“The delays in construction have been made up, and the reconstruction of the stadium in Kiev, together with adapting it to the requirements of EURO 2012, sticks to the schedule that was agreed on with UEFA”, after he visited the stadium said the Minister of Sport in Ukraine, Rawil Safiullin, .

Safiullin during his visit to the Olympic Stadium was accompanied by Wasilij Mozar, the chief of “Kievgorstroj” company, which is the general contractor for the reconstruction.

Mozar ensured that there are no more arrears towards the subcontractors and the construction workers. “Last week we received funds, we paid for the work that was done during last months, we bought all necessary supplies, and the work is being done according to the schedule. There are no problems.”, said Mozar during his meeting with the Minister of Sport.

As Mozar added, the construction workers used the amount of 560 million hryvnyas (about 47 million GBP), and the amount of 240 million hryvnyas (about 20 million GBP) is still to be spent till the end of 2010.

Rawil Safiullin was pleased to confirm the information by the general contractor for the reconstruction that the delays of the reconstruction of the stadium have been made up. For the last weeks the progress of construction of all sports facilities, which are sponsored by the Budget, have been monitored by the state agency that was set up for this occasion. Even though, the Ministry of Sport is still observing the work in the national sports centre in the capital city.

The current Minister of Sport is familiar with the problems which are the effects of reconstruction, as he was the chairman of construction of “the Olympic” sports centre. He drew attention to the alarming delays in construction of the stadium in Kiev and changing it to the sport facility of the “elite” category.

On April 18, 2007, the head of UEFA, Michel Platini mentioned Poland and Ukraine as the hosts of the European Championships in football to be held in 2012. Below we present the current status of works concerning major facilities being prepared for Euro 2012.

We mean stadiums.

Three years ago euphoria broke out in Poland when Michel Platini took out from an envelope a card with the words “Poland and Ukraine.” The joy in Poland, resulting from granting such a prestigious event did quickly turned into fear. Questions “whether Poland will manage to prepare everything for Euro 2012 on time?” went hand in hand with the voices of “eurosceptics” who argued that we would not have managed to prepare an adequate infrastructure.

The voices doubting that Poland would bear the burden of preparations for the championships have practically disappeared after the start of construction of stadiums, prepared specially for the championships. Arenas constructed very quickly, subsequent resolved tenders and voices of the UEFA representative ensuring that in Poland all works run in a satisfactory way, resulted in a change in the attitude of Poles to organize the tournament. And the question “whether Poland will manage to prepare everything for Euro 2012 on time?” was replaced with the question “how will Poland organize Euro 2012?”.

The construction works of the stadiums, on which Polish part of Euro 2012 will be held, are very advanced. Despite delays, which were caused mainly by the winter, there is no danger that Poland “will not manage to prepare everything on time”. The first stadium ready for Euro 2012 will be the facility in Poznan, where all stands should be ready in the holidays. The next opened stadium will be situated in Gdańsk, which is supposed to be given into use at the beginning of the next year. With several months of delays the facility in Wrocław would invite first fans in June 2011, that is one year before the main event. The latest opened stadium will be the National Stadium – the largest Polish stadium being built for Euro 2012, whose solemn opening is planned for September next year.

Warsaw

The main Polish arena of Euro 2012 is being prepared from hour to hour. Every day, nearly 1.5 thousand employees working on the construction of National Stadium make the facility look like a football arena. The National Stadium builders struggled with the very unfavorable winter time, which significantly hampered the works or even made them impossible to carry out. Low temperature persisting for several weeks has a bit disturbed the schedule.

Despite these problems, a huge building reaches the eighth floor. At the two lowest floors of the stadium, where an underground parking is to be located, finishing works are now being carried out. The sections of the upper part of the stadium, situated above the future playing field, are now in different degrees of advancement. The lower section of future tribunes is covered with treads to which seats will be mounted.

On the upper floors works have been going very intensively. Entering almost non-stop on the area of the construction site structural elements of the upper floor are installed on their places directly from the truck. Thanks to the applied technique the stadium, made of prefabricated elements is being constructed quickly.

