Euro 2012 – Ukraine and Poland

Ukraine’s preparations for co-hosting Euro 2012 have suffered another setback after Austrian construction company Alpine BAU pulled out of a proposed revamp of the Ukraina Stadium in Lviv.

Ukraine is scheduled to co-host Euro 2012 with neighbour Poland, but preparations have so far been problematic and UEFA president Michel Platini recently warned the two countries they could still lose the tournament if stadia and infrastructure development projects fall behind schedule.

Alpine BAU won the contract to upgrade the Ukraina Stadium in February, but the company claimed on Thursday that the Lviv government had set unrealistic construction targets against a budget of 85million euros.

“We have a worldwide reputation in stadium construction and cannot accept a contract that we should build something for 40% less than what it will cost,” Alpine BAU spokesperson Karin Keglevych told PA Sport.

“We did the plan according to a contract with the Lviv government which specified a more luxurious stadium than UEFA requires. They asked for a lot of extra things.

“All the construction was organised and the government said it was a beautiful stadium (design). But they wanted all of the extras included in a price of 85million euros, which was also to include 20% VAT.

“It is not possible to build a stadium of a high luxury quality for this price.”

Keglevych admitted Alpine was “disappointed” to withdraw from working on the venue and refused to completely close the door on future co-operation with Lviv.

“We are open for other discussions, but we cannot discuss for the same level of quality if they do not want to pay for it,” she said.

“The Lviv government will get an invoice for our planning work and we hope they will pay.”

The Austrian firm has been involved in a number of high-profile stadium projects across Europe, including the Allianz Arena in Munich.

According to reports, Oleh Zasadnyi, head of the Lviv’s Euro 2012 preparations department, has claimed three construction companies have already come forward with offers to rebuild the Ukraina Stadium.

While speaking at a roundtable with representatives from Chinese corporations in Shanghai, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasiunyk has called for involving a greater number of investors and construction companies in Euro 2012 projects.

“Ukraine is interested in Chinese companies and investors entering its construction market. There should not be only construction companies. First and foremost, there should be construction and design technologies, reforms, investors and experience,” Vasiunyk said. The Chinese side said it is interested in Ukrainian projects and is ready to make its design and construction proposals.

By Lyubov Sorokina

LVIV, Ukraine, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Authorities in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv are looking for new builders after an Austrian firm pulled out of constructing a stadium for the Euro 2012 finals, an official said on Monday.

Austria’s Alpine Bau, one of the country’s largest building firms, last week said it could not complete the 30,000-seat stadium within budget constraints set by Lviv city officials.

The incident is the second involving construction of Ukrainian stadiums for the tournament after authorities had to change the general contractor for renovation of Kiev’s main stadium, due to host the Euro 2012 final.

After two visits to Ukraine by President Michel Platini, UEFA last month upheld the right of Ukraine to keep the tournament, co-hosted with Poland, subject to strict monitoring.

Oleh Zasadny, head of the Euro 2012 department at Lviv city council, said the council had rejected Alpine Bau’s new costs which exceeded the budgeted 85 million euros ($114.3 million).

“Lviv city council has therefore launched procedures to find a new contractor,” Zasadny told Reuters. “Talks are under way with companies from Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Germany and Spain and official proposals have been submitted.”

In Kiev, a senior Ukrainian soccer federation official said it was awaiting word on who would be awarded the contract.

“Lviv authorities still have not decided on a contractor who can tell terms on completing the project and present a detailed plan on its realisation,” Ivan Fedorenko, head of the federation’s Euro 2012 directorate, told Reuters.

Fedorenko said a decision had also still to be taken on renovating Lviv’s dilapidated airport — a key concern to European officials, along with hotels and other infrastructure.

He said city authorities were to report to UEFA next week on plans for the stadium and by mid-November on related projects.

Alpine Bau spokesman Karen Keglevich said the company found itself unable to meet the demands of local authorities. A threat of sanctions against Poland was lifted after UEFA reached an agreement with the Warsaw government to remove a government-appointed administrator for soccer and agree to hold new elections for the national federation.

UEFA were not immediately available for comment. (additional reporting by Igor Nitsak in Kiev and Christian Gutlederer in Vienna; editing by Miles Evans)

By Eric Willemsen, Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria — An Austrian construction company pulled out of a project to build a soccer stadium in Ukraine for the 2012 European Championship, further threatening the country’s rights to co-host the tournament.

UEFA declined to comment on the delay Thursday but referred to a statement it released in late September, saying that “any slackening could put in doubt the organization of this tournament in these countries.”

Austria-based Alpine backed out of the project last week after a financial dispute with the city of Lviv, where the stadium is to be built, company spokeswoman Karin Keglevich said.

Both Ukraine and co-host Poland have been warned multiple times by European soccer’s governing body to speed up preparations for Euro 2012. UEFA will decide in the first half of 2009 how many stadiums and cities will be used as venues.

According to Keglevich, another $54.5 million is needed to complete construction in Lviv, which includes a 30,000 capacity stadium, parking lots, a sports arena and infrastructure.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Poland | Ukraine | Championship | Euro | Kiev | Lviv

Oleh Zasadnyi, the head of the Lviv’s Euro 2012 preparations department, said several construction companies have offered to build the stadium and that the city still has a good chance to be chosen by UEFA as a host venue.

“We absolutely can manage to meet the deadline,” Zasadnyi said. “We estimate our chances to be chosen as host city as very high, because Lviv is one of the main cities in Ukraine.”

Associated Press Writer Olga Bondaruk in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
Source: The Associated Press

Kiev – Two Ukrainian cities still could be dropped from hosting Euro 2012 matches, a Ukraine football official said Tuesday. The cities Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk, two of the five Ukrainian cities tapped as game sites, will be replaced if local officials continue to prepare for events poorly, said Ivan Fedorenko from the Federation of Football of Ukraine (FFU), citing a letter sent the FFU by the continental body UEFA.

The UEFA in April 2007 made Poland and Ukraine co-hosts of the 2012 European football championship. The Ukrainian cities currently set to host games include the capital Kiev, Donetsk, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk.

An alternate site to Lviv will be necessary if the west Ukrainian city fails to turn around currently stalled efforts to build a stadium from ground up, Fedorenko said.

Lviv’s city government recently sacked a general contractor for the project over cost differences, and faces lawsuits by local residents alleging the city has no right to the land where the stadium is to be built.

Dnipropetrovsk in contrast opened a brand new first class stadium in September, but its Soviet-era airport is nonetheless incapable of handling international flights carrying fans to games, Fedorenko said.

Lviv’s airport is somewhat better than Dnipropetrovsk’s, but its runways still need a complete overhaul to come up to UEFA standards, he said.

Two other Ukrainian cities, Kharkiv and Odessa, are possible replacements. City governments in both locations have advanced football infrastructure preparations, well beyond Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk.

The UEFA will in May 2009 make a final decision on which cities would hold Euro 2012 games, Fedorenko said.

Federenko’s report of the UEFA plans came one month after a visit by a UEFA delegation to Poland and Ukraine by UEFA head Michel Platini.

The former French footballing great gave his tentative approval to Ukrainian and Polish preparations for the tournament so far, but warned that if one country to do a better job getting ready to host its share of the competition, the UEFA could strip the other host nation of games.

Poland is rated ahead of Ukraine in transportation, communications and tourism infrastructure, while observers give Ukraine a lead in football stadiums and sports training facilities.

A weak point in both countries is insufficient hotel rooms, particularly outside the capitals Warsaw and Kiev.

Ukraine must also bring its transportation network to European standards – a task estimated by the Ukrainian government likely to cost five billion dollars for roads alone.

