The UEFA Euro 2012 Championships  will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The tournament is the last one to be sixteen teams as the subsequent one in 2016 will increase to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to hold the competition.
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The fixtures will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues to put on matches will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian venues will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
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The final will be held 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 top stadiums and sporting complexes on the planet. The new venue in Warsaw is also being built and promises to be a state of the art venue.
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The draw for the finals has already been done and qualifying games will begin just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will attain direct entry into the finals. Following that the other eight runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
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From Group A you would suspect Germany and Turkey would be too resilient and strong with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.
Group B looks to be a three way competition with Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
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In Group C it looks like it will be fairly simple for Italy and Serbia. France is the favorite from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.
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There is a northern European vibe 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 finally from Group I it would seem to be Spain and the Czech Republic.
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Qualifying finishes in October 2011 by which time excitement and anticipation for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012