Ireland set to discover fixture schedule fate

IRELAND will learn its European Championship schedule today when the draw for the Group B fixture list takes place in Tel Aviv (10:30 am, Irish time).

UEFA will hold the open draw after objections from Armenia meant that the six nations involved were unable to reach agreement at the recent fixture meeting in Moscow.

But while Ireland’s road to Poland and the Ukraine will finally be made clear this morning, there is still serious doubt about the ultimate destination for all the countries who are set to embark on the qualifying campaign for the finals which take place in two years’ time.

As its annual congress gets under way in Israel, the nightmare scenario that Euro 2012 stadiums will not be ready in time continues to haunt UEFA which has heard a report from Martin Kallen, the project director of the tournament, outlining problems at the stadiums in Kiev and Lviv in Ukraine.

Gianni Infantino, UEFA’s general secretary said: “We are concerned, yes, the problems are serious. However we have every faith that they will be sorted out.

“It is time now for Ukraine to get into a higher gear. We are sure everything will be ready in time but are closely watching the situation.”

Earlier yesterday, UEFA spokesman Rob Faulkner told a news briefing: “There had been some concerns, particularly in Ukraine, about possible delays leading to questions (over) whether two of the host cities were behind schedule.

“Kiev in particular was one of the cities that was under discussion.

“The technicalities involve the roof and some other building technicalities but we don’t have any concerns that they won’t be ready in time.”

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Borys Kolesnikov said on Tuesday that the Kiev stadium, where the final is due to be staged, was ‘most at risk’, and there were concerns about the stadium in Lviv, which had also fallen behind schedule. Kolesnikov said he wanted work to be stepped up so that by the beginning of September the present five-month delay in the building timetable would have been eliminated.

“The right decision would have been to take down the stadium in Kiev and build another.

“But now that is not possible,” Kolesnikov said.

Tournament project director Kallen said in an interview on Polish television that UEFA would consider staging matches in six venues if necessary.