Stadium delay could hit Poland's France friendly

Posted Saturday, May 21, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

WARSAW (AFP) - A friendly pitting Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland against France could be shifted to the capital Warsaw because of stadium delays in the Baltic port of Gdansk, the Polish football association (PZPN) said Friday.

Poland's June 9 meeting with les Bleus was meant to mark the inauguration of Gdansk's PGE Arena, one of four Polish venues for the European Championships.

"Right now, the stadium in Gdansk looks like a building site," PZPN spokeswoman Agnieszka Olejkowska said.

"We're waiting for the police's view on how to organise this match, which we'll probably get on Monday," Olejkowska told the Polish news agency PAP.

"I won't hide the fact that we're concerned about this, just like the French side," she said.

"The match will be taking place, but the big question is the location. If it can't be played in Gdansk, it hasn't been ruled out that it will be shifted to Warsaw."

Poland are already set to meet Argentina in a friendly in the capital on June 5.

Infrastructure concerns have surfaced repeatedly since 2007, when European football's governing body UEFA picked Poland and Ukraine to host the 16-nation tournament.

Euro 2012 is a crucial showcase for the region, marking the first edition of the competition behind the former Iron Curtain.

A delay in Gdansk would mean red faces in Poland, notably because government and PZPN officials insisted as recently as two weeks ago that everything was on track.

Poland's first Euro 2012 stadium, in the western city of Poznan, opened in September last year.

Besides Gdansk, the arena in the capital Warsaw is scheduled to be ready by September and that in the southwestern city of Wroclaw, by October.

If the France game shifts to Warsaw, it would take place in a new stadium owned by the city council and run by top-flight club Legia, where Poland will face Argentina four delays earlier.

The European Championships kick off in Warsaw on June 8, 2012 and end on July 1 in Ukraine's capital Kiev.

With both hosts having an automatic berth at the tournament, they must rely on friendlies to hone their skills.

Poland fans longing for a return to their nation's 1970s golden age are jittery as the current side fails to inspire in its preparation campaign, upping the pressure next month.

Ukraine's four stadiums are located in Kiev, the western city of Lviv, Donetsk in the east, and Kharkiv in the northeast.

Only the latter two are ready so far, as construction delays also plague Ukraine.

Lviv's stadium opening was first pushed back to September and then October.

Kiev's ground, meanwhile, was meant to host its first game on August 24 to mark the 20th anniversary of Ukrainian independence as the Soviet Union crumbled, but the deadline has also been shifted to October.