Delayed UEFA decision helps us

UEFA's decision to delay awarding the 2012 European championship until April 2007 has boosted the chances of the Poland-Ukraine joint of hosting the event. "I believe that this fact boosts our chances of winning. We will make use of it” - Hrihory Surkis, the president of the Ukrainian FA, said at Thursday news conference in Kiev. - "I have noted that my colleagues in UEFA are interested in developing soccer eastwards and this means precisely Poland and Ukraine" - Surkis added. Marc Timmer, a UEFA's official. praised the efforts of Ukrainian and Polish officials after this week’s seminar on security. Ukraine-Poland's joint bid is one of three being considered by UEFA. The other two candidatures are a solo bid from Italy and a joint bid from Croatia-Hungary. UEFA had been due to name the host of the championship in December, but has now delayed that decision until next April. Officials in Warsaw and Kiev claim their chances have been enhanced by the Serie A match-fixing scandal in Italy and by political turmoil and large demonstrations jolting Hungary last month. But troubles in Poland's soccer federation over match-fixing have also cast doubts over our bid -- as has construction of a major shopping and leisure centre next to Kiev's main stadium which international soccer officials say violates safety norms. However UEFA official Mark Timmer praised the efforts of Ukrainian and Polish officials after conducting a seminar on safety issues this week.