Football championships in for tough times

The conservative newspaper Lidove Noviny fears that the "safe times" are over for football's powers that be: "No sooner have the Euro 2008 championships ended than alarm bells are going off at UEFA. The delays in preparation for the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine are alarming. The reconstruction of the stadium in Kiev has not yet begun, and the Warsaw arena still exists only on the drawing board. Security was the major concern for football organisers in recent years. And from an organisational point of view, practically every went off without a hitch at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the European Championships that have just ended in Austria and Switzerland. But now the championships are in for tougher times. That goes for the above-mentioned European Championships in the former East Bloc as well as for the next World Cup in South Africa, a country shaken by criminal unrest. ... This is a sign for the Czech Republic. Organising at least the European Championships should pose no problem here."

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