UEFA to discuss Euro 2012 matches
BERNE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - European football's governing body UEFA will discuss for the first time next month which cities will host the quarter-finals and semi-finals at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
The executive committee meeting in Minsk on October 4 will also discuss whether all eight chosen venue cities have made enough progress to keep their status as hosts and talk about the allocation of matches for the group stage.
Preparations for the tournament have been plagued by delays in the buildings of stadiums, roads and hotels, especially in Ukraine.
"So far, all that has been decided is that Warsaw will host the opening match and Kiev is scheduled to host the final," UEFA spokesman Rob Faulkner said.
Faulkner said a final decision on the schedule - and with it the confirmation of which cities will be included - could be announced a few days afterwards in one of the host countries, although it could take longer.
Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk in Poland and Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk in Ukraine are due to host matches at the 16-team tournament.
Last year, UEFA became so frustrated with progress in Ukraine that it refused to confirm the four cities as venues, instead giving the country six months to get work back on schedule.
In December, UEFA gave Ukraine the green light, saying all four cities would host matches and confirmed that the final would be in Kiev.
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Despite this, more doubts surfaced this year with Ukraine again being told to speed up work. However, in August UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said he was confident work would be completed on time.
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