The Italian Football Federation handed over the dossier for the final phase of the UEFA Euro 2012 bidding process at the House of European Football in Nyon.Representatives of the three candidates, including Italy's Project Manager Luigi Ludovici, presented the final documents – containing stadium agreements, host city agreements, accommodation plans, etc – to UEFA headquarters on Thursday.
Mikael Salzer, head of UEFA's national team competitions said: "Today marked the final deadline for the three competing bids to present to UEFA all of the necessary documentation requested, in order that we may now evaluate in further detail the three options. To date, all of the dossiers have been very well presented and professional, which is in line with a competition of such a high standing as the UEFA European Championship, one of the top three sporting competitions in the world these days."
Italy are up against joint bids from Croatia/Hungary and Poland/Ukraine. The country has already hosted the European Football Championship finals in 1968 and 1980, and also hosted the FIFA World Cup finals in 1934 and 1990. The last major sporting event held in the peninsula was the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin.
The UEFA Executive Committee decided last October to postpone the decision of the appointment of the hosts to give the bidding associations more time for the fine-tuning of their bids.
The three candidates will make their final presentations in Cardiff, Wales on 17 April, before the hosts are announced by the UEFA Executive Committee on 18 April.
Three new stadiums in Naples, Palermo and Turin have been added to the documentation which involves Rome - the city that will host the UEFA Champions League final in 2009, Bari, Milan, Palermo and Udine.
Four other cities – Bologna, Cagliari, Genoa and Verona – are awaiting the findings of a feasibility study being carried out by European Football’s governing body to expand the final phase of the 2012 tournament to 24 teams, instead of the current 16.
Meanwhile, FIGC extraordinary commissioner Luca Pancalli has insisted that they never pondered pulling out of the bidding process following the Catania riots which resulted in the death of a policeman.
“The entire world of Italian football is committed to the bid,” he said. “There was never a single moment during this exciting adventure where we regretted the decision or were uncertain of what to do.
“Our dossier included details on the organisation of the event, accommodation plans, contracts with airports and hotels. But it also heavily focused on the stadium plans, three of which [Napoli, Torino and Palermo] will be specially built for the occasion.
“This candidacy allows us to be positive and optimistic. The FIGC is ready for the challenge and is supported by the Italian Olympic Committee and the Government itself.”
Pancalli’s reign at the top of the Federation will come to an end within the next couple of months. He is only the extraordinary commissioner following Guido Rossi’s resignation last year and UEFA have demanded a democratically elected President is in place ahead of the Euro 2012 decision in April.
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