Posted by: Darren Ennis

As the dust settles on a turbulent few weeks for Polish soccer, a wider question is being asked in the game’s corridors of power. Did UEFA make a mistake in awarding Euro 2012 to Poland and Ukraine?

Despite both countries receiving explicit warnings from European soccer’s governing body, they are still well behind in their preparations, so much so that UEFA may have to rethink the number of stadia to be used.

To add insult to injury, just three days after Poland and Ukraine received a final reprieve by UEFA in Bordeaux, Warsaw’s government sacked their FA much to the anger of UEFA and world governing body FIFA.

FIFA, whose statutes do not allow government interference, threatened to suspend Poland from all competitions and UEFA threatened to strip them of the right to host EURO 2012.

A last minute deal was reached by last Monday’s deadline, but UEFA is not totally convinced.

“The trust has been broken and a lot of work has to be done before we can trust them again,” a senior UEFA official told Reuters after the deal was reached.

UEFA officials were left wondering why the government failed to pick up the phone ahead of the crunch executive meeting in Bordeaux to inform soccer’s authorities of their intentions and seek their help.

Some sceptics have gone as far as to suggest that Warsaw thought UEFA would pull the plug in Bordeaux, but when they were given yet another chance — this time with very strict and costly conditions — they may have panicked amid the current financial downturn.

Maybe they cannot deliver, but why would they think this was a way out without being blamed?

No matter what the reasons, the events of last week have certainly fuelled concern over Poland’s ability to stage the event in four years time.

Ukraine’s current political instability also heaps further pressure on the co-hosts.

Source:blogs.reuters.com

UEFA general secretary David Taylor has claimed joint bids are the way forward for hosting the new expanded European Championships – opening the door for Wales in 2016.

Taylor, the former Scottish Football Association chief executive, has admitted the recent decision to increase the number of finalists from 16 to 24 in 2016 has limited the number of nations able to stage the tournament single-handedly.

It means countries who launch joint bids have a greater chance of being successful than in previous years.

And with Wales having openly mooted the idea of linking up with Scotland – even as early as 2016 – to bring the showpiece championships to British soil, the news is a huge boost.

Speaking of his native Scotland, Taylor said: “Scotland clearly couldn’t do it by themselves but there’s nothing to rule out a joint bid.

“There would be fewer candidates to act as host potentially because we’d need more stadiums, possibly 10 rather than eight, so it is a step up in terms of organisation.”

The expansion – due to take place after the 2012 tournament to be staged in Poland and Ukraine – would leave only the likes of England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany in contention to act as sole hosts.

And with Uefa president Michel Platini eager to take major events across the continent, it is thought a joint bid from FAs outside of that list would be welcomed.

It is not yet known whether the increase in number of stadia needed would relax the current strict Uefa criteria that dictates that the 20,000 Liberty Stadium and other lower-capacity stadiums, such as the Racecourse and the new Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli, as too small to stage Euro games.

Scotland, who boast several suitable stadiums, had recently cooled on the idea of linking up with Wales, having been reportedly pencilled in as a possible replacement for Poland in 2012 after a dispute between politicians and football administrators threatened their involvement.

But with the row over, Scotland could now opt to focus their energies on a Home Nations bid.

And Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths said: “The resolution of the Polish question by Uefa and Fifa is good news for the possibility of Wales co-hosting 2016.

“Over recent months, the Scottish Football Association has had one eye on stepping into the breach and hosting Euro 2012 if Poland were forced out.

“However, now the Polish issue appears to have been resolved, it leaves the door wide open for the SFA and the Football Association of Wales to go all out for Euro 2016.”

Repercussions after suspending football federation board

The government suspended the board of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) last Monday for its failure to tackle corruption in the domestic league. The move followed a ruling by the Polish Olympic Committee’s court of arbitration.

The affair casts doubt over the country’s readiness to co-host the 2012 European Championship and could jeopardise its chances of making it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The governing body of world football FIFA warned last Wednesday that Poland would be barred from two forthcoming world cup qualifiers if it does not reinstate the PZPN board by 10am this Monday. FIFA rules forbid political interference in footballing affairs.

