Miroslav Karas - a correspondent of the Czech Television

An interview with Miroslav Karas, a correspondent of the Czech Television in Poland, in Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States.

- How do you assess the chances of candidate states for hosting of EURO 2012? Recently Italy has been frequently favoured.

- Although Italy seems to be a favourite, I wish to stress that a good hosting of such an event also largely depends on the attitudes of the authorities and residents. For Italy EURO 2012 is just another event to be held in their country; they are used to hosting of various championships. The European Championships mean for them less than for Poles and Ukrainians or Croatians and Hungarians. For Warsaw and Kiev this is a matter of prestige. Therefore commitment of those countries as event organizers is d will be much greater.

To be successful, however, Poland must make a huge step forqward in the preparations. Polish stadia are in poor condition, the infrastructure is rundown. The enthusiasm of the society does not suffice today; excellent preparedeness on world level is the main thing. So far Poland lacks this. The mess around the PZPN is also a bad thing. News of corruption and persal issues in PZPN are perceived as something wrong abroad. Unfortunately Polish football does not score highly today. This does not mean that Poland would not manage the event well; on the contrary. I am sure that hosting of European Championships in both countries would be a top priority issue and both countries would be prepared very well.

- What is the attitude of Czechs to the Poland-Ukraine bid for the right to host EURO 2012?

- Czechs are great football fans. They follow with interest results of their national team. They are ready to go to see European Football Championships even to the other end of Europe.  I am not going to conceal the fact that they would be very glad if Poland and Ukraine won the right  to host EURO 2012. This would give opportunity to more Czechs to come to the stadia of their close neighbours. Czechs would be also happy to see hosting of EURO in Central and Eastern Europe because that would signify that good foootball is also played here.