However, the most spectacular works are to come. Indeed, works concerning the preparation of the installation of a steel structure of the roof are reaching the end. Installation of the first pillars on which the roof will rest, with an area of 5 ha and a characteristic facade of the stadium, are expected to start by the end of April.

Along with the construction works, which are the most visible ones, also finishing works and water and sewage, ventilation, and electrical systems are carried out. The construction management decided that the construction works are carried out now seven days a week on the basis of three shifts. The procedure of selecting suppliers of telecommunications network for the National Stadium in Warsaw has also been initiated.

The construction of the stadium, which is being built very quickly and whose pick will reach the point at the hundredth meter, is currently halfway point.

The visualization of the National Stadium in Warsaw. It’s the biggest facility for Euro 2012. The opening match, one quarterfinal match and one semifinal are envisaged to be held at the National Stadium.

The designer of the National Stadium is JSK Architekci Ltd., GMP International GmbH and SBP GMBH (Bergermann Schlaich Und Partner). The facade of the National Stadium refers to Polish national colors, which recall the waving white-red flag. Here, the most important matches are to be played by the Polish national team.

Gdansk

The Football Stadium in Gdansk, which is to have the name PGE Arena Gdańsk, is the most north forwarded facility for Euro 2012. The arena, from which from the upper floors the Gulf of Gdańsk will be visible, reaches in some places up to 45 metres. The construction of the Gdansk stadium has not been hampered by the winter, which at the sea was not so severe as in the case of the rest of the country.

The construction of the upper part of the stadium is built in two ways – the floors of successive floors are laid and most of the vertical parts of the structure is prepared from ready prefabricated elements arriving at the construction site. Much more advanced is the construction of the western part of the arena for Euro 2012 in Gdansk, which has already been finished. The construction of its upper floor is almost completely ready. On the half part of the upper ring of the structure almost all treads are already prepared. A characteristic “wave” is visible and thanks to it the current state of the facility resembles the stadium presented in visualizations.

At the beginning of April at the construction site of the Gdansk stadium the next stage, which is the installation of steel shell structure of the stadium has started. Installation of powerful, 30-tone frames, on which a characteristic amber facade and the roof covering the stadium will be set, is expected to last until the end of July. After completion of the installation, finishing works will be carried out and at the beginning of the next year the stadium should be ready for use.

The stadium is supposed to be one of the arenas for Euro 2012. During the championships there will be played three group meetings and one quarterfinal match. The arena in Gdansk was constructed in accordance with all EUFA requirements.

The stadium will be located in the Letnica district. The facade of the facility is to be covered with tiles in various shades of brown, which are supposed to resemble amber. The architectural concept was prepared by the German office Rhode-Kellermann-Wawrowsky from Düsseldorf, which designed facilities such as Veltins-Arena stadium in Gelsenkirchen and AWD-Arena in Hanover.

Poznan

Stadion Miejski in Poznan will be ready for use as the first Polish arena for Euro 2012. Last works concerning the installation of the steel frame of the roof construction, which weighs up to 7 thousand tons are almost completed. Along with the installation of last frame the installation of special membranes, which will create a roof and elevation of the future stadium is being prepared. The installation of the constructions for telebims, which are to hang under the roof has also started.
Below the roof tribunes are being prepared. Their progress is not too spectacular, since most of the works are finishing works and installation inside the built stands; also first windows in boxes for VIPs are mounted. The chairs, most awaited by fans will appear at the stadium at Bułgarska street as early as next month.

In spite of the carried out works the stadium hosts players and fans, who now occupy two tribunes located behind the goals. Thanks to this, the fans of the Poznań Lech coming to matches of “Kolejarz” can see the progress of the works.

Wroclaw

The investment in Wroclaw is currently least advanced among the facilities of all Polish stadiums being prepared for Euro 2012. The reason of several months of delay was not only the severe winter, but also arguments with the former contractor of the facility, who could not cope with meeting the original schedule. The difficult decision concerning break of the contract with the former contractor has already been supported by the Supreme Chamber of Control, which showed that the corporation Euro 2010 Wrocław supervising the preparations had acted rightly.

