Poland cans Euro 2020 bid
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
24.04.2014 09:45
Chairman of the Polish Football Association (PZPN) Zbigniew Boniek has stated that Poland is dropping its bid to be one of the hosts of the Euro 2020 football tournament.
Chairman of PZPN Zbigniew Boniek. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymanski
The 2020 event will break with tradition, spreading the matches across some 13 countries, rather than the previous norm of just one or two.
Boniek reasoned at a press conference in Warsaw that Poland's co-hosting of Euro 2012 with Ukraine has stacked the odds in favour of countries that have not staged the UEFA event in recent years.
“Euro 2020 is not a realistic proposition for us,” he said.
“I have good contacts at UEFA, and information has come to me from various channels that the organisers of the 2012 championship - Poland and Ukraine, and France for 2016, have minimal chances.”
As many as 32 countries lodged preliminary applications with UEFA concerning the 2020 event, but the Czech Republic, Finland and Portugal have already withdrawn their bids.
Boniek stressed that decision has been taken now so as to avoid “tonnes of further documents” for something that “will not be realised.” (nh)
Source: PAP