UEFA concerned about safety in Euro 2012 stadiums

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UEFA concerned about safety in Euro 2012 stadiums

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UEFA has expressed concerns about safety at stadiums to be used for European Championship.

09 September,2011 01:20 am

UEFA says it has concerns about safety at the stadiums to be used for next years European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.UEFA Head of Stadium and Security Marc Timmer said that European footballs ruling body is closely monitoring ongoing construction works to make sure that all minimum standards are met.At every venue, with no exception, there have been made many changes on our request, he said. Of course, this is still a major concern. Until a venue is really commissioned, you never know whats going to happen. They might make changes.Earlier this year, UEFA ruled that Polands Miejski stadium in Poznan, which will host three matches at Euro 2012, could not be more than half full due to safety issues.The 43,000-capacity stadium reopened after reconstruction in September 2010 but UEFA found faults such as blocked exits and seat numbering mistakes.We had numerous meetings in both countries where we were addressing our concerns, Timmer said. Unfortunately, in Poznan they did not do it correctly so we had to tell them after the stadium opened ... It was a mess. Weve put a lot of pressure on them to improve the situation.Six of eight venues for the June 8-July 1 event have been newly built at Warsaw, Gdansk and Wroclaw in Poland and at Kiev, Donetsk and Lviv in Ukraine. Like Poznan, the stadium in Kharkiv, Ukraine has also been rebuilt.That is a huge opportunity for construction businesses and for architects, everybody jumps on these projects and tries to get a piece out of the cake, Timmer said. Thats not always a guarantee for quality.Timmer said that local authorities were often signing off without actually inspecting the stadium. This is really an issue.William Gaillard, advisor to UEFA President Michel Platini, added that we have the case of new facilities not being safe. We tell the authorities: This wont go. Its just a waste.