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UEFA Euro 2012

Mistrzostwa Europy w piłce nożnej 2012 Template:Pl icon Чемпіонат Європи з футболу 2012 Template:Uk icon
UEFA Euro 2012 official logo
Tournament details
Host countries	Poland Ukraine
Dates	8 June – 1 July
Teams	16
Venue(s)	8
← 2008 2016 →

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012. It is the first time that either nation has hosted the tournament. This bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee in 2007.

The final tournament features sixteen nations, the last European Championship to do so (from Euro 2016 onward, there will be 24 finalists). Qualification was contested by 51 nations between August 2010 and November 2011 to join the two host nations in the tournament. The winner of the tournament gains automatic entry to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil.

Host selection

The joint Poland–Ukraine bid was chosen by a vote of the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Cardiff on 18 April 2007. Of the other shortlisted bids, Italy's candidature was "odds-against favourite" to win; however, their bid was marred by a referee corruption scandal and problems with football-related crowd trouble and Croatia–Hungary lost out as Poland-Ukraine became the third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium–Netherlands (2000) and Austria–Switzerland (2008).

Venues

The host cities Warsaw, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań, Kiev, Lviv are all popular tourist destinations, unlike Donetsk and Kharkiv (the latter having replaced Dnipropetrovsk as a host city in 2009). The bid package requires the expansion and modernisation of roads and transport links.

The obligatory improvement of the football infrastructure includes the building of new stadiums: Six of the eight venues are brand new stadiums currently being constructed ready to open in advance of the tournament; the remaining two (in Poznań and Kharkiv) have undergone major renovations to improve them. Three of the stadiums will fulfill the criteria of UEFA's highest category stadiums.

In a return to the format used at Euro 1992, Euro 1996 and Euro 2008, each group will be based around two stadiums. In addition to the eight host cities, Euro 2012 will also include other places, referred to Base Camps, as training centres for teams. In October 2010, announced the final list of 21 recommended accommodation centers in Poland: Gdańsk, Gniewino, Gdynia, Jelenia Góra, Józefów, Kielce, Kołobrzeg, Kraków, Legionowo, Lubawa, Międzychód, Opalenica, Ostróda, Puławy, Słupsk, Tychy, Warka, Warsaw, Wieliczka, Władysławowo and Wrocław. Finally, in 2011, national representations cooperated with UEFA to choose the final base camps. 13 will stay in Poland and 3 in Ukraine in the following towns:

•  Croatia - Warka
•  Czech Republic - Wrocław
•  Denmark - Kołobrzeg
•  England - Kraków
•  France - Donetsk
•  Greece - Jachranka
•  Italy - Kraków
•  Germany - Gdańsk
•  Netherlands - Kraków
•  Poland - Warsaw
•  Portugal - Opalenica
•  Republic of Ireland - Sopot
•  Russia - Warsaw
•  Spain - Gniewino
•  Sweden - Koncha-Zaspa
•  Ukraine - Kiev

Stadiums

Warsaw	Gdańsk	Wrocław	Poznań
National Stadium Capacity: 50,000	PGE Arena Capacity: 40,000	Municipal Stadium Capacity: 40,000	Municipal Stadium Capacity: 40,000
3 matches in Group A opening match, quarter-final, semi-final	3 matches in Group C quarter-final	3 matches in Group A	3 matches in Group C
			File:Stadionmiejskipoznan.png
Wrocław Kiev Lviv Donetsk Warsaw Gdańsk Kharkiv Poznań
Kiev	Donetsk	Kharkiv	Lviv
Olympic Stadium Capacity: 70,050	Donbass Arena Capacity: 50,000	Metalist Stadium Capacity: 35,000	Arena Lviv Capacity: 30,000
3 matches in Group D quarter-final, final	3 matches in Group D quarter-final, semi-final	3 matches in Group B	3 matches in Group B
File:Estadio Olímpico de Kiev 2011.jpg	File:Donezk Donbass Arena 01.JPG	File:Metallist Stadium Facade.jpg	File:Арена Львів у грудні 2011.jpg

Note: Capacity figures are those for matches at UEFA Euro 2012 and are not necessarily the total capacity that the stadium is capable of holding.

Qualification

The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying competition took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010. 51 teams entered to compete for the 14 remaining places in the finals, alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine. These teams were divided into nine groups, with the draw using the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings.

