All euro-2016 stadiums will be ready - Platini

UEFA President and former French soccer star Michel Platini gestures during a press conference after a meeting on the preparations for the European Championship 2016 in France.

UEFA President and former French soccer star Michel Platini gestures during a press conference after a meeting on the preparations for the European Championship 2016 in France.

Published Oct 23, 2012

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Paris - All stadiums selected to host matches in the 2016 European Championships will be ready in time, UEFA president Michel Platini insisted Tuesday.

“The federation will deliver them,” Platini said alongside fellow steering committee members, organising committee head Jacques Lambert, French football federation head Noel Le Graet, French Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron, and Maurice Vincent, the mayor of St Etienne acting as representative of the host cities.

“Euro-2012 is finished, long live Euro-2016,” Platini said, adding: “But pay attention, people badmouthed Ukraine and Poland but in the end it was a success beyond all expectations. They set the bar very high.”

Federation head Le Graet played down any fears over the stadiums, specifically in Lyon and Lens.

“Lyon will be completed. It's a stadium that is indispensable for French football,” Le Graet said of the planned 'Stade des Lumieres' (stadium of light).

“I'm very happy that work has got under way and I think it will be ready on time,” which should be mid-2015, according to Lyon club president Jean-Michel Aulas.

Le Graet added that concerns over the Lens stadium had been resolved, and that the eight other sites (Paris - Parc des Princes, Saint-Denis - Stade de France, Lille, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux and Toulouse) posed “no problem”.

The draw for the qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 will take place in Nice on March 9, 2014.

The qualifying phase for the tournament will run from September 2014 to November 2015.

Sapa-AFP

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