Trio in EURO 2012™ running
Tuesday, 8 November 2005by Mark Chaplinfrom Malta
Three bids remain in the running to stage UEFA EURO 2012™ following today's meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Malta.
Second phase
Italy, Croatia/Hungary and Poland/Ukraine have all been put on the short list for the second phase of the bidding procedure, meaning the bids from Greece and Turkey will not be pursued. A final decision on the hosts of the 14th staging of the UEFA European Championship will be taken in December 2006.
Detailed dossiers
The result of the voting, from the 12 members eligible to vote, was: Italy (11), Croatia/Hungary (9), Poland/Ukraine (7), Turkey (6) and Greece (2). The second phase of the bidding process will involve the submission of even more detailed dossiers by 31 May, followed by site visits to the short-listed countries in September. Although the bids from Greece and Turkey were not selected, both were given warm praise by the UEFA Executive Committee for the content and professionalism of their submissions.
Political dimension
"We made a presentation of the technical evaluation to the Executive Committee, who added the political dimension in taking the decision," said UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson. "We reached a decision in the first ballot. A new dossier should be submitted [by the candidates] to UEFA at the end of May 2006, and now all the site visits will take place. There will be a final decision to appoint the hosts for 2012 in December 2006."
EXCO message
Mr Olsson said the choice of the joint Poland/Ukraine bid sent a message from the Executive Committee that the possibility of organising the final round in the eastern part of Europe should be assessed. "They are now catching up with the western part, so it makes it possible to organise this kind of big event," said the CEO.
Variety of criteria
The evaluation of the bids was made by studying a variety of criteria, including infrastructure, stadiums, security and commercial and financial issues. "The political aspect is that, in the Executive Committee's view, it will be possible for all three candidates to reach the same level of excellence for the tournament as in Portugal [in 2004] and for Austria and Switzerland in 2008," added Mr Olsson.
We and the three bidders have a huge job ahead of usLars-Christer Olsson
Open race
Each of the bids, as they stand at present, had their strengths and weaknesses, according to Mr Olsson: "This is now an open competition. We will go into greater detail now with site visits, different contracts have to be signed with the authorities. We and the three bidders have a huge job ahead of us. It's a totally open race."
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