Ukraine to invite Platini to view progress

Ukraine will invite UEFA chief Michel Platini to tour a new stadium to see for himself the ex-Soviet state's progress in preparing to co-host the Euro 2012 finals, President Viktor Yush-chenko said yesterday. "In a few weeks, I will invite Mr Platini...

Ukraine will invite UEFA chief Michel Platini to tour a new stadium to see for himself the ex-Soviet state's progress in preparing to co-host the Euro 2012 finals, President Viktor Yush-chenko said yesterday.

"In a few weeks, I will invite Mr Platini to Dnipropetrovsk," local news agencies quoted Yushchenko as saying after a visit to a stadium nearing completion in the central city to be used in 2012.

A UEFA delegation is visiting Ukraine this week to inspect building sites and other facilities.

Platini last month expressed alarm that Ukraine and their co-hosts Poland were behind schedule in their preparations and the coming months would prove "decisive".

Authorities have since taken a decision to allow Kiev's main stadium to be used by dismantling parts of an adjacent shopping centre which threatened to disqualify it on safety grounds.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.