Ukraine Boss Demands Action On New Stadium

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's top soccer official has hit out at the time it has taken to resolve a row that could prevent the use of Kiev's main stadium in the 2012 European championship.

Hryhory Surkis, head of Ukraine's soccer federation
Hryhory Surkis, head of Ukraine's soccer federation, said officials were openly ignoring orders from Ukraine's president and prime minister to prepare for the event, to be held jointly with Poland.

'We are talking here about a key issue for this tournament - will the Olympic stadium, and therefore Ukraine, be able to host the European championship final?' Surkis said in an interview published on the federation's website.

'The country's honour is on the line and officials are tossing the issue back and forth as if nothing were happening. This depraved practice of official inaction must stop or the state machine will be paralysed by a virus of irresponsibility.'

Uncertainty over the 84,000-seater Olympic stadium focuses on the construction nearby of a shopping and leisure centre, which would violate safety at the facility.

World soccer's governing body FIFA has said that if the centre is completed in its current form, it would only authorise matches there with much smaller crowds.

Ukraine's interior ministry has ordered a limit on the number of tickets sold for Ukraine's Euro 2008 qualifier against Italy on Sept. 12.

President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree last week ordering the dismantling of the construction project.

A UEFA commission investigating the project and safety norms is due to visit Kiev later this week.

Ukraine's sports minister last month criticised Ukraine's 2012 host cities - Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev and Lviv - for what he said was a failure to implement tasks set down in an action plan.

Poland and Ukraine face colossal logistical problems in organising the tournament, including construction and modernisation of stadiums, hotels and transport links.

Source: ESPN