Poland´s Euro 2012 stadium chief has resigned

The man charged with overseeing the building of Warsaw’s football stadium in time for the Euro 2012 championships has resigned under media pressure, the country’s sports minister said on Wednesday.

Sports minister Miroslaw Drzewiecki said Michal Borowski had stepped down as head of the National Sports Centre, a public body organising and building the national stadium in the capital, and had been replaced by Rafal Kapler.

Last month, a UEFA delegation visited Poland and co-host Ukraine amid growing fears that the countries would not be ready in time for Europe’s footballing gala in 2012.

The team from European football’s governing body, including UEFA chief Michel Platini, gave a tentative thumbs-up, despite the massive logistical and infrastructural difficulties.

Drzewiecki moved quickly on Wednesday to quell any fears that Borowski’s resignation would hamper the progress of building plans, saying he had already spoken with representatives at UEFA.

Borowski had been in the spotlight for days, as a string of Polish newspapers blasted him for allegedly having in 2003-2007 combined a job at Warsaw city hall with posts in several private firms in Sweden. Borowski has denied the media reports.

While there has been no suggestion of any actual impropriety on Borowski’s part, Polish law bars public servants from simultaneously working in the private sector.

Borowski’s replacement Kapler is currently deputy head of PL2012, the company responsible for Poland’s nationwide organisation of the tournament.

The arena is being constructed on the site of a defunct communist-era stadium near the banks of the River Vistula in central Warsaw, at an estimated cost of 1.2 billion zlotys (374 million euros, 578 million dollars), and is due to open in 2011.

In April 2007, Poland and Ukraine were UEFA’s surprise pick to host the quadrennial, 16-nation championships, beating Italy and joint bidders Hungary and Croatia.

The move raised eyebrows in the football world because neither the Poles nor Ukrainians have hosted a major tournament before.

There have been major concerns about the ability of both ex-communist states to meet the massive challenge of building the required stadiums and upgrading their transport and hotel sectors in time.

Platini, who had repeatedly been sounding the alarm about the state of readiness, last month set both hosts a final deadline to prove their mettle: they have until UEFA’s next executive committee session, scheduled in the French city of Bordeaux on September 25-26.