Said UEFA president, Lennart Johansson (pictured): “Contrary to recent media reports, all bids for the hosting of Euro 2008 will be treated equally and fairly and will have the same chance of success when the final decision is made by the UEFA Executive Committee members on December 12 in Nyon.
“I am unhappy to see that some of my recent comments to the press were taken out of context and appear to have been used to try and gain an unfair advantage for certain competing bids by demeaning other bids. Actions such as these do not help the bidding process and spoil the climate in the run-up to the decision.”
Johansson was referring in particular to an interview conducted with a Swiss-French newspaper which implied that Johansson had said the bids from Greece/Turkey and Russia would be viewed less favourably, following respectