I should imagine there is a pretty hefty difference in interest between the two competitions to be fair, as we face Port Vale in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy tonight, and then comes the latest round of EURO 2012 qualifying fixtures at the weekend. So, while all eyes will be on Brunton Park this evening, attention will be diverted to other faraway places in less than two years time with the UEFA Executive Committee, in Minsk, Belarus, yesterday approving the schedule for the final tournament in Poland and Ukraine. It is Ukraine that has emerged the winner of the two countries in the end as they will be hosting the final in their capital city of Kiev on Sunday 1st July. The game scheduled to take place at the reconstructed Olympic Stadium which will have a capacity of touching 70,000 after the demolition and rebuilding of the lower tier. While a completely new west stand will be built with a two-level press box between the two tiers, and a new roof covering the entire seating area will be added. As for the Poles, they have been given the opening game of the 31-match tournament on Friday 8th June, that fixture being played at the National Stadium in Warsaw, which is being constructed on the site of the old 10th-Anniversary Stadium. The total cost of the build reputed to be around the 300million euro mark for a ground that will house 55,000 spectators, the venue also hosting one of the semi-final games, with Donetsk in Ukraine holding the other final four encounter the following day at the Donbass Arena. The other five venues hosting matches in the tournament being, in Poland, the City Stadium in Poznan, the City Stadium in Wroclaw and the PGE Arena in Gdansk. While further east in Ukraine the other two host cities are Lviv with the Lemberg Stadium and Kharkiv with the Metalist Stadium. Poland meanwhile playing two group games in Warsaw and the other one in Wroclaw, while Ukraine's group matches are in Kiev twice and Donetsk once. There had been concerns over the whether stadiums in Ukraine would be finished in time, while at the same time an August audit report found that nearly half of Poland's infrastructure preparations weren't at the stage that they should be. Only a month later in September though, at a meeting of the EURO 2012 steering group, UEFA expressed satisfaction with the progress that had been shown by both countries and had confidence that everything would be completed as per the schedule. The City Stadium in Poznan was unveiled in late September, with the main event in the ceremony being a performance by Sting, the ground able to hold 43,000 supporters and being completed at a cost of £150million. The next Polish EURO 2012 stadium to open being Gdansk at the beginning of 2011, while the stadiums in Wroclaw and Warsaw will be ready in the summer and autumn of 2011, respectively. As far as Ukraine is concerned they unveiled the Donbass Arena in Donetsk and the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv as far back as 2009 now. Work though is still going ahead to complete the grounds in Lviv and Kiev by next year, with at one point construction work on the Lemberg Stadium in Lviv stopping in an effort to plough as much as time as possible into the behind schedule Olympic Stadium in Kiev. The Ukrainian capital also being the venue for the draw for the final tournament in December, the month after the qualifying play-offs have taken place. Away from EURO 2012, in their meeting The Executive Committee also decided on the countries that will host the final stages of numerous other future tournaments. Sweden taking UEFA European Women's Championship in 2013 that will contain 12 teams, while staying with the female version of the beautiful game, the hosts for the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championships in 2012 and 2013 will be Turkey and Wales respectively. Back to men's football, and Slovenia and Slovakia were appointed as hosts for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship final rounds in 2012 and 2013 respectively. While Estonia and Lithuania were approved as hosts for the UEFA European Under-19 Championships in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Eastern Europe seemingly being a big favourite for UEFA at the moment as the 2011 version is already in Romania, and back at Under-17 level the finals of the 2011 tournament will be held in Serbia. In club competition, and rather sickeningly due to commercial concerns of the big countries, an amendment was also approved to the UEFA Europa League for the 2012-15 cycle, starting from season 2012/13. A new access list was approved that allocates fixed slots with direct access to the UEFA Europa League group stage for the cup winners of the six top-ranked associations. This allocation of slots has a direct impact on the qualification path, and adaptations will have to be made to the access list in order to accommodate these changes. As far as national association matters are concerned, The Executive Committee discussed the ongoing issue of the continued non-amendment of its statutes, in accordance with the version as presented by FIFA and UEFA in July 2010, by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Federation (NFSBiH). The Executive Committee agreed that the NFSBiH would have until 31 March 2011 to change its statutes, and if not, that it shall be suspended as a UEFA member, thereby depriving the NFSBiH of all its UEFA membership rights. The issue will now also be put before the next FIFA Executive Committee meeting in Prague in December with the problem being that the NFSBiH have failed to replace their tripartite interethnic presidency with a single president. For political reasons each ethnic group - Bosnian Muslim, Serb and Croat have a president each, with the matter yet to be resolved as fans, and even some players, protest at the situation, and the bigwigs at the NFSBiH argue between themselves. Football Associations - who'd have 'em. |