In Monday’s newsletter we wrote about FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s back-up plan should South Africa be unable to host the 2010 World Cup. This week UEFA boss Michel Platini heads to Poland and Ukraine to see how they are shaping up to co-host the next European Championships in four years time, amid continued speculation that neither stadiums nor infrastructure will be up to scratch.
Platini told reporters at the weekend that “there is no backup plan” right now, but he warned that UEFA could find an alternative host if a new national stadium planned for Warsaw and a redeveloped Stalinist-era Olympic stadium in Kiev are not ready in time. Polish and Ukrainian officials, needless to say, while admitting that deadlines are tight, have been giving assurances that everything will be ready.
Demolition work has started at the site of a new 55,000-seat ground in Warsaw, but new stadiums in Wroclaw and Gdansk are still at the design stage. On the plus side, increasing the capacity of Poznan’s stadium to 45,000 is said to be well under way. In Ukraine, renovation of Kiev’s 80,000-seat Olympic stadium, due to host the final, has yet to start. The Ukrainian government has dismissed a Taiwanese firm, which had a won a tender to reconstruct the stadium, citing “legal problems.” No replacement has yet been appointed, and political squabbling could present further difficulties.