The new general contractor has started works at the beginning of March. At present, the works are carried out on the whole construction and a new contractor has started work on the basis of two shifts. A group of more than 300 workers work at the construction site. From day to day more and more elements to build the facility in Wrocław is arriving. The main contractor signs new contracts with subcontractors for the next stages of the works.

Currently, the construction of Wroclaw arena for Euro 2012 is at the height of the second floor in places, both with regard to the stadium and a powerful one-storey car park, which is a part of the investment in Wroclaw. In addition to concerning the floors, installation, electric and sewage works are being prepared.

Thanks to the resumptions of the works, a dynamic growth of the facility will be visible in closest weeks. Ready elements of the higher levels, which are delivered to the construction site, will cause a substantial acceleration. The new general contractor ensures that the stadium will be opened in the middle of the next year, that is a year before the start of Euro 2012.

The February 7 draw for the Euro 2012 Championships qualifying competition was finished.

Each team in the qualifying groups will play one another on a home and away basis, with matches taking place up to October 2011.

The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify directly for the final competitions. The eight remaining runners-up will contest two-legged play-offs to decide who gets the four remaining places.

Euro 2012 qualifying draw:

Group A: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Kazakhstan
Group B: Andorra, Armenia, Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Slovakia
Group C: Estonia, Faroe Islands, Italy, Northern Ireland, Serbia, Slovenia
Group D: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, France, Luxembourg, Romania
Group E: Finland, Hungary, Moldova, Netherlands, San Marino, Sweden
Group F: Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Malta
Group G: Bulgaria, England, Montenegro, Switzerland, Wales
Group H: Cyprus,Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Portugal
Group I: Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Scotland, Spain

Preparations for the Euro 2012 football tournament in Poland and Ukraine are well on track, the ruling body UEFA said on Friday with nine days left until the qualifying group draw.

The February 7 draw in Warsaw is the first big event around the tournament which created various problems in the early stages after the two Eastern European nations were elected hosts in 2007.

‘Preparations for Euro 2012 are going well,’ UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told the body’s website after an executive board meeting on Thursday in Malta.

‘We are well on track. The draw is the kick-off for a Euro which will take place in central and eastern Europe – we are all convinced that it will be a fantastic Euro, and we are all working hard towards that.’

Infantino also said that the UEFA will announce the host nation for the Euro 2016 event on May 28 at a meeting in Geneva. France, Turkey and Italy are the current bidders, who have to present their documents by February 15.

Euro 2016 will see increase from the current 16 team to 24 while it remains to be seen whether it will also see additional assistant referees on the goalline.

But UEFA said it will extend this experiment in the Europa League competition until the May 12 final in Hamburg after the two extra officials were present in the 144 group stage games.

‘We will continue up to the final in Hamburg in May. The first feedback from those who are playing – the players, the coaches – is broadly positive,’ said Infantino.

However, he added that ‘the future regarding this experiment is in the hands of the International Football Association Board, and also of course in the hands of (the world governing body) FIFA, which has given permission for these tests.’

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/sport/soccer/article_1529609.php/UEFA-happy-with-Euro-2012-progress-extends-goalline-officiating#ixzz0ePl9aSB2

According to official sources, the stadium in the Polish city of Wroclaw new contractor – company Max Boegl.

As stated in a press release, which is voiced by company spokeswoman Magdalena Malar, a company official is committed to the construction site with a consortium led by Mostostal SA Warszawa, where authorities in Wroclaw was decided to build a stadium for Euro 2012. The acquisition of the construction site was held on Monday by order of the court.

On Tuesday, the headquarters of the company Wrocław 2012 meeting was held with representatives of the company Max Boegl, which should build a stadium at the end of June 2011.

Platini has made it clear that UEFA’s decision to adjudge Euro 2012 to Poland and Ukraine was far from a safe bet…

The focus of the football world is at the African Nations Cup at the moment and will be shifted to the 2010 World Cup come June, but UEFA president Michel Platini is already thinking about Euro 2012.

