Scotland offers to host Euro 2012

The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is braced to step-in should current plans for Euro 2012 fall through.

The European competition is facing difficulties after the host nations, Poland and Ukraine, were again criticised by the governing body of European football, UEFA.

Both UEFA and FIFA have refused to recognise the newly appointed administrator of the Polish Football Federation, Robert Zawlocki. The organisations believe the previous Federation to have been illegitimately disbanded by the Polish government.

UEFA viewed the Polish government’s actions as “playing with fire” and has called for the reinstatement of the nation’s federation, which was broken-up by Poland’s Olympic Committee after failing to tackle corruption within the organisation.

As it was the football federations that were awarded the competition in 2007, not the Polish and Ukrainian governments, this has raised concerns over Poland’s ability to host Euro 2012.

William Gaillard, UEFA Communications Director and Special Adviser to president Michel Platini, told PA Sport that he is still confident current issues can be addressed: "We are hoping we will be solving the problems before the end of October so it will not affect 2012.

"But if the problem is not solved and the Polish FA do not have the ability to operate then it's a different ball game, and that opens all kinds of question marks around Euro 2012.

"The European Championships are administrated through the Polish and Ukrainian FAs, not their governments.

"If there is no legitimate Polish FA then we will not have a Euro in Poland," Mr Gaillard concluded.

The blow came after a warning from Platini in January 2008 to significantly improve the projects or risk losing the job of hosting the competition.

Lack of progress in the development of infrastructure, insufficient stadia and problems tied to traffic control were all highlighted as concerns that must be resolved before hosting the competition.

Should UEFA choose to revoke the hosting rights from Poland and Ukraine, the SFA have signaled their interest in the 2012 competition.

Gordon Smith, SFA Chief Executive, has discussed the situation with Platini and is currently monitoring the situation.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Smith said: "Our position is straightforward. If, in the event of it being taken away from Poland and Ukraine, and it was opened to bids, then we would seek to establish if a bid from us would be considered by UEFA.

"If the response was positive then we would undertake a feasibility study along with the Scottish government to decide if we would bid."
Support from the government may, however, be limited due to the financial strain of the Olympic Games set to be held in London over the summer of 2012.

Both FIFA and UEFA have now entered a period of joint consultation to address the issue, before revealing their findings at FIFA’s executive committee on 23 and 24 October.

Speaking ahead of the committee's finding, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has attempted to calm concerns over Poland being stripped of Euro 2012, saying: "We have received letters and documents that there has been an agreement between the FA and the Polish government."