FIFA president Sepp Blatter has backed a joint bid from Ukraine and
Poland to host the 2012 European Championship.
'I hope that the (European) championship will be held here in Ukraine,'
Blatter told a news conference in Kiev on Saturday during his one-day
visit to the former Soviet republic.
The joint bid is one of three being considered by European governing body
UEFA along with a solo bid from Italy and a joint bid from Croatia and
Hungary.
Pressed to explain his choice, Blatter said: 'I know that both of these
countries (Ukraine and Poland) have done a lot to merit staging the championship.
'But of course, it's up to the UEFA executive committee to make a decision,'
he added.
'I think all three bids have a good chance to win.'
Blatter also met Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, who awarded the
FIFA chief a national medal for his service to the sport.
Yushchenko said the whole of Ukraine was behind the country's bid to host
its first major international competition.
'For Ukraine to stage the championship is a strategic goal, which would
help our integration into the global economy,' Yushchenko's press office
quoted him as saying.
The Ukraine-Poland bid, however, has been undermined by a bitter row between
FIFA and the Polish government.
FIFA threatened Poland with a worldwide ban earlier this year after the
country's sports minister suspended the board of the Polish FA, but the
Warsaw government averted confrontation by agreeing at the last minute
to FIFA's demand that it be reinstated.
UEFA will announce the winning bid next month.
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March 17, 2007.
Russian ladies dream about happy marriage.
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