The UEFA Euro 2012 tournament will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The tournament is the final one to be 16 teams as the following one in 2016 will broaden to 24 teams. Poland and Ukraine beat Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.
The matches will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish towns to have games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian cities will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
The final will be held in Kiev which will also have a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the top stadiums and sporting complexes anywhere. The new venue in Warsaw is also under construction and promises to be a state of the art stadium.
The draw for the championships has already been conducted and qualifying fixtures will commence just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Every one of the 9 group winners and the best runner-up will obtain direct entry into the tournament. Following that the remaining eight runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
From Group A you would believe that Germany and Turkey would be too resilient and strong with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.Group B looks to be a three way battle between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
In Group C it looks like it will be fairly simple for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take second.
There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it has to be Netherlands and Sweden.
Croatia and Greece are the likely challengers by way of Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and lastly from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.
Qualifying comes to an end in October 2011 by which time excitement and anticipation for the Euro 2012 Championships will be well and truly underway.
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