Poland may host Euro 2012 alone, says Platini

Poland may host the 2012 European Championship on its own if Ukraine does not complete its Kiev stadium on schedule, UEFA president Michel Platini was quoted as saying by Polish media yesterday.

The Dziennik daily reported that Platini also played down speculation Germany could step in to host the tournament instead.

"Germany? Only if the bulldozers are still working at the National Stadium in Warsaw in June 2012, but I doubt that," Platini told Dziennik.

"Kiev is another matter. If this city is late with the stadium, then there is a possibility that Euro 2012 will be hosted only by Poland."

UEFA has already threatened both Poland and Ukraine with the possibility that the tournament may be taken away from them if they failed to speed up stadium construction and tackle major infrastructure problems.

Polish sports minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki said Poland would do everything it can to host the tournament together with Ukraine.

"Ukraine is the only partner for us, it can count on our full support and co-operation," Drzewiecki said.

"We will do everything to ensure that the tournament is a joint success of both Poland and Ukraine."

On Thursday, UEFA General Secretary David Taylor said the latest reports from both countries were positive, but UEFA was monitoring the situation in Kiev closely.

"We understand that construction work has begun although the final capacity of the ground, which we believe should be at least 50,000, is still a major issue," Taylor said.

In order to speed up preparations and meet UEFA demands Ukraine recently disbanded an agency overseeing the preparations and replaced it with a 50-strong 'co-ordinating bureau'.