The qualifying process began in August 2010 and concluded in November 2011. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage in October 2011, the nine group winners qualified automatically, with the second placed team with the best ranking also doing so. The remaining eight teams who finished second in their respective groups contested two-legged play-offs, with the winner of each tie qualifying for the finals.

Participating teams

The finals will feature sixteen national teams, as has been the format since 1996. Some European football associations were in favour of expanding the tournament to 24 teams, although the number of UEFA members had hardly increased since the last tournament extension in 1996 (53 in April 2006 compared to 48 for Euro 1996). In April 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against an expansion for 2012.

Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated at the previous tournament in 2008, with England and Denmark, who participated in 2004, returning after missing the 2008 edition. The Republic of Ireland return after an absence of 24 years to make their second appearance at a European finals. The champions from UEFA Euro 2008, Spain, return to defend their title. If they win Euro 2012, they will be the first European national team ever to win three major (continental and worldwide) tournaments in a row: UEFA Euro 2008, 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2012. They also won the tournament in 1964, when they were hosts. One of the co-hosts, Ukraine, make their debut as an independent nation, having previously won the competition in 1960, the first European Nations' Cup, as part of the Soviet Union.

The sixteen finalists who will participate in the final tournament are:

Final draw

The draw for the final tournament took place on 2 December 2011 at the Ukraine Palace of Arts in Kiev, Ukraine. The hour-long ceremony was hosted by Olga Freimut and Piotr Sobczyński, television presenters from the two host countries.

As was the case for the 2004 and 2008 finals, the sixteen finalists were divided into four seeding pots, using UEFA's national team coefficient ranking. As co-hosts, Poland and Ukraine were automatically placed in Pot 1, along with Spain, as the defending champions.

In the draw procedure, each of the four groups had one team drawn from each pot. It also determined which place in the group teams drawn from Pots 2–4 would take (i.e. A2, A3 or A4) to create the match schedule. For logistical reasons, Poland were assigned in advance to A1, and Ukraine to D1. The balls were drawn by four former players who have each been part of European Championship winning teams: Horst Hrubesch, Marco van Basten, Peter Schmeichel and Zinedine Zidane.

Match officials

UEFA named the twelve referees and four fourth officials for UEFA Euro 2012 on 20 December 2011. Each team is made up of five match officials from the same country: one main referee, two additional assistant referees who are also FIFA referees, and two FIFA assistant referees. In addition, a third assistant referee from each country has also been named, and he will remain on standby until the start of the tournament to take the place of a colleague if required. Continuing the trials carried out in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, the two additional assistant referees will be used on the goal line for the first time in the history of the UEFA European Championship with approval from the International Football Association Board.

Country	Referee	Assistant referees	Additional assistant referees
England	Howard Webb	Michael Mullarkey Peter Kirkup Stephen Child (standby)	Martin Atkinson Mark Clattenburg
France	Stéphane Lannoy	Eric Dansault Frédéric Cano Michael Annonier (standby)	Fredy Fautrel Ruddy Buquet
Germany	Wolfgang Stark	Jan-Hendrik Salver Mike Pickel Mark Borsch (standby)	Florian Meyer Deniz Aytekin
Hungary	Viktor Kassai	Gábor Erős György Ring Róbert Kispál (standby)	István Vad Tamás Bognár
Italy	Nicola Rizzoli	Renato Faverani Andrea Stefani Luca Maggiani (standby)	Gianluca Rocchi Paolo Tagliavento
Netherlands	Björn Kuipers	Sander van Roekel Erwin Zeinstra Norbertus Simons (standby)	Pol van Boekel Richard Liesveld
Portugal	Pedro Proença	Bertino Miranda Ricardo Santos Tiago Trigo (standby)	Jorge Sousa Duarte Gomes
Scotland	Craig Thomson	Alasdair Ross Derek Rose Graham Chambers (standby)	William Collum Euan Norris
Slovenia	Damir Skomina	Primoz Arhar Marko Stancin Matej Žunič (standby)	Matej Jug Slavko Vinčič
Spain	Carlos Velasco Carballo	Roberto Alonso Fernández Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez Jesús Calvo Guadamuro (standby)	David Fernández Borbalán Carlos Clos Gómez
Sweden	Jonas Eriksson	Stefan Wittberg Mathias Klasenius Fredrik Nilsson (standby)	Markus Strömbergsson Stefan Johannesson
Turkey	Cüneyt Çakır	Bahattin Duran Tarık Ongun Mustafa Emre Eyisoy (standby)	Hüseyin Göçek Bülent Yıldırım

Four match officials which will only serve as fourth officials and four reserve assistant referees were also named.

