The Euro 2012 Championships  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The event is the last one to be sixteen teams as the future one in 2016 will broaden to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine overcome Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.
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The games will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish cities to put on matches will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian towns will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
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The final will take place in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after construction will be one of the premier stadia and sporting complexes across the globe. The new arena in Warsaw is also under construction and guarantees to be a state of the art venue.
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The draw for the championships has been carried out and qualifying games will commence following the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine 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.
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From Group A you would believe Germany and Turkey would be too resilient with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.
Group B looks to be a 3 way competition between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
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In Group C it looks like it will be simple for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.
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There is a northern European feel to Group E where it really should be Netherlands and Sweden.
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Croatia and Greece are the likely challengers with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
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From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and in conclusion from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.
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Qualifying concludes in October 2011 by which time hype and anticipation for the Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012