Poland, Ukraine require late goal rush

POLAND/UKRAINE:With the cheers of election victory still ringing in their ears, the new leaders of Poland and Ukraine have received a stark warning that "national humiliation" beckons if they fail to get their countries ready in time to host the Euro 2012 football championships.

With stadiums and hotels stuck on the drawing board, Soviet-era roads and railways crumbling and hundreds of thousands of much-needed builders working abroad, two of Europe's biggest nations could forfeit the competition unless their new governments energise projects that are already behind schedule.

"It would be deep national humiliation if the right to host the competition was withdrawn, and politically it would be very, very difficult," said Nicolas Painvin, author of a new report by the Fitch ratings agency on Poland's struggle to be ready for 2012.

Between them, Poland and Ukraine plan to build or modernise 12 stadiums and more than 100 hotels, enlarge several airports and upgrade thousands of miles of roads and railways.

"They may not be able to plan and execute so many projects in time to hold the tournament at a good level," Mr Painvin said of Poland, which is arguably better prepared than Ukraine. "It's not yet lost," he said, "but I cannot say whether they will succeed or fail."

The price of failure would be huge for two countries that are banking on a multibillion-euro windfall from a competition that attracts millions of fans and major sponsors.

After winning election battles that left preparations for Euro 2012 languishing for seven months, Donald Tusk recently became Poland's new prime minister and Yulia Tymoshenko is expected to be named as Ukraine's premier in the coming weeks.

Before the election, Mr Tusk admitted to being "truly anxious" about Poland's plans for 2012 and the possibility that Uefa, European football's governing body, could take the championship elsewhere.

A new national arena in Warsaw has been delayed by rows over its location, and Uefa has told Ukraine that Kiev's main stadium cannot be used on safety grounds if a planned shopping centre is built right next door.

The Fitch report also warned Poland that its cumbersome bureaucracy could stop it making the best use of €60 billion that it hopes to receive from the European Union before 2013.

And even when plans are finally approved and contracts signed, it will be difficult to find people for the necessary work, with hundreds of thousands of Polish and Ukrainian builders gone west in recent years.

But perhaps there are still some grounds for optimism.

"Donald Tusk not only loves football - he was at the recent Arsenal-Manchester United game - but plays in the parliamentary team and is a good midfielder, a good organiser," says the bullish Michal Listkiewicz, the head of the Polish Football Association.