Country	Fourth official
Czech Republic	Pavel Královec
Norway	Tom Harald Hagen
Poland	Marcin Borski
Ukraine	Viktor Shvetsov

Country	Reserve assistant referee
Republic of Ireland	Damien MacGraith
Poland	Marcin Borkowski
Slovakia	Roman Slysko
Ukraine	Oleksandr Voytyuk

Squads

Each nation had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, by 28 May 2012.

Group stage

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) in Poland and Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) in Ukraine.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Czech Republic	3	2	0	1	4	5	−1	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Greece	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Russia	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
4	Poland (H)	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

1. ^ Head-to-head result: Greece 1–0 Russia.

Poland	1–1	Greece
Lewandowski 17'	Report	Salpingidis 51'

Russia	4–1	Czech Republic
Dzagoev 15', 79' Shirokov 24' Pavlyuchenko 82'	Report	Pilař 52'

Greece	1–2	Czech Republic
Gekas 53'	Report	Jiráček 3' Pilař 6'

Poland	1–1	Russia
Błaszczykowski 57'	Report	Dzagoev 37'

Czech Republic	1–0	Poland
Jiráček 72'	Report

Greece	1–0	Russia
Karagounis 45+2'	Report

Poland	Match 1	Greece

Russia	Match 2	Czech Republic

Greece	Match 9	Czech Republic

Poland	Match 10	Russia

Czech Republic	Match 17	Poland

Greece	Match 18	Russia

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	3	0	0	5	2	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Portugal	3	2	0	1	5	4	+1	6
3	Denmark	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Netherlands	3	0	0	3	2	5	−3	0

Netherlands	0–1	Denmark
	Report	Krohn-Dehli 24'

Germany	1–0	Portugal
Gómez 72'	Report

Denmark	2–3	Portugal
Bendtner 41', 80'	Report	Pepe 24' Postiga 36' Varela 87'

Netherlands	1–2	Germany
Van Persie 73'	Report	Gómez 24', 38'

Portugal	2–1	Netherlands
Ronaldo 28', 74'	Report	Van der Vaart 11'

Denmark	1–2	Germany
Krohn-Dehli 24'	Report	Podolski 19' Bender 80'

Netherlands	Match 3	Denmark

Germany	Match 4	Portugal

Denmark	Match 11	Portugal

Netherlands	Match 12	Germany

Portugal	Match 19	Netherlands

Denmark	Match 20	Germany

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Italy	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
3	Croatia	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Republic of Ireland	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Spain	1–1	Italy
Fàbregas 64'	Report	Di Natale 61'

Republic of Ireland	1–3	Croatia
St Ledger 19'	Report	Mandžukić 3', 49' Jelavić 43'

Italy	1–1	Croatia
Pirlo 39'	Report	Mandžukić 72'

Spain	4–0	Republic of Ireland
Torres 4', 70' Silva 49' Fàbregas 83'	Report

Croatia	0–1	Spain
	Report	Navas 88'

Italy	2–0	Republic of Ireland
Cassano 35' Balotelli 90'	Report

Spain	Match 5	Italy

Republic of Ireland	Match 6	Croatia

Italy	Match 13	Croatia

Spain	Match 14	Republic of Ireland

Croatia	Match 21	Spain

Italy	Match 22	Republic of Ireland

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	France	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Ukraine (H)	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
4	Sweden	3	1	0	2	5	5	0	3

1. ^ Head-to-head result: Ukraine 2–1 Sweden.

