukraine (7 votes)
  • Turkey Turkey (6 votes, eliminated)
  • Greece Greece (2 votes, eliminated)

On 31 May 2006, all three bids completed the second phase of the process. This was by submitting more detailed dossiers, before UEFA conducted site visits to candidate countries in September.[2] The final decision was due to be announced on 8 December 2006 in Nyon, but this was postponed to "give bidding associations more time for the fine tuning of their bids".[3]

The hosts were eventually chosen on 18 April 2007, in Cardiff, by a vote of the members of the UEFA Executive Committee. Owing to their affiliation with associations bidding to host the competition, two of its 14 members, namely Italy and Ukraine, were not permitted to vote.[4] In the first of potentially two rounds of voting, each member had one vote (a total of 12 votes were therefore cast).

Final round[edit]

Voting results
Country Votes
Poland Poland – Ukraine Ukraine 8
Italy Italy 4
Croatia Croatia – Hungary Hungary 0

The Poland–Ukraine bid received an absolute majority of 8 votes, and was therefore announced the winner without requiring a second round. Italy received the remaining four votes, while the Croatia–Hungary bid failed to win any votes.[5]

Bids[edit]

Poland and Ukraine[edit]

These cities were the original candidates of the winning bid:[5]

Two more Polish cities, Kraków and Chorzów, were listed as reserve venues in Poland, while in Ukraine Odesa was a reserve city and the Olympic Stadium in Donetsk a reserve stadium.

Further development[edit]

Afterwards, there were some changes regarding the venues. The final decision was taken on the UEFA meeting on 13 May 2009.:[6] Kharkiv replaced Dnipropetrovsk, while the mentioned reserve venues were turned down. The result was this:

Warsaw Gdańsk Wrocław Poznań
National Stadium
Capacity: 50,000[7] 		PGE Arena
Capacity: 40,000 		Municipal Stadium
Capacity: 40,000 		Municipal Stadium
Capacity: 40,000
3 matches in Group A
opening match, quarter-final, semi-final 		3 matches in Group C
quarter-final 		3 matches in Group A 3 matches in Group C
Kyiv Donetsk Kharkiv Lviv
Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 60,000 		Donbass Arena
Capacity: 50,000 		Metalist Stadium
Capacity: 35,000 		Arena Lviv
Capacity: 30,000
3 matches in Group D
quarter-final, final 		3 matches in Group D
quarter-final, semi-final 		3 matches in Group B 3 matches in Group B

Note: Capacity figures are those for matches at UEFA Euro 2012 and are not necessarily the total capacity that the stadium is capable of holding.

Former candidates

The following venues were also considered but fell out of the running as a result of the UEFA meeting on 13 May 2009.

Photo City Stadium Capacity Main tenants Notes
Chorzów Silesian Stadium 55,211 Poland national team not selected by UEFA, orig. reserve
Kraków Municipal Stadium 33,680 Wisła Kraków not selected by UEFA, orig. reserve
Odesa Chornomorets Stadium 34,362 Chornomorets Odesa not selected by UEFA, orig. reserve
Donetsk RSC Olimpiyskiy 25,678 None, owned and formerly
used by Shakhtar Donetsk 		not selected by UEFA, orig. reserve
Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro Arena 31,003 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk original plans stated it would host 3 group matches

Croatia and Hungary[edit]

Hungary was bidding for the third time consecutively after failing to win either the Euro 2004 or the Euro 2008 bid. It teamed up with Croatia after its previous partner, Austria, opted to unite with Switzerland to (successfully) bid to host Euro 2008. While Hungary had never hosted similar major tournaments, Croatia's capital Zagreb was a host city of the Euro 1976 as part of former Yugoslavia.

The following cities were proposed to host matches:[8]

Italy[edit]

Italy was the most experienced of all the bidding nations, having already twice hosted the European Championship (in 1968 and 1980), and the FIFA World Cup (in 1934 and 1990).

The following venues were proposed by the Italian Football Federation to host matches:[9]

Aftermath[edit]

Losing countries[edit]

After not being chosen as hosts for this championship, Italy and Turkey delivered UEFA Euro 2016 bids.

