NYON (Switzerland): Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine could be suspended if their government does not act quickly to stop political interference in the country’s football federation, UEFA said on Friday.
European soccer’s governing body said Ukraine had been given one week to resolve the situation and that suspension would make it impossible to stage the 2012 tournament along with Poland.
“It is clear that if the Ukraine federation is suspended from membership, it would not be tenable to play the final round of the Euro 2012 in Ukraine,” UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino (pic) told reporters.
Infantino said that if nothing has changed by Feb 4, then the ruling body’s emergency committee would have to decide on a suspension.
“The UEFA exco would have to decide on the suspension of the football federation of Ukraine,” he said.
“A suspension means that the clubs cannot take part in our competitions, and we have still three clubs, one in the Champions League and two in the Europa League,” he said.
“The national teams would also be suspended from official competitions, and as a concrete step, as a preventative we have decided to place the Ukrainian Under-21 team in a group of six (for qualifying),” Infantino said.
“We discussed this and we have written a letter to the football federation of Ukraine requesting, as FIFA did, that the necessary concrete steps are taken and confirmation provided this has ceased,” he said.
“We are confident that this situation can be solved swiftly to the satisfaction of everyone,” Infantino said, adding that soccer’s world governing body FIFA had also written to the federation.
“Political interference is banned, it’s something we cannot allow,” he said.
Ukraine’s preparations have also been dogged by delays in building stadiums and other infrastructures.
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