Euro 2012 Organisers Upbeat Despite Problems
March 31, 2011
Martin Kallen, dosage ed UEFA Euro 2012 director, sick is confident, online despite admitting that a number of projects for the tournament may not be completed on time, that the tournament will go ahead in Poland and Ukraine as planned.
Speaking to an audience at the Soccerex European Forum in Manchester yesterday, March 30, both Kallen and Poland 2012 president Marcin Herra were upbeat, despite preparations for Euro 2012 having been turbulent from the outset, particularly in Ukraine.
Kallen stated: “Some of the huge numbers of projects may not ultimately be completed but these will not be directly related to football assets. They will be projects which will not directly affect the running of the competition.”
Herra acknowledged Poland’s evident hooliganism problem but said that there were already signs of a change and that the ‘party atmosphere’ and family friendly nature of Euro 2012 would help ensure the potential problem was contained.
He added: “The tournament will have a strong football legacy as well as a legacy for tourism and the infrastructure of our country. For example sky boxes at the stadiums are being bought by corporations. That would not happen if the experience was likely to be ruined by hooliganism.”
Herra told the audience that the soccer legacy would “extend beyond the stadia built for the tournament to the grass roots”.