UEFA insist they have no "plan B" in place to reallocate Euro 2012 if fresh reports of organisational disarray involving co-hosts Poland and Ukraine turn out to be true.
Ukrainian Football Federation vice-president Boris Voskresensky was quoted today as saying the Taiwanese company responsible for renovating the Kiev Olympic stadium is "incapable" of finishing the job, before confessing UEFA could revoke the countries' staging rights if the situation does not improve.
The admission follows UEFA's expression of concern in January about the pace of progress. Despite the latest apparent setback, UEFA insist they will draw no conclusions until they visit the countries next month.
If Poland and Ukraine have to back out, then Scotland - possibly with Welsh assistance - could seek to step in to host the tournament.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith has told UEFA president Michel Platini that Scotland "would like to be considered" as potential hosts if the situation becomes any more drastic.
However UEFA are not looking at that prospect at this stage.
UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told PA Sport's Football Insider: "On July 1, UEFA president Michel Platini will visit Poland and Ukraine with a panel to see if the progress matches what was required.
"In January, we gave them four to six months to fix things and give us a progress report. At this point we are not more concerned than we were in January, but at the same time we are not less concerned.
"We want to see with our eyes what the situation looks like and talk with the people involved, give them a chance to explain and be fair to everyone. We want to hear things from the horse's mouth."
The latest twist in the saga came as a consequence of the Archasia Design Group's reported failure to finish reconstruction of the 80,000-seater stadium which has been slated to host the final.
Voskresensky reportedly told Russian newspaper Sport Express: "The Asian company appears incapable of finishing the project and construction work in time because of a lack of necessary materials and resources.
"There are now two variations. Firstly, the government decides that (they) are incapable of meeting the conditions to complete the job and calls for a new tender.
"Secondly, UEFA decides it is impossible to hold Euro 2012 in Ukraine. This, everyone knows, is something that does not even bear thinking about."
Despite reports in Ukraine suggesting UEFA are drawing up a contingency plan, Gaillard is adamant no such measures have been taken.
He added: "Our experts will look at what progress has been made when they visit in July and they will have a pretty good idea of how long an infrastructure takes to build, systems to be upgraded and so on.
"At this stage we are not discussing any plan B in terms of new countries. There are alternative scenarios, there are proposed different cities within Poland and Ukraine, like Krakow and Odessa, which could host matches.
"There are all kinds of alternatives that people are looking into, and we will be assessing all these options in July and then we will give everyone a substantial progress report on how the situation stands.
"We don't have a contingency plan, because once you look at a championship, normally this is where the competition goes.
"So we never allocated this championship with a thought in the back of our mind that we would have to reallocate it later on.
"This is why we want to make some decisions by the summer on whether we need to construct a plan B in Ukraine and Poland or outside. Much of that will depend on what we find out in July. At this stage we are still hopeful and optimistic that everything will be fine there."
The admission follows UEFA's expression of concern in January about the pace of progress. Despite the latest apparent setback, UEFA insist they will draw no conclusions until they visit the countries next month.
If Poland and Ukraine have to back out, then Scotland - possibly with Welsh assistance - could seek to step in to host the tournament.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith has told UEFA president Michel Platini that Scotland "would like to be considered" as potential hosts if the situation becomes any more drastic.
However UEFA are not looking at that prospect at this stage.
UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told PA Sport's Football Insider: "On July 1, UEFA president Michel Platini will visit Poland and Ukraine with a panel to see if the progress matches what was required.
"In January, we gave them four to six months to fix things and give us a progress report. At this point we are not more concerned than we were in January, but at the same time we are not less concerned.
"We want to see with our eyes what the situation looks like and talk with the people involved, give them a chance to explain and be fair to everyone. We want to hear things from the horse's mouth."
The latest twist in the saga came as a consequence of the Archasia Design Group's reported failure to finish reconstruction of the 80,000-seater stadium which has been slated to host the final.
Voskresensky reportedly told Russian newspaper Sport Express: "The Asian company appears incapable of finishing the project and construction work in time because of a lack of necessary materials and resources.
"There are now two variations. Firstly, the government decides that (they) are incapable of meeting the conditions to complete the job and calls for a new tender.
"Secondly, UEFA decides it is impossible to hold Euro 2012 in Ukraine. This, everyone knows, is something that does not even bear thinking about."
Despite reports in Ukraine suggesting UEFA are drawing up a contingency plan, Gaillard is adamant no such measures have been taken.
He added: "Our experts will look at what progress has been made when they visit in July and they will have a pretty good idea of how long an infrastructure takes to build, systems to be upgraded and so on.
"At this stage we are not discussing any plan B in terms of new countries. There are alternative scenarios, there are proposed different cities within Poland and Ukraine, like Krakow and Odessa, which could host matches.
"There are all kinds of alternatives that people are looking into, and we will be assessing all these options in July and then we will give everyone a substantial progress report on how the situation stands.
"We don't have a contingency plan, because once you look at a championship, normally this is where the competition goes.
"So we never allocated this championship with a thought in the back of our mind that we would have to reallocate it later on.
"This is why we want to make some decisions by the summer on whether we need to construct a plan B in Ukraine and Poland or outside. Much of that will depend on what we find out in July. At this stage we are still hopeful and optimistic that everything will be fine there."
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