Hopes growing in Poland and Ukraine for Euro 2012 bid

The Italian soccer corruption scandal and turmoil in Hungary have boosted the chances of a joint bid by Ukraine and Poland to host the 2012 European soccer championships, Ukraine's top soccer official said.

Hrihory Surkis, president of Ukraine's soccer federation, said circumstances were playing into the hands of the two eastern European neighbours after UEFA inspectors toured both countries.

"On the whole, our chances are rather good. The corruption scandal in Italian soccer has done that country's chances no good," Surkis told a news conference on Wednesday.

"As for Hungary, recent political political events also work in our favour. If the Hungarian prime minister is accused of lying, how can UEFA trust a government of that sort?"

Budapest has been gripped by demonstrations, with protestors demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany after he acknowledged lying to help win an election in April.

A UEFA inspector was quoted as saying in a Kiev daily this week that the Ukraine-Poland bid had "many positive elements".

Italy is also in the running as is a joint proposal from Hungary and Croatia. Poland is embroiled in its own corruption scandal, with the government probing match-fixing allegations.

UEFA's executive committtee will announce which candidate will host the event on December 8.

Surkis told reporters both countries were coordinating plans for construction and transport.

New stadiums were being built in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk -- two proposed sites for games.

And a row over Kiev's main stadium, linked to construction nearby of a shopping and leisure centre, would be resolved by building a new stadium if the Ukraine-Poland bid won.

"The deputy mayor said that if we won they would be prepared to start construction of a new stadium on the site of the city's hippodrome," Surkis siad. "In any case, if we get this historic chance, Kiev will not be without a stadium."

FIFA says it could withdraw permission to hold matches at the Olympic stadium if it is ruled that the construction site violates safety norms.

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