Event has been ended
The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, is the 14th European Championship for national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament is being hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012. It is the first time that either nation has hosted the tournament. This bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee in 2007.
The final tournament features 16 nations, the last European Championship to do so (from Euro 2016 onward, there will be 24 finalists). Qualification was contested by 51 nations between August 2010 and November 2011 to join the two host nations in the tournament. The winner of the tournament gains automatic entry to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil.
Host selection
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 bids
The joint Poland–Ukraine bid was chosen by a vote of the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Cardiff on 18 April 2007, defeating both Italy and a Croatia–Hungary bid. Poland–Ukraine became the third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium–Netherlands (2000) and Austria–Switzerland (2008). Italy had been considered favourites to win the hosting but incidents of fan violence and a match fixing scandal were widely cited as factors behind their failure.
Venues
Eight cities have been selected by UEFA as host venues. In a return to the format used at Euro 1992, Euro 1996 and Euro 2008, each of the four groups will be based around two stadiums each.
The host cities Warsaw, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Poznań, Kiev, Lviv are all popular tourist destinations, unlike Donetsk and Kharkiv (the latter having replaced Dnipropetrovsk as a host city in 2009).
The obligatory improvement of the football infrastructure includes the building of new stadiums: six of the eight venues are brand new stadiums currently being constructed ready to open in advance of the tournament; the remaining two (in Poznań and Kharkiv) have undergone major renovations to improve them. Three of the stadiums will fulfill the criteria of UEFA's highest category stadiums.
Team bases
The host cities in Poland and Ukraine (with team bases marked by orange)
The "Team Base Camps" are the accommodation and training bases for the teams. From an initial list of 38 potential locations (21 in Poland, 17 in Ukraine), the national associations chose their locations in 2011. These bases were the initial destination for all teams upon their arrival. The teams will then both train and reside in these locations throughout the tournament, traveling to games staged away from their bases.
Thirteen teams are staying in Poland and three in Ukraine, in the following towns:
Poland-based
- Croatia – Warka(5 June)
- Czech Republic – Wrocław(3 June)
- Denmark – Kołobrzeg(4 June)
- England – Kraków(6 June)
- Spain – Gniewino(5 June)
- Germany – Gdańsk(4 June)
- Greece – Jachranka(3 June)
- Italy – Kraków(5 June)
- Netherlands – Kraków(4 June)
- Poland – Warsaw(28 May)
- Portugal – Opalenica(4 June)
- Republic of Ireland – Sopot(5 June)
- Russia – Warsaw(3 June)
Ukraine-based
- France – Donetsk(6 June)
- Sweden – Koncha-Zaspa, Kiev(6 June)
- Ukraine – Chapaevka, Kiev(6 June)
Note: Date in parenthesis is the date of the team's arrival
Qualification
The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying competition took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010. 51 teams entered to compete for the 14 remaining places in the finals, alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine. These teams were divided into nine groups, with the draw using the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings.
The qualifying process began in August 2010 and concluded in November 2011. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage in October 2011, the nine group winners qualified automatically, with the second placed team with the best ranking also doing so. The remaining eight teams who finished second in their respective groups contested two-legged play-offs, with the winner of each tie qualifying for the finals.
Participating teams
The finals will feature sixteen national teams, as has been the format since 1996. Some European football associations were in favour of expanding the tournament to 24 teams, although the number of UEFA members had hardly increased since the last tournament extension in 1996 (53 in April 2006 compared to 48 for Euro 1996). In April 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against an expansion for 2012.
Euro 2012 hosts – Poland & Ukraine
The defending champions
Qualified
Failed to qualify
Country is not a UEFA member
Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated at the previous tournament in 2008, with England and Denmark returning having last participated in 2004. The Republic of Ireland return after an absence of 24 years to make their second appearance at a European finals. One of the co-hosts, Ukraine, make their debut as an independent nation, having previously won the inaugural competition in 1960 as part of the Soviet Union.
Euro 2008 winners Spain have qualified to defend their title. They will compete to win an unprecedented third consecutive major tournament, having won both UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The sixteen finalists who will participate in the final tournament are:
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Squads
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 squads
Each nation had to submit a squad of 23 players, three of whom have to be goalkeepers, by 28 May 2012.
Group stage
Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 schedule
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) in Poland and Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3) in Ukraine.
