The UEFA Euro 2012 Championships will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The event is the last one to be 16 teams as the following one in 2016 will expand to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine overcome Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to hold the tournament.
The matches will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish cities to host games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian cities will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
The final will take place in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after construction will be one of the premier stadia and sporting complexes across the globe. The new venue in Warsaw is also under construction and guarantees to be a state of the art arena.
The draw for the competition has already been made and qualifying fixtures will get started following the World Cup in South Africa. Each of the 9 group winners and the best runner-up will obtain direct entry into the competition. Following that the remaining 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
From Group A you would consider Germany and Turkey would be too good with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.
Group B looks to be a 3 way competition with Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
In Group C it looks like it will be no problem for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take runner-up.
There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it should be Netherlands and Sweden.
Croatia and Greece are the likely challengers with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and last of all from Group I it would appear to be Spain and the Czech Republic.
Qualifying ends in October 2011 by which time excitement and expectancy for the UEFA Euro 2012 Championships will be well and truly underway.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012