Curbing hotel prices in Ukraine and coordinating services in Poland are the main challenges remaining for organizers with the European Championship kicking off in little more than 100 days, officials said Monday.
The two neighboring host nations have been building and upgrading stadiums, hotels, airports and roads in preparation for the biggest international sports event that either of them has ever hosted.
Euro 2012 operations director Martin Kallen said that preparations for the tournament by both host nations are ''under control'' and close to finished. But he said that very high prices in some hotels in Ukraine may give the country and the tournament a bad image.
Speaking from Kiev, Ukraine, Kallen said he has held talks on the issue and has ''appealed for reason.''
Ukraine has a wide offer of accommodation and reasonable prices can be found, he noted during a joint conference of Polish and Ukrainian officials in charge of the tournament.
Ukraine has built and modernized four stadiums and four airports and its road system is ready for the tens of thousands of fans who will be traveling between the venues during the three-week event, said Deputy Prime Minister Boris Kolesnikov.
Poland should have its stadiums and accommodation ready on May 15, according to Sports Minster Joanna Mucha. She said the main tasks now are to coordinate all the services and to speed up passport and customs procedures on the border with Ukraine, which is EU's external border, and where waiting time on road crossings can be up to four hours.
The head of the organizing body in Poland, Marcin Herra, said his main concern is to ensure that transport, accommodation, information and security coordinate smoothly.
Euro 2012 starts on June 8 with Poland playing Greece in Warsaw at the newly-built National Stadium. The stadium opened Jan. 29, six months behind schedule, and Poland's friendly against Portugal on Wednesday will be its very first sports event.
