With just a month left until Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw, Poland is working flat-out and watching nervously as calls to boycott matches in co-host Ukraine tarnish the tournament.
“We’re 98 percent ready,” said Mikolaj Piotrowski, spokesman for PL.2012, the Polish organising arm overseeing projects linked to the competition including transport, accommodation and stadiums. “On May 15, the formal organisational readiness of Poland will be announced,” he told AFP. “It means we’ll start to act as if the tournament was already underway.”
The only major question mark, he noted, is over a stretch of motorway near Warsaw, which is needed to plug a hole on the route from western Europe.
European football’s governing body UEFA owns the prestigious Euro brand and watches hawkishly for slippage.
Back in 2008, a year after wrongfooting pundits by picking Poland and Ukraine’ over favorites Italy, UEFA issued a damning report which fueled speculation it could change its mind.
