Euro 2008 back on track: UEFA and Swiss FA

Preparations for the 2008 European championship are back on track, according to co-hosts the Swiss football association.

The Swiss and European soccer's governing body UEFA held a joint media conference on Tuesday, in which they appeared to have resolved their differences, most notably the current lack of a stadium for Zurich.

The declaration came less than six weeks after the publication of a leaked letter from UEFA warning the Swiss and their Austrian co-hosts that they might lose the tournament if preparations were not speeded up.

"I think the information that UEFA's executive committee was given (when they wrote the letter) did not correspond to the degree of preparation we already had," Swiss football association president Ralph Zloczower told Reuters on Tuesday.

"What made them nervous was the news that Zurich's Hardturm stadium would not be ready in time for the championships.

"But now we have a serious alternative project in the form of the city's Letzigrund stadium, and we are really optimistic that it can be finished by UEFA's deadline of summer 2007."

Under the new proposal, 5,000 temporary seats will be added to the renovated Letzigrund athletics stadium, bringing it up to the 30,000 all-seater capacity required by UEFA, and giving Switzerland the four international stadiums that it promised to deliver during the bidding process.

"There was a certain substance to the criticisms made in the letter (from UEFA's executive committee), but we've noted the real effort that's been made in recent weeks," said UEFA's Euro 2008 project leader Juergen Mueller.

PROGRESSING WELL

"We now believe that things are progressing well in Switzerland and Austria. In some organisational areas the project is even one or two years ahead of schedule."

UEFA president Lennart Johansson added: "The solution proposed by the Swiss Football Association to renovate the Letzigrund is a positive step in the right direction."

Mueller said UEFA's executive committee would now wait until the end of the year to receive the Swiss FA's detailed plans on the new Zurich proposals, and decide whether to give the go-ahead at its next meeting in February.

"I can't anticipate how the executive committee will view the proposal," Mueller added. "But as an optimist I can say that UEFA is looking intensely at the idea and in December we'll be able to discuss the reality rather than merely speculate."

Changes to the Zurich stadium are still to be approved by the Zurich city government in March and then by a popular vote in June. Even then, the proposal could be scuppered if local residents appeal -- as happened with the Hardturm stadium.

The Swiss FA confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that it has also been looking at another potential stadium in the event that no Zurich stadium can be made available in time.

General secretary Peter Gillieron said talks had taken place with FC Sion about the possibility of staging Euro 2008 matches at the club's new stadium in the western town of Martigny.

Responding to UEFA's other concerns over stadium contracts, the Swiss FA said it had signed a tournament contract with the owners of Basel's St Jakob stadium and that similar contracts were to be signed with the other stadiums in Bern and Geneva.