England's training base ready after overhaul
Reuters - Friday 25 May 2012, 10:56
England's Euro 2012
training base in Krakow has been declared ready by Polish
officials after a major overhaul of the site once dubbed "barely
fit for a pub team" by one of Britain's tabloid newspapers.
The English FA agreed to share the costs of upgrading the
facilities at local team Hutnik during the June championship
co-hosted by Ukraine.
Last year, The Sun newspaper published photographs of the
changing rooms with bare walls and strewn with rubble. The
complex was built in communist times to house a team linked to
Krakow's Now Huta steelmill.
On Friday, city officials presented the completed Hutnik
facility including changing rooms modeled on those at Arsenal's
stadium and a pitch inspected weekly by experts from Wembley.
"The facilities meet the technical standards agreed with the
English association," said Krakow's deputy mayor Magdalena
Sroka. "We are calmly awaiting England's arrival in Krakow."
England will play their Group D matches in the Ukrainian
cities of Kiev and Donetsk but will train in Krakow.
Krakow is not among the four Polish cities that will stage
Euro 2012 matches but the Dutch and Italians will also have
training camps there.
The Dutch will train at Wisla Krakow, the city's top club in
recent years, while the Italians have selected a smaller ground
occupied by local rivals Cracovia.