Top coaches distracted ahead of Euro draw
Reuters - Friday 05 February 2010, 12:20
WARSAW - The coaches of England, Russia and
Germany could all be forgiven for having other things on their
minds when they come to the Polish capital for the qualifying
round draw of Euro 2012 on Sunday.
England's Italian coach Fabio Capello is dealing with a
widespread newspaper allegations about the private life of his
captain John Terry.
Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink is considering his future
with his contract due to expire in June while Germany's Joachim
Loew and the DFB (German FA) have hit a stalemate in
negotiations over the extension to his contract after the World
Cup finals later this year.
Of the three, Capello and Loew are most likely still to be
leading their teams out when the qualifying competition for Euro
2012 - jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine - starts in
September.
Russia, who narrowly failed to make the World Cup finals
when they lost in a play-off to Slovenia, are amongst the top
seeds, along with European champions and world ranked number one
Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, France
and Croatia.
The second pot contains Euro 2004 champions Greece, along
with fellow World Cup finalists Slovakia, Serbia, Denmark and
Switzerland. Czech Republic, Turkey, Romania and Sweden, who all
failed to reach South Africa, complete the set.
FOCUS ATTENTION
The draw starts at 1100am GMT on Sunday at Warsaw's
Palace of Culture and Science and will focus attention on the
first major football tournament to be staged in eastern Europe,
and one whose preparations have been beset by problems since it
was awarded by UEFA to the two nations in March 2007.
Problems with stadium construction, infrastructure,
communications and accommodation caused UEFA president Michel
Platini at one point to warn the hosts they risked losing the
right to stage the event, which is due to take place in June and
July 2012 in four cities in each country.
Adam Olkowicz, director of the Euro 2012 told Warsaw's
Futbol News this week: "This is the biggest official ceremony
ahead of the tournament itself.
"From the government side the Prime Minister Donald Tusk
already confirmed he will take part in the draw, we expect other
representatives of the government and the parliament."
With Poland and Ukraine qualifying automatically as
co-hosts, 51 of UEFA's 53 member associations will take part in
the qualifiers. They will be divided into six groups of six
teams and three groups of five teams.
The qualifiers will run from September of this year until
November 2011 with the winners of the nine groups and the best
runner-up qualifying directly.
The eight remaining runners-up will meet in playoffs in
November next year with the four winners joining the other 12
nations in the finals.