Poland–Ukraine: Criticism of preparations[edit]

In January 2008, UEFA President Michel Platini warned the organisers of the need to avoid "critical slippages" in their preparations,[10] prompting Scotland to volunteer as an alternative host twice.[11][12] By June 2008, however, UEFA stated they were "not discussing any plan B in terms of new countries" hosting.[13]

Ukraine reported several problems which threatened their ability to co host, including delays in the renovation of Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium,[14] and difficulties funding infrastructure work after the economic crisis struck.[15] After an inspection in April 2009, Platini re-affirmed that Ukraine would remain co-host, hinting that most matches could go to Poland.[16] Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that his country would be capable of the task, but was committed to the original plans,[17] as was the Polish Football Association (PZPN).[18]

In September 2009, Platini announced that "Ukraine has made sudden progress in their efforts to stage the tournament,"[19] and it was soon confirmed that their four cities (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Lviv) would host matches. Kyiv was also confirmed to host the final match.[20]

An interview Platini gave to the German Football Association (DFB) in May 2010 suggested that Germany and Hungary could replace Ukraine unless improvements were made, casting new doubt on the nation's readiness.[21] By August, however, Platini revisited that and stated, "You can consider that the ultimatum no longer exists,"[22] and that he was optimistic about preparations in both countries and saw no major obstacles.[23] After a UEFA delegation visited Ukraine in September 2011, he stated the country was "virtually ready for Euro 2012."[24]

In April 2012, while on an inspection trip to the host city of Lviv, UEFA president Michel Platini labelled hoteliers as "bandits and crooks" for raising hotel prices in Ukraine for Euro 2012.[25] President Yanukovych ordered his government to prevent hoteliers from charging inflated prices.[26] Some hoteliers had increased prices eighty-fold, causing Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to warn that state control of hotel tariffs might be introduced.[27] Later that month, Markian Lubkivsky, head of the Euro 2012 organizing committee in Ukraine, said hotel and hostel prices were no longer "critically" inflated.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Chaplin, Mark (8 November 2005). "Trio in EURO 2012 running". UEFA. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2007.
  2. ^ "EURO bidders state cases". UEFA. 31 May 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-04-22.
  3. ^ "EURO 2012 dossiers delivered". UEFA. 15 February 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-04-21.
  4. ^ "UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Cardiff" (PDF). UEFA. 9 March 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2007. Note: Franco Carraro of Italy and Hryhoriy Surkis of Ukraine were not permitted to vote
  5. ^ a b "EURO joy for Poland and Ukraine". UEFA. 18 April 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-05-21.
  6. ^ "Surkis says Odesa mayor promised much, did little with respect to Euro 2012". Kyiv Post. 15 December 2009.
  7. ^ "National Stadium Warsaw". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
  8. ^ "Give us the chance!". Hungarian/Croatian Football Federation. April 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-04-06.
  9. ^ "Euro 2012, 12 grandi inviti". Italian Football Federation. April 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-04-15.
  10. ^ Collett, Mike (30 January 2008). "UEFA warns hosts to speed up Euro 2012 plans". Reuters.
  11. ^ "Scots eye Euro 2012 rescue plan". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 5 June 2008.
  12. ^ "Scotland ready to be saviours of Euro 2012". ESPN. 1 October 2008.
  13. ^ "UEFA seeks rules clarification". USA Today. 12 June 2008.
  14. ^ "Ukraine may lose Euro 2012 due to stadium, says official". Reuters. 12 June 2008.
  15. ^ "Financial crisis threatens Ukraine as Euro 2012 host". The Canadian Press. 31 October 2008.
  16. ^ Lucas, Ryan (16 April 2009). "Platini: Poland's Euro 2012 preparations on track". USA Today.
  17. ^ "Polish venues on track for Euro 2012, Prime Minister says". Reuters. 10 May 2009.
  18. ^ "Four Polish venues while Ukraine gets just one". USA Today. 13 May 2009.
  19. ^ "Platini sees sudden progress from Euro co-hosts Ukraine". Reuters. 15 September 2009. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016.
  20. ^ "UEFA confirms four host cities in Ukraine". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 12 December 2009.
  21. ^ "Germany and Hungary could replace Ukraine as Euro 2012 host". Sport Business. 11 May 2010.
  22. ^ "Platini supports FFF sanctions". Sky Sports. 27 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Ukraine will be ready for Euro 2012 but work to do – UEFA". Reuters. 12 August 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012.
  24. ^ "Platini: Ukraine nearly ready for Euro 2012". Kyiv Post. 27 September 2011.
  25. ^ "Euro 2012 waiting to catch fire". 12 April 2012.
  26. ^ "UEFA chief slams price-gouging from Ukraine hotels". AP Worldstream. 12 April 2012.
  27. ^ Tsukanova, Anya (16 May 2012). "Ukraine's Euro 2012 hotel crisis eases, a little". AFP. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  28. ^ "Euro 2012 hotel prices brought to norm in Ukraine". Miami Herald. 19 April 2012.
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