Euro 2008 hosts stung as stadium plan collapses

THE joint Austrian-Swiss bid that clinched the right to stage the 2008 European Championships has run into trouble after plans to build one of the four promised stadiums in Austria collapsed.

The bid beat off stiff competition from several other countries, including a joint bid from Scotland and Ireland, which ran aground after dithering on Ireland's two nominated stadia.

As part of the agreement, Austria pledged to build a brand new stadium in the southern city of Klagenfurt. But the 44m project as was originally proposed has collapsed after the German Investment Group that was behind it was sacked by city officials and the Austrian Football Association.

They said the plan put forward by Deutsche Arena AG was laughable and had failed to attract any financing, and accused the German firm of incompetence.

Klagenfurt's mayor, Harald Scheucher, said the complaints included a pledge for almost 88m pounds towards the costs of the entire project that were from a Swiss firm that apparently did not exist.

The 44m stadium was supposed to have 32,000 seats, and, in a second stage of development, a football academy, shops and an indoor soccer hall were supposed to be built.

UEFA's contract with the two Alpine countries specifies that if the stadium is not built, they can award it to one of the unsuccessful bidders, including Ireland.

Last night, a UEFA spokesman in Geneva said he wasthey were not prepared to comment on the matter.

And the UEFA delegate in Austria, Juergen Mueller, said at the moment they would not be getting involved, but were watching the matter with interest. He said: "We are hopeful that Austria will be able to fulfill the obligations of the contract and present the four stadiums as agreed."

Mr Scheucher was last night trying to come up with an alternative financial model using public funds to get the stadium built, but as yet, no deal has been reached.

He is hoping that the government and that the Austrian Football Association the OeFB might step in to provide some of the missing funds.

He said: "At the moment, it looks as though the city of Klagenfurt will have to foot the bill for the new stadium."

The president of the local club, FC Kaernten, is far-right politician Joerg Haider, who is also the regional governor.

So far, however, he has not made any move to try and rescue the stadium project.

To find such a large sum of money, the city would have to cut back heavily on school building projects, hospital buildings and other investments, which means the mayor will face an uphill struggle to get approval for a new financial model.