Confident Poland dispels stadium fears

Host City unravels the recent uncertainty over Poland’s eligibility to host Euro 2012 and speaks to the Sports Ministry about its roadmap for venue construction

Autumn 2008 was a worrying time for those involved with Poland’s organisational plans as they prepare to host Euro 2012 in three and a half years. The events of September and October in particular would try the patience of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), while sending a message to the world that Poland’s Euro 2012 preparations were not progressing well. The nation braced itself for a rough patch.

The new Stadion Miejski in Poznan has already
staged domestic and UEFA Cup matches

Troubled times
Poland was already behind on stadium upgrades and had risked losing the tournament, before being granted a UEFA reprieve. The country’s problems with Euro 2012 escalated further on 29 September when the Polish government suspended the Polish football association PZPN after it was alleged to have failed to deal with some serious corruption issues that had been harming the reputation of Polish football. With the assistance of the country’s National Olympic Committee, an administrator was appointed in the PZPN’s stead.

This startling turn of events stunned the whole country, who could not believe this was happening when they were supposed to be looking forward to hosting a tournament that would rival Austria and Switzerland’s superb Euro 2008 for organisation and excitement. UEFA was unhappy and its director of communications William Gaillard spoke out strongly against PZPN’s suspension.

“Our patience has limits and we are very close to the limit,” he said as the news broke. “We offered Euro 2012 to the FA, not the government, so if the FA are not in place or suspended then they are not in a position to host the tournament.

“We gave Poland another chance and then there was this coup. It is very annoying. We have done everything we can for Poland and Ukraine. We have bent over backwards to help them and this makes us very unhappy,” Gaillard said.

However, by 6 October there had been enough productive negotiation between all parties that the Polish national team’s impending games against Czech Republic and Slovakia were permitted to go ahead. And four days later an Independent Electoral Committee (IEC), composed of representatives from FIFA, UEFA and the Polish authorities, reached agreement on a roadmap to be followed for the PZPN elections and the future of Polish football.

But the problems didn’t end there. On 22 October, the PZPN general secretary Zbigniew Krecina was charged with mismanagement of funds. He had been seen as favourite to win the PZPN election and replace outgoing president Michal Listkiewicz. This resulted in the PZPN’s bank accounts being frozen five days later while the election was pending. When the election was held on 30 October, the PZPN voted for former Polish international centre forward Grzegorz Lato – a top scorer at the 1974 World Cup.

“I will do everything to restore the proper image of the PZPN,” Lato said. It will not be an easy task for him, nor will ensuring the timely completion of Poland’s four key Euro 2012 stadiums.

Time to catch up
Preparations of Poland’s venues are thought to be between six months and a year behind schedule. Former sports minister Elzbieta Jakubiak identified this quickly after taking over the position 18 months ago, and stressed the need to streamline stadium financing and bypass any bidding processes to speed up construction. So is Poland now finally ready to turn the corner and look to the future with some optimism? There have been doubts whether Warsaw can finish its new 55,000-seater National Stadium in time for the tournament – with UEFA president Michel Platini publicly voicing his concerns. Current estimates say it will be completed in the autumn of 2011, which does not build in much leeway for teething problems and test events. The project designers include Poland’s JSK architects, who have completed many similar projects in Poland, China, Germany and South Africa – but they’re up against it with this one. The foundations may have been laid but that’s the only progress so far.

However, Malgorzata Pelechaty, a spokesperson for the Sports Ministry, is confident of the National Stadium’s progress, telling Host City: “It is our top priority to pursue the construction works according to the schedule. The first stage of construction proceeds according to the plan, which has been accepted by UEFA experts. Approximately 140 people work at the site and there are 34 heavy-duty construction machines at the stadium, while 54 heavy-duty vehicles remove the side effects of their work.”

Construction to gather pace
According to the Ministry, construction looks set to gather pace from now on. “On 27 October 2008 a tender for the second stage of stadium construction was launched. The tender will be awarded in April,” Ms Pelechaty said.

Meanwhile, construction of Gdansk’s new Baltic Arena is also expected to be delayed by a year. Plans for the 44,000-capacity arena look superb, with a beautiful amber exoskeleton bringing to mind other recent stadium marvels such as Beijing’s Bird’s Nest and Munich’s Allianz Arena – but time is of the essence here too.

Better news comes from the other two proposed host cities, Poznan and Wroclaw. Officials there are confident about hitting deadlines, with Poznan’s Stadion Miejski and Wroclaw’s “Stadium in Maslice” scheduled for completion by 2010.

Stadion Miejski, notably the most plain and simple design of the four, will be ready in good time – indeed it has already been staging domestic and UEFA Cup matches for some time. Its new, expanded 44,000 incarnation will not win any design competitions, but at this stage Poland will just be glad to have a completed venue.

The 44,000-seater Stadium in Maslice, designed to resemble Chinese lanterns, also gives a nod in the direction of Allianz Arena in that it will be able to light up its transparent fibre glass façade in any colour, dependent on which team is playing. Wroclaw had originally planned to refurbish its grand old Olympic Stadium, before plans were shelved in favour of creating a venue that is set to become an icon of the city. “I believe that this facility will be a new architectonic symbol of Wroclaw,” said Piotr Fokczynski, director of architecture and construction at the city’s municipal office.

If everything is ready on time, Poland has the venues to really impress. This tournament will put Polish football on the map if the PZPN and authorities organise everything on time. There’s much work to be done in other areas too. The outgoing PZPN president Listkiewicz’s parting shot was to say: “If the European Championships took place in 2016, we would have no problems about being ready then. But realistically we are looking at having no good roads in time for 2012. From Gdansk [in Poland] to Donetsk [in the Ukraine] is more than 1,500km. This is not like in Austria and Switzerland where everything lies close together.”

Growing confidence
But at least it seems that stadium works are under control now. Sports Ministry spokesperson Pelechaty disagrees with the suggestion that the National Stadium could fail to be ready on time: “There is no need to take any extra steps to speed up development work. Following the schedule, which is exactly what we are doing now, is enough to complete the works in 2011,” she said.

These are encouraging words as UEFA prepares to make its final decision, in May 2009, on whether Poland and Ukraine can host the tournament. Several other countries are waiting to step in should Platini decide to look elsewhere. Scotland has stated its claim, while other countries such as Germany and Italy are likely to be keen. Economically, Poland stands to be a big winner from hosting Euro 2012, providing that it does not lose the chance. The signs are looking better now and everyone seems to be pushing in the right direction – to the great relief of Poles excited to welcome the football world to some fascinating new venues.