The European football body UEFA joined the fray last Friday. “We are standing firm with FIFA. If the FA is not reinstated by Monday’s deadline then we will have serious discussions about the future of Euro 2012 immediately. We will not wait any longer,” said William Gaillard. The close advisor to UEFA president Michel Platini was speaking to Reuters.

The same day, the Polish prime minister Donald Tusk gave his full backing to sports minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki. The latter had pushed for the appointment of Robert Zawlocki, a lawyer who used to sit on the disciplinary committee of the PZPN, as the caretaker head of the federation.

Losing patience

Only the previous week UEFA had given both Poland and the Ukraine a reprieve after a damning report into their preparations to co-host the 2012 championship.

“We have done everything we can for Poland and Ukraine. We have bent over backwards to help them and this makes us very unhappy,” said Gaillard, who described the suspension of the PZPN board as a “coup”.

Unswayed, Tusk refused to countenance the dismissal of Zawlocki, saying that taking a tough stance sometimes has a price. He said that dismissing the newly appointed administrator would do nothing to heal Polish football.

“And why do we need qualifiers that we will lose anyway if Polish football doesn’t change?” he asked reporters.

KIEV, Sept 19 (Reuters) – A senior Ukrainian official said on Friday the European governing soccer body UEFA was no longer worried about the former Soviet state’s ability to co-host the 2012 European soccer championship with Poland.

Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasyunyk was quoted by the UNIAN news agency as saying he had noted a more favourable outlook in talks with UEFA officials on Thursday in the Swiss town of Nyon.

“The atmosphere in Vienna and that in Nyon were completely different,” Vasyunyk was quoted as saying. “I did not hear any member of their executive board or expert express doubts or criticism of Ukraine working towards staging Euro 2012.”

UEFA is due to decide next week whether to take the championships away from Ukraine and Poland after criticising progress on building stadiums and modernising infrastructure.

Vasyunyk said discussions at a UEFA meeting in Vienna in June had focused on delays in renovating Kiev’s main stadium, due to host the 2012 final.

“Yesterday, UEFA experts noted that the anti-crisis plan for the stadium has been fulfilled,” he said. Reconstruction of the 84,000-seat facility would begin by the end of the year once an adjacent shopping centre was torn down.

The project was delayed for a year by wrangles over the shopping centre which blocked exits and violated safety rules.

Vasyunyk also said UEFA officials were aware that Ukraine was starting from scratch in drawing up plans to modernise airports and build sufficient numbers of new hotels.

President Viktor Yushchenko assured Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at talks in Kiev that all deadlines would be met.

“He said all sites would be completed in good time,” Yushchenko’s press service quoted him as saying.

Ukraine’s soccer federation earlier said officials, including federation president Grigory Surkis, had assured UEFA that political problems would have no effect on preparations.

A dispute between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has split the ruling coalition and, unless a new coalition is formed, Ukraine may hold its third parliamentary election in as many years.

“The deputy prime minister said Euro 2012 became the first project in the history of Ukraine that united all political forces,” a federation statement said.

“(He said) this will ensure that the political situation will not impact the country’s preparations for hosting the championship in 2012 and on the government’s responsibilities as promised to UEFA.” (Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by John Mehaffey)

Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko announced this in her welcome address to participants in an international forum entitled “Euro 2012. Infrastructure. Investments. Innovations,” which opened in Kyiv today.

She said that the Ukrainian Government would provide thorough assistance to all investment projects as part of Euro 2012 preparations. The draft national budget for 2009 foresees enough funds for the financing of events linked to these projects, reads a welcome statement. Yuliya Tymoshenko expressed the confidence that Ukraine could make a pleasant surprise to the world in the context of preparations for the European football championship. According to the statement, the prospects of Ukraine, its prestige and investment attractiveness will depend on whether the Euro 2012 finals are held successfully or not.