The Ukrainian cities hoping to host games at Euro 2012 have been given the all-clear by Uefa.
Uefa happy with progress being made
The Ukrainian cities hoping to host games at Euro 2012 have been given the all-clear by Uefa.
European football's governing body has warned there is still much work to be done if the country is to be ready to host the European Championship alongside Poland in three years' time, but is happy with the progress being made.
That means the cities of Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv can ready themselves for games during the group stages, while Kiev has been confirmed as the venue for the final.
Ukraine was set a deadline by Uefa of 30th November to address 'important shortcomings' in their infrastructure and prove that they are capable of staging such an event.
Plans for the competition have been plagued by problems, with organisational concerns raised from the outset.
However, those fears will have been eased by Uefa's latest announcement, even if the venues in question are still yet to fully convince.
Requirements
"After careful consideration of the documents and guarantees submitted to Uefa by the Ukrainian Government and the cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv during the last couple of months... the Uefa Executive Committee took the following decisions... to confirm Kiev as the venue of the final match of Euro 2012 ...to confirm Donetsk and Lviv, and to appoint Kharkiv as host cities for group matches," read a Uefa statement.
"The Uefa Executive Committee specifically noted, however, that there is still a huge amount of work that must be undertaken by all host cities and the Government of Ukraine to guarantee the full and proper implementation of the tournament requirements for Euro 2012 matches.
"To this effect, Uefa will continue to closely monitor the state of infrastructure and operational preparations in the two host countries.
"A decision regarding the match schedule for Euro 2012 and the appointment of the host cities staging the other knockout matches will be taken at a later stage."
The Polish cities of Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw are set to be the other host venues at the tournament, which will take place from 9th June to 1st July 2012.
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