Stadium blow for organisers of Euro 2008

THE organisers of Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland have dropped plans to use a new football stadium in Zurich after a long-running battle with environmentalists in the Swiss city.

The Swiss and the Austrians won the right to host the tournament ahead of a joint bid by Scotland and Ireland.

Last night's announcement means the organisers will be forced to use seven stadiums instead of the planned eight for the tournament in the two countries, the Swiss football federation (SFV) said in a statement.

"Both the organisers and UEFA are disappointed that as the situation looks today there will be no matches of UEFA Euro 2008 in Zurich," it added.

No decision has been made on where the three group matches which were due to be played in Switzerland's biggest city will be held.

"We have taken note that the new Hardturm stadium in Zurich will not be ready on time but we remain fully confident the Local Organising Committee will run a successful tournament even though seven stadiums may be used instead of the eight initially planned," UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson said.

The SFV said it had not been able to guarantee the availability of a fully-equipped 30,000-seat stadium in time because of the delays caused by opposition to planning permission.

An alternative offer by Zurich to redevelop and expand the Letzigrund athletics stadium was regarded as "unrealistic" because of the summer 2007 deadline.

Euro 2008 matches will now be played in three locations in Switzerland Geneva, Bern and Basel in stadiums that were either recently built or are almost completed.

The scheduled four venues in Austria are in Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and the modernised 50,000-seat Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, where the final is due to be held on June 29, 2008.

The objections by a Zurich environmental group and some local residents focused on the amount of traffic generated by the project and were upheld by a local court. The new stadium was backed by the majority of Zurich voters in a referendum one year ago.

"We are disappointed that the wish to have a new Hardturm stadium built to be used for the UEFA Euro 2008, as expressed in the poll by the citizens of Zurich, was destroyed by a small minority," Mr Olsson said.

City authorities and sponsors yesterday decided to appeal to the Swiss supreme court to get the Hardturm stadium, which has been on the drawing board since 1999, built for local clubs Grasshoppers and FC Zurich.