Uefa has no 'plan B' to reallocate Euro 2012

Published on Thursday 12 June 2008 23:20

UEFA insists it has 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 yesterday 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 insists it will draw no conclusions until it visits 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.

SFA 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 is not looking at that prospect at this stage. Uefa director of communications William Gaillard said: "On 1 July, 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."

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.

Despite reports in Ukraine suggesting Uefa are drawing up a contingency plan, Gaillard is adamant no such measures have been taken.

He added: "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."