UEFA has given the green light to four Ukrainian cities to host matches at the European Championships in 2012 - but warned work still needs to be done if infrastructure and operational preparations in the country are to be completed on time.
Today's announcement confirmed Kiev as the venue of the final of Euro 2012, and gave the go-ahead for the cities of Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv to host group-stage matches.
Ukraine was earlier this year set a deadline of November 30 by UEFA to address "important shortcomings" in their infrastructure and prove they are capable of co-hosting the tournament with Poland.
Kiev was called on to meet UEFA's stringent hosting criteria if the capital was to host the final, having been passed fit for the group stages and knockout phase, while UEFA required further evidence of Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv's capabilities to stage group matches.
Confirmation of the four hosts cities will go some way to allaying fears over the viability of the Ukraine-Poland tournament, which has been plagued by organisational concerns from the outset, but UEFA's caveat regarding the work which still must be done will serve as yet another wake-up call.
"After careful consideration of the documents and guarantees submitted to UEFA by the Ukrainian Government and the cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv during the last couple of months... the UEFA Executive Committee took the following decisions... to confirm Kiev as the venue of the final match of Euro 2012 ...to confirm Donetsk and Lviv, and to appoint Kharkiv as host cities for group matches," a UEFA statement read.
"The UEFA Executive Committee specifically noted, however, that there is still a huge amount of work that must be undertaken by all host cities and the Government of Ukraine to guarantee the full and proper implementation of the tournament requirements for Euro 2012 matches.
"To this effect, UEFA will continue to closely monitor the state of infrastructure and operational preparations in the two host countries.
"A decision regarding the match schedule for Euro 2012 and the appointment of the host cities staging the other knockout matches will be taken at a later stage."
The Polish cities of Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw are set to be the other host venues at the tournament, which will take place from June 9 to July 1, 2012.
(re-opens)
UEFA president Michel Platini hailed the efforts of the Ukrainian and Polish organisers for their hard work in the face of the current global financial situation.
"We knew it would be a difficult undertaking, and that it would be necessary to invest enormously in all of the infrastructure - sporting, hotels and transport," he said.
"Poland and Ukraine have done this in spite of the devastating international financial and economic crisis, and Ukraine has been one of the countries most severely affected by this crisis.
"In September we had to reserve our opinion on three of the four candidate cities in Ukraine, considerable progress needed to be made.
"I can say to you that today, thanks to the enormous efforts and great sacrifices undertaken by the Ukrainian government, we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland - Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk - and four cities in Ukraine - Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
"The work is not finished. UEFA experts will obviously continue to accompany the two countries towards the final tournament.
"The decision of the executive committee was unanimous. We have confidence in Poland and Ukraine."
Ukraine was earlier this year set a deadline of November 30 by UEFA to address "important shortcomings" in their infrastructure and prove they are capable of co-hosting the tournament with Poland.
Kiev was called on to meet UEFA's stringent hosting criteria if the capital was to host the final, having been passed fit for the group stages and knockout phase, while UEFA required further evidence of Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv's capabilities to stage group matches.
Confirmation of the four hosts cities will go some way to allaying fears over the viability of the Ukraine-Poland tournament, which has been plagued by organisational concerns from the outset, but UEFA's caveat regarding the work which still must be done will serve as yet another wake-up call.
"After careful consideration of the documents and guarantees submitted to UEFA by the Ukrainian Government and the cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv during the last couple of months... the UEFA Executive Committee took the following decisions... to confirm Kiev as the venue of the final match of Euro 2012 ...to confirm Donetsk and Lviv, and to appoint Kharkiv as host cities for group matches," a UEFA statement read.
"The UEFA Executive Committee specifically noted, however, that there is still a huge amount of work that must be undertaken by all host cities and the Government of Ukraine to guarantee the full and proper implementation of the tournament requirements for Euro 2012 matches.
"To this effect, UEFA will continue to closely monitor the state of infrastructure and operational preparations in the two host countries.
"A decision regarding the match schedule for Euro 2012 and the appointment of the host cities staging the other knockout matches will be taken at a later stage."
The Polish cities of Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw are set to be the other host venues at the tournament, which will take place from June 9 to July 1, 2012.
(re-opens)
UEFA president Michel Platini hailed the efforts of the Ukrainian and Polish organisers for their hard work in the face of the current global financial situation.
"We knew it would be a difficult undertaking, and that it would be necessary to invest enormously in all of the infrastructure - sporting, hotels and transport," he said.
"Poland and Ukraine have done this in spite of the devastating international financial and economic crisis, and Ukraine has been one of the countries most severely affected by this crisis.
"In September we had to reserve our opinion on three of the four candidate cities in Ukraine, considerable progress needed to be made.
"I can say to you that today, thanks to the enormous efforts and great sacrifices undertaken by the Ukrainian government, we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland - Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk - and four cities in Ukraine - Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
"The work is not finished. UEFA experts will obviously continue to accompany the two countries towards the final tournament.
"The decision of the executive committee was unanimous. We have confidence in Poland and Ukraine."
Copyright (c) Press Association
Related Articles
Socceroos Abroad: European Play-off Round Draw Results
Late change puts 5 Matildas in Champions League quarterfinals