Tie-breaking criteria
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
- Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
- Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);
- Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question (if more than two teams finish equal on points);
- If, after having applied criteria 1) to 3), two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1) to 3) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine the final rankings of the two teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5) to 9) apply in the order given;
- superior goal difference in all group matches;
- higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
- position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system
- fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);
- drawing of lots
Note: As all teams have different UEFA national team coefficient, the last two tie-breakers (i.e. fair play conduct and drawing of lots) will never be applied in this tournament.
Key to colours in group tables |
Top two teams progress to the quarter-finals |
Bottom two teams are eliminated from the tournament |
Broadcasting
See also: UEFA Euro 2012 broadcasting rights
TVP will be broadcasting all matches from Poland, while the NTU and TRK will be broadcasting matches in Ukraine.
In January 2012, it was announced that TP (Polish Telecom) and Orange had successfully completed the first phase of tests of the technology infrastructure and services to be provided during the competition to bring connectivity to over twenty locations in Poland (host cities, stadiums, hotels for UEFA representatives) and between Poland and Ukraine.
According to UEFA requirements, TP will ensure approximately 2х70 Gbit/sec data communication speed from Polish stadiums and 2х140 Gbit/sec between Poland and Ukraine. This is required due to the fact that the matches are planned to be broadcast in HD quality. The multilateral production will utilise 31 cameras to cover the action on and around the pitch at every match, with additional cameras following activities around the game, such as team arrivals at the stadiums, interviews, and media conferences.
The official Euro 2012 broadcasting centre will be located at the Expo XXI International Centre in Warsaw.
Miscellaneous
Logo and slogan
Logo of Euro 2012 made of flowers
Four official logos for the tournament
The competition slogan, Creating History Together (Polish: Razem tworzymy przyszłość, literally, "Together we are creating the future", Ukrainian: Творимо історію разом, Tvorymo istoriyu razom), was announced along with the logo. The slogan reflects the fact that Poland and Ukraine were united in the past as one country and are now two eastern nations with ambitions to stage the best tournament in the history of the European Championship.
The official logo for the tournament was unveiled at a special event at Mykhailivska Square, Kiev, on 14 December 2009. It takes its visual identity from Wycinanki or Vytynanky, traditional form of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine. The art form symbolises the nature of the rural areas of both countries. As part of the event, landmark buildings in the eight host cities were illuminated with the tournament logo.
Match ball
The official match ball for UEFA Euro 2012 is the Adidas Tango 12, which is designed to be easier to dribble and control than the reportedly unpredictable Adidas Jabulani used at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Ticketing
Tickets were sold directly by UEFA via its website, or are to be distributed by the football associations of the 16 finalists. Applications had to be made during March 2011 for the 1.4 million tickets available for the 31 tournament matches. Over 12 million applications were received, which represented a 17% increase on the 2008 finals, and an all-time record for the UEFA European Championship. Owing to this over-subscription for the matches, lotteries were carried out to allocate tickets.
Prices varied from €30 (£25) (for a seat behind the goals at a group match) to €600 (£513) (for a seat in the main stand at the final). In addition to individual match tickets, fans could buy packages to see either all matches played by one team, or all matches at one specific venue.
In May 2012, UEFA will start sending tickets to fans which bought tickets also immediately UEFA will start selling additional tickets on ticketing website.
Trophy
New Henri Delaunay Trophy
The Henri Delaunay Trophy began a journey through the host cities seven weeks before the start of the tournament. A hundred days before the first match a 35.5-metre-high (116 ft) hot air balloon in the shape of the trophy was flown in Nyon, Switzerland and will visit 14 cities throughout the host countries, reminding spectators of the impending tournament. On 20 April 2012 the trophy tour started and visited Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań, Kraków, Katowice and Łódź cities. After the Polish cities, the trophy visited seven Ukrainian cities: Kiev, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa.
Penalty Kicks
Scored: None
Missed: Giorgos Karagounis for Greece v Poland, saved by Przemysław Tytoń
Merchandising
UEFA signed a worldwide licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to help promote the tournament. Warner Bros. agreed to license the following to the third parties: Accessories, Apparel, Automotive accessories, Baby personal care and accessories, Bags, Computer accessories, Drinking vessels, Footwear, General souvenirs, Home textiles, Houseware products and accessories, Jewellery, Publications, Sports accessories, Stationery and writing instruments, Toys and games.
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