The Euro 2012 Championships will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine
. The competition is the final one to be sixteen teams as the next one in 2016 will broaden to 24 teams. Poland and Ukraine overcame Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to have the event.
The fixtures will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish towns to put on games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian towns will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
The final will be held in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the premier stadiums and sporting complexes worldwide. The new venue in Warsaw is also being built and guarantees to be a state of the art arena.
The draw for the tournament has been done and qualifying fixtures will commence just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Each of the 9 group winners and the best runner-up will attain direct entry into the competition. Following that the other 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
From Group A you would suspect Germany and Turkey would be too solid with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.Group B looks to be a 3 way race between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
In Group C it looks like it will be comfortable for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take second.
There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it probably will be Netherlands and Sweden.
Croatia and Greece are the favorites in terms of Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and in conclusion from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.
Qualifying ends in October 2011 by which time enthusiasm and expectancy for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.