Poland’s capital Warsaw geared up Thursday for its last Euro 2012 kick-off, with Germany playing Italy at the city’s National Stadium for a place in the competition final.

About 30,000 foreign fans are expected to arrive in the city for the key match, including 20,000 Germans and 3,000 Italians, organisers said.

Some 6,000 police officers will be out in force to keep order, including 28 German and 10 Italian spotters expert in monitoring fans.

“Poland has never hosted such a match,” a face-off between two giants of European football at an important stage of a tournament, noted the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.

“Our preparations are complete,” Poland’s Euro 2012 chief Marcin Herra said Thursday, with the rush including an extra 20 charter flights and 85 small planes due to land at Warsaw’s Chopin airport.

“For air traffic controllers it’ll be a real challenge. The airport is 100 percent ready to welcome this traffic,” Herra said.

Poland’s state railways PKP meanwhile have added extra cars to trains leaving Germany, with one to be pulled by a locomotive painted in the black-red-gold colours of the German flag.

An immense red-and-white Polish flag and a giant banner with the words “Thank You” in 16 languages will be unfurled Thursday night at the stadium, according to reports.

“Let’s celebrate this last day of Euro 2012 in Poland. There’s reason to celebrate,” Polish Sports Minister Joanna Mucha said Thursday, pointing to a thumbs up for Warsaw from foreign fans.

Around 1.1 million people have stopped by the Warsaw fanzone for ticketless supporters since the competition started on June 8, organisers said.

A recent survey by Polish independent pollster PBS pointed to high levels of satisfaction among 1,000-plus foreign supporters surveyed on June 8 and 16 in the Polish capital.

Seventy-three percent expressed interest in a repeat visit within three years, while 89 percent said they would recommend Warsaw to their family and friends.

Polish authorities said they encountered a close call Thursday when they discovered a “small amount of explosives” hidden, according to local media, on a raft sailing down the Bug River on Poland’s border with Ukraine and Belarus.

But a government crisis task force later said there was “no danger to the safety of people or places in Poland”.

On Thursday, Poland’s parliament also decided to rename the new 58,000-seat National Stadium in tribute to the late Polish football coach Kazimierz Gorski, who guided the team to success in the 1970s .

Gorski led the team from 1970 to 1976, when Poland won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and bronze at the 1974 World Cup.

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