The Euro 2012 Finals  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The competition is the last one to be sixteen teams as the subsequent one in 2016 will broaden to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.
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The fixtures will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues to have games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian venues will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.
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The final will take place in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the leading stadia and sporting complexes worldwide. The new stadium in Warsaw is also under construction and guarantees to be a state of the art arena.
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The draw for the finals has been held and qualifying games will get started just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will earn direct entry into the tournament. Following that the other 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.
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From Group A you would guess Germany and Turkey would be too solid with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.
Group B looks to be a three way contest between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.
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In Group C it looks like it will be comfortable for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.
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There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it probably will be Netherlands and Sweden.
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Croatia and Greece are the favorites with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.
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From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and finally from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.
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Qualifying draws to a close in October 2011 by which time passion and expectancy for the Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.
Tags: euro 2012, euro 2012 poland, uefa euro 2012, Ukraine euro 2012