The competition will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, and both nations have been criticised more than once for the slow progress in infrastructure improvements and stadium construction projects.

Platini has now recognized that the decision to grant the two nations the hosting rights for Euro 2012 could be seen as a bit of a risky decision.

“It’s important to bear in mind that Poland and Ukraine have no experience in organising such events. That’s one of the reasons why it is a great adventure for us. One could even say that it’s a bit risky to let them organise Euro 2012,” Platini told reporters.

“I am not considering moving matches away from Wroclaw, because the information I am getting from there shows it’s just a change of the builder. The timing of the opening of the new stadium will probably change, but it will not be a dangerous postponement as far as I know.”

Castrol has signed an agreement with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on the sponsorship of the tournament Euro 2012, which is already two years will be held in Poland and Ukraine.

The new partnership will allow him to become a global partner of the European Championship in 2012. Castrol will be able to fully enjoy the rights for each of the main sponsors of this event.

“After the experiences associated with the sponsorship of Euro 2008, we know that football fans actively looking for information about the game, players and analysis of the performances of their teams – said Wojciech Mora, director of sales Castrol in Central Europe. Thus, we will work on their unique analytical method – Castrol Index, which launched in connection with the previous Euro.

With the signing of the Agreement Castrol expands its portfolio of sponsorship in football. After the success of UEFA EURO 2008, the company formed a partnership with the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) and the sponsorship of the next World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and the next tournament – in 2014 in Brazil.

Head of Ukrainian Euro 2012 organizing committee Markiyan Lubkivsky said that the construction of a stadium in Lviv in serious jeopardy.

The stadium in Lviv has long been one of the weakest points in preparation to Euro-2012. Its commissioning was scheduled for late 2010-2011. Nevertheless, in the middle of last year, it became clear that this deadline is unrealistic to implement. UEFA has confirmed this in his report.

Proceeding from this situation Lviv, probably will have to be replaced by another city, spare. In such a situation it Dnipropetrovsk has a better chance to receive the rights of the tournament.

What to do in this situation Lviv ahead 4-5 February during the visit of Michel Platini.

The authorities of the capital of Lower Silesia decided to end the relationship with the company Mostostal Warszawa.

In accordance with the schedule, however, Mostostal intends to appeal this decision because they believed the delay was for reasons beyond the control of the company. This could mean not only loss of Wroclaw Euro 2012, but tens of millions of euros in compensation for Mostostal.

If the new contractor will not be able to make up for delays and the stadium will not be within 18 months, the contest will be moved to Krakow. It is a city located in the reserve list, in which the stadium will be ready by the end of June this year.

As it became known on December 30, а Polish company denied the contract because of delays with the construction of the stadium. At the moment, construction is delayed for 4 months.

Authorities Wroclaw terminated an agreement with Mostostal, which since April is building a stadium for a match of Euro 2012.

According to an UNIAN correspondent in Poland, told the Mayor of Wroclaw Rafal Dutkevich.

The reason for termination – more than 4-month delay in the timing of performance.

At the same time, the mayor of Wroclaw assured that the cancellation of the contract does not threaten the timely implementation of the operation of the stadium for the championship, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine in the summer of 2012.

“Firm Mostostal Warszawa not be able to perform the construction in some time … therefore I have decided to terminate the contract” – he said.

R. Dutkevich said that he informed about the termination of the contract UEFA, the Ministry of Sport and leadership of Poland’s football federation, noting that the city government plans to select a new contractor for construction of the stadium before the end of January 2010.

“We are confident that within two or three weeks, signing a contract, we introduce a new company to the construction site. We want to complete the construction of the stadium in the spring of 2011 “, – he said.

“Construction is not under threat, but to be sure that’s true, we had to say goodbye to Mostostal”, – said R. Dutkevich.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the government signed an agreement with the Wroclaw Mostostal to build a stadium worth nearly 300 million dollars in April this year. Under the contract, the construction of the stadium would be completed in 21 months.

According to the draft, Wroclaw stadium, which is scheduled to build on an area of 14 hectares, can accommodate 44 thousand spectators.