France	1–1	England
Nasri 39'	Report	Lescott 30'

Ukraine	2–1	Sweden
Shevchenko 55', 61'	Report	Ibrahimović 52'

Ukraine	0–2	France
	Report	Ménez 53' Cabaye 56'

Sweden	2–3	England
Johnson 49' (o.g.) Mellberg 59'	Report	Carroll 23' Walcott 64' Welbeck 78'

England	1–0	Ukraine
Rooney 48'	Report

Sweden	2–0	France
Ibrahimović 54' Larsson 90+1'	Report

France	Match 7	England

Ukraine	Match 8	Sweden

Ukraine	Match 16	France

Sweden	Match 15	England

England	Match 23	Ukraine

Sweden	Match 24	France

Knockout phase

Quarter-finals

Winner Group A	Match 25	Runner-up Group B

Winner Group B	Match 26	Runner-up Group A

Winner Group C	Match 27	Runner-up Group D

Winner Group D	Match 28	Runner-up Group C

Semi-finals

Winner Match 25	Match 29	Winner Match 27

Winner Match 26	Match 30	Winner Match 28

Final

Winner Match 29	Match 31	Winner Match 30

Broadcasting

In Poland TVP will be broadcasting all matches. In Ukraine NTU and TRK will be broadcasting matches.

On January 2012 it was announced Telekomunikacja Polska and Orange have successfully completed the first phase of tests of the technology infrastructure and services to be provided during the competition, Connecting both the stadiums in Poland and the International Broadcasting Centre. Within the technology partnership framework, Telekomunikacja Polska and Orange have provided a complete data communication solution, which will ensure connectivity among over 20 locations in Poland (host cities, stadiums, hotels for UEFA representatives) and between Poland and Ukraine. According to UEFA requirements, Telekomunikacja Polska is due to secure approximately 2х70 Gbit/sec data communication speed from Polish stadiums and 2х140 Gbit/sec between Poland and Ukraine. This is related to the fact that broadcasts of the matches are planned to be supported in HD quality. The multilateral production will utilise 31 cameras to cover the action on and around the pitch at every match, with additional cameras (including helicopter cameras) servicing the activities around the game, such as team arrivals at the stadiums, interviews, and media conferences. The official Euro 2012 broadcasting centre will be located at the Expo XXI International Center in Warsaw.

Miscellaneous

Logo and slogan

The competition slogan, Creating History Together (Template:Lang-pl, Template:Lang-uk / Tvorymo istoriyu razom), was announced along with the logo. The slogan reflects the fact that Poland and Ukraine were united in the past as one country and now represent ambitions of two eastern nations to perform the best tournament in the history of European Championship.

The official logo for the tournament was unveiled at a special event at Mykhailivska Square, Kiev, on 14 December 2009. It takes its visual identity from Wycinanki or Vytynanky, traditional form of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine. The art form symbolises the nature of the rural areas of both countries. As part of the event, landmark buildings in the eight host cities were illuminated with the tournament logo.

Match ball

The official match ball for UEFA Euro 2012 is the Adidas Tango 12, which is designed to be easier to dribble and control than the reportedly unpredictable Adidas Jabulani used at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Mascots

Slavek and Slavko are the official mascots of the UEFA Euro 2012. They are twins and represent Polish and Ukrainian footballers in national colours. The mascots were announced in December 2010. Similarly as in 2008 names Slavek and Slavko were chosen in the web voting, over "Siemko and Strimko" and "Klemek and Ladko". They were designed by Warner Bros.

Ticketing

Tickets were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or are to be distributed by the football associations of the 16 finalists. Applications had to be made during March 2011 for the 1.4 million tickets available for the 31 tournament matches. Over 12 million applications were received, which represented a 17% increase on the 2008 finals, and an all-time record for the UEFA European Championship. Owing to this over-subscription for the matches, lotteries were carried out to allocate tickets.

Prices varied from €30 (£25) (for a seat behind the goals at a group match) to €600 (£513) (for a seat in the main stand at the final). In addition to individual match tickets, fans could buy packages to see either all matches played by one team, or all matches at one specific venue.

In May 2012 UEFA will start sending tickets to fans which bought tickets also immediately UEFA will start selling additional tickets on ticketing website.

Trophy

The Henri Delaunay Trophy began a journey through the host cities seven weeks before the start of the tournament. A hundred days before the first match a 35.5-metre-high (116 ft) hot air balloon in the shape of the trophy was flown in Nyon, Switzerland and will visit 14 cities throughout the host countries, reminding spectators of the impending tournament. 20 April 2012 was started Trophy Tour during which will visit Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, Kraków, Katowice and Łódź cities. After Polish cities, Trophy will visit seven Ukrainian cities: Kiev, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa.

Merchandising

UEFA signed a worldwide licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to help promote the tournament. Warner Bros. agreed to license the following to the third parties: Accessories, Apparel, Automotive accessories, Baby personal care and accessories, Bags, Computer accessories, Drinking vessels, Footwear, General souvenirs, Home textiles, Houseware products and accessories, Jewellery, Publications, Sports accessories, Stationery and writing instruments, Toys and games.

Official songs

It was announced that "Endless Summer" by German singer Oceana would be the official song of the tournament.

Infrastructure

Before UEFA EURO 2012 transport in Poland and Ukraine was adapted to welcome a large number of football fans because countries are obligated to UEFA to renovate infrastructure in all host cities: motorways, train stations and airport terminals.

Like previous organizers, Austria and Switzerland with Euro 2008, Polish PKP railway operator created new destinations and more connections and also coloured up locomotives for fans.

In preparation for the championship, all cities, especially Warsaw, Kiev and Kharkiv metro and trains installed bilingual announcements in English language on its trains. The announcements are due to start operating in April 2012.

Concerns and controversies

Overall

After Poland & Ukraine were chosen by a vote of the UEFA Executive Committee as host countries for Euro 2012 several issues arose on the Ukrainian side. The only one problem occurred on Polish side in September 2008 when Polish government suspended the Polish Football Association (PZPN) over corruption issues and assigned an administrator to fight against corruption in football. UEFA swiftly issued a letter warning that it risked losing the right to co-host, Preparation work proceeded more speedily in Poland than in Ukraine and, following a visit in April 2009, Platini announced that all was on track and he saw no major problems. The following month, UEFA confirmed the appointment of the Polish cities of Warsaw, Poznań, Wrocław and Gdańsk. At the same meeting, an appeal for delayed decision on the Ukrainian venues was granted to Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv in order to meet specific conditions regarding infrastructure, with a warning that only Kiev and the best prepared city of the other candidates would otherwise be used if issues were not resolved by the end of November.

Claimed problems in preparation

In January 2008, UEFA president Michel Platini went on the record to warn the organisers of the need to avoid "critical slippages" in their preparations, prompting Scotland to reportedly inform UEFA that they would be willing to step in as hosts, which they reiterated again later in the year. However, by June 2008, UEFA stated they were "not discussing any plan B in terms of new countries" hosting.

Ukraine reported several problems which threatened their ability to co-host: delays in the renovation of Kiev’s Olympic Stadium, and difficulties funding infrastructure work after the economic crisis struck. After an inspection in April 2009, Platini re-affirmed that Ukraine would remain co-host but hinted that most matches could go to Poland. The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated his country would be capable of this task, but was committed to the original 4 + 4 host city plan, as was the Polish FA.

In September 2009 Platini announced that "Ukraine has made sudden progress in their efforts to stage the tournament", and it was soon confirmed that their four cities (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev and Lviv) would host matches. Kiev was also confirmed to host the Final.

An interview Platini gave to the German FA in May 2010, suggesting that Germany and Hungary could even replace Ukraine unless improvements were made, cast new doubt on their readiness. But by August, Platini revisited that and stated "You can consider that the ultimatum no longer exists", and that he was optimistic about preparations in both countries and saw no major obstacles. After a UEFA delegation visited Ukraine in September 2011, he stated the country was "virtually ready for Euro 2012".

Boycott calls

Following Yulia Tymoshenko's hunger strike which started on 20 April 2012 and her mistreatment in a Ukrainian prison, there have been growing calls to boycott the Euro 2012 in Ukraine. The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding and Androulla Vassiliou the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth have announced they will boycott the tournament in Ukraine. French public figures have appealed to FIFA to cancel Euro 2012. The Austrian Chancellor, Werner Faymann, announced in May that Austrian government officials would not attend the tournament as a "political signal". Belgium's government officials have announced they will Boycott games held in Ukraine, with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders calling on Ukraine's government to respect all of Tymoshenko's rights The Czech Republic is reported to also be putting pressure on Ukraine. Germany has announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit would depend on Ms Tymoshenko's fate, and she has urged her ministers to do the same. Germany's Interior and sports minister Hans-Peter Friedrich will boycott the Germany v Netherlands match in Kharkiv. The manager of Bayern Munich FC has called on the president of UEFA to condemn Ukraine's authoritarian regime, and the manager of Borussia Dortmund has stated that he will boycott the event. However, German sports officials have said that such boycotts are ineffective and the event should go ahead. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticised calls for a boycott saying that they are inappropriate, but added that Ukraine's reputation will "suffer dramatically" without a solution; Poland's opposition party is in favour of boycotting matches in Ukraine to change decision about Yulia Tymoshenko. Ukraine has compared the threats of boycott by European powers as a return to Cold War tactics. In a statement UEFA says it has "alerted the Ukrainian delegation about the concerns raised by the political situation in Ukraine among European politicians and media", but that "UEFA has no position and will not take any regarding the political situation in Ukraine, and will not interfere with internal government matters." Ukraine also rejected the Russian offer. Meanwhile the heads of state of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia reportedly turned down an invitation to attend a summit of central and eastern leaders that Ukraine was due to hold. The European Union asserted that all its commissioners would boycott the events in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted in saying that the boycott call was wrong and offered to give Tymoshenko medical treatement in his country. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry added that the threat of boycott could "hurt mutual understanding" and that they "view as destructive attempts to politicise sporting events, which since ancient times have played a paramount role in improving understanding and agreement between nations. An attack on this big dream undermines the chances of...all the former Socialist Bloc members to prove that their economic, human and scientific potential can turn them from the debtors of Europe to its engine of growth."

Animal cruelty

Ukraine has come under criticism from animal welfare organisations for killing stray cats and dogs in order to prepare for Euro 2012. It was reported that cats and dogs are poisoned with illegal substances, shot or burned alive in a mobile crematorium. In November 2011 the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources urged mayors around the country to stop killing stray animals for half a year and build shelters instead, but it remains unclear how the ban would be enforced. The ministry's comments also seemed to suggest that the six-month ban was only a temporary measure, drawing further criticism. In April 2012, it was found that despite promises from Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to stop the killings, dogs were still being slaughtered in preparation for the tournament.

Terrorism

On 27 April 2012, four bombs went off in Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine (which is not a host city). At least 29 people were injured in what is being described as a terrorist attack. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said that there would be an "adequate" response. Hryhoriy Surkis, the head of the Ukrainian Football Federation, said that he "think the people who committed this brutal crime...are also accomplices to an attack on the image of our country ahead of the Euro-2012." UEFA responded to the incident saying that it as confident of having a "smooth and festive tournament," however, should the political situation become more unstable, UEFA is reported to be open to the idea of the postponing the event to 2013. Following serious security concerns Angel Maria Villar, the Spanish Football Federation president, has reportedly offered to stage Euro 2012 in Spain.

Police criminality

Amnesty International has warned of "widespread police criminality" in Ukraine, and that there are "numerous cases in Euro 2012 host cities in which police have tortured people in an attempt to extort money, extract a confession, or simply because of the victims’ sexuality or ethnic origin." An Amnesty director has warned fans planning to travel to the Ukraine that "the Ukrainian government must take action now to stop widespread police criminality. Failure to do so will encourage them to continue acting as a law unto themselves and put Euro 2012 fans in danger from a force that is out of control."

Protests

The FEMEN group which became internationally known for organizing topless protests against international marriage agencies, sexism and other international ills protested against what they argue are moves being made by the Ukrainian government to legalise prostitution during the championships. The group asked UEFA and the Ukrainian government to create a social program devoted to the problem of sex tourism and prostitution in Ukraine; to inform football fans that prostitution is illegal in Ukraine; and to take additional steps to fight against prostitution and sex tourism.

Hotels overcharging

In April 2012, while on an inspection trip to the host city of Lviv, UEFA president Michel Platini labelled hoteliers as "bandits and crooks" for raising hotel prices in Ukraine for Euro 2012. And hotel owners in Ukraine have been persuaded to lower their rates after accusations of price gouging. Markian Lubkivsky, head of the Euro 2012 organizing committee in Ukraine, said hotel and hostel prices are no longer "critically" inflated.

References

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2. The runner-up will qualify if Spain, which have already qualified by winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup, win UEFA Euro 2012. Qualifiers – FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013
3. Quote from the Poland2012.net website
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