Sports Minister Mirosław Drzewiecki said Poland's Euro 2012 preparations were ahead of schedule Kasia Marcinkiewicz / WBJ

Poland’s preparations for the Euro 2012 soccer championships won the approval of UEFA chief Michel Platini last week. The former France international headed a delegation on a short two-leg journey across Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland and Ukraine to receive updates and assess the progress of preparations for staging the prestigious soccer tournament.

Platini visited the site of the National Stadium in Warsaw on Thursday, and appeared pleased with developments. “I want to congratulate you on your good preparation.” he said during a press conference.

Last Wednesday, while in Kiev, Platini also expressed confidence in Ukraine’s ability to host the tournament, but stated that failure by both countries was not an option. “If in Kiev there will be no stadium, there will be no tournament. If the stadium in Warsaw is not built, then the Euro [championship] will not be in Poland.”

No major problems

Polish Sports Minister Mirosław Drzewiecki was confident that Platini was impressed with what he saw on his Polish visit. “We’re running ahead of schedule,” Drzewiecki told reporters. “The [Polish] National Stadium will be the best in Europe.”

In an interview with Przegląd Sportowy, Platini said that delegates did not see any major problem with Poland’s preparations, and congratulated Polish Football Association (PZPN) officials on the National Stadium project. However, the UEFA chief warned against complacency. “This does not mean that you can rest on your laurels. Time is running out, so it is important to monitor the work,” he said.

Platini also identified concerns about the countries’ hotel infrastructure. “This actually constitutes a problem,” he told the sports daily. “Ukraine is missing a lot of hotels – which cannot be said of Poland – but in [Poland’s] case we have trouble booking a suitable number of rooms. I hope that this problem will be resolved soon.”

Unequal division?

The subject of allocating stadiums for the tournament was another topic on the minds of UEFA officials. Warsaw, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań, Kraków and Chorzów are all in the running to host games in Poland, but Platini told journalists that between six and eight host cities would be split between the host countries. The division, he said, “does not have to be equal.”

The Polish media have since been furiously speculating which of the proposed sites will be dropped, with Gazeta Wyborcza singling out Chorzów and Poznań for the chop. However, UEFA is not planning to announce their choices until a meeting on May 13 in Bucharest, Romania.