Short-list for European championships to be reduced

THE seven bids to stage the 2008 European Championships will be reduced to a shortlist of two or three before a final vote on the host is taken in December by members of the UEFA executive committee.

Ireland and Scotland are among the hopefuls - as a joint bid - but will first have to survive a visit by an evaluation team who will recommend which countries should be eliminated.

Those bids which survive will go before the UEFA executive committee at a meeting on December 12 and 13, where members will take a final vote.

UEFA announced the complicated decision-making process following a meeting in Nyon, Switzerland yesterday. The issue has been made more difficult by the fact that of the 14 members of the executive committee, six come from countries involved with a bid and are ineligible to vote.

The remaining eight members will decide on the shortlist on the basis of recommendations from the evaluation team and the national teams committee. Those members from the countries which are then eliminated will be able to take part in the final vote.

‘‘This method is the fairest way of deciding the winning bid, and will involve as many members of the executive committee as possible,’ said UEFA communications director Mike Lee.

Scotland’s David Will, a FIFA vice-president who attends UEFA’s executive committee meetings as an observer, predicted a scenario where some bidders will drop out even before the shortlist is decided.

‘‘It would not surprise me if a couple of the candidates, or even three, withdrew following the visits by the evaluation team,’ he said.

Only two countries are bidding as single hosts for 2008, Russia and Hungary. Joint bids have been made by Scotland and Ireland; Austria and Switzerland; Greece and Turkey; Bosnia and Croatia; Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland with organisational involvement from Iceland).

The eight UEFA executive committee members not involved with bids are: Geoff Thompson (England), Angel Villar Llona (Spain), Mathieu Sprengers (Holland), Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder (Germany), Joseph Mifsud (Malta), Michel Platini (France), Henri Roemer (Luxembourg) and Mario Lefkaritis (Cyprus).

Those from countries involved with bids are: Lennart Johansson (Sweden), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Per Ravn Omdal (Norway), Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia), Giangiorgio Spiess (Switzerland) and Eggert Magnusson (Iceland).