http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7219183.stm Are Poland and Ukraine going to "speed up their preparations" or is UEFA going to back down? There is always the possibility that UEFA will move Euro2012 to Italy, but if they expect Italy to have upgraded facilities this decision has to be made this year (or early 2009 at the latest).
Well it's not easy to build up things starting from nothing. What UEFA was thinking when making that decision? We're not in fairy tale land, builings and roads don't appear magically shouting Abracadabra. UEFA can send all the warnings they want, they have no control whatsoever about the building process. The hosting countries are sure of having it settled and are in no hurry, and after all those nations have worse problems to think about than a football competition . It's too late for UEFA to cry now.
So you think there was really "nothing"? Well, I can't judge the situation in Poland & Ukraine since I've never been there...
Maybe UEFA needs to choose the host nation(s) a little earlier next time! All this bullshit bureaucracy wastes time. Italy should have got it and Ukraine/Poland for the next one after they were at least 50% ready. How ready are they now?
Have faith, if anything Italians are the best in the world at organsitation, when they put their mind to it and are not distracted, you can go all the way back to the Romans they have been the best since then, they just fall out with each other too much
Not literally nothing. But when you ask for a 4-storey wedding cake and the best you can bring for the time being is a stale tea biscuit, well in that situation the tea biscuit counts as nothing. Got the metaphor?
Nah, not the best, it's just the ex Sovietic-block nations still not being able to compete in that area. Maybe in 20 years the situation will be different.
UEFA couldn't have awarded Italy the 2012 tournament with all the scandals that were going on in Italy right before the announcement of the winner. That would've made UEFA "look worse" than if they pick Ukraine/Poland and then switch their decision to Italy at a time when things are quieter there.
Correct. But what if the decision was made when it was supposed to? It was postponed for a few months from my recollection. I guess we'll never know, but in that time period we had the MU Roma problem which I believe was enough to convince UEFA that the problems hidden in Poland and Ukraine were the better choice. Honestly, I wanted the Euro for selfish reasons. Napoli REALLY REALLY needs a new stadium, and this would have pushed for the new stadium to be built.
Oh? and I bet Poland nor Ukraine don't need new stadia?? Italy has it MUCH better then Poland and Ukraine most certainly at this point, why not let other nations catch up? @FNU: Legia needs a new stadium just as bad as Napoli. I'm sure after 2012 Italy won't have any problems modernizing more stadia... its Italy after all not Poland or Ukraine @Jaga: We asked, but Czech wasn't willing to because of financial problems... go figure
haha my friend, you don't know Napoli well enough. I hope you get your new stadia and good luck for the tournament! I hope you're also right that we eventually get a new stadium, I think we deserve it being some of the best supporters in Italy.
Football is part of Italy's culture i think it would make mean more to them, then giving it to countries who do not have that culture.
I don't know where you are, but here on planet Earth, Ukraine and Poland are considered to have a pretty strong football culture.
What an ignorant post. You obviously have no idea about the football culture in Poland/Ukraine. Definitely one of the best in Central/East Europe. Our Politicians even have their own political party clubs that hold matches which are very popular. FNU@: I hope so. I know for sure Italy will get another chance to host something big in the future. However, I cannot say the same for us so I hope to take at most advantage of this situation given to us. Napoli's fans I know about, I love the spirit they have unlike many other Italian club supporters...
I applaud what UEFA wants to do, and I hope that it works. I also hope the new stadiums in Poland and Ukraine don't become white elephants. I also think that if this is successful, and the stadia are well maintained, you can have another tourney or host a CL/UEFA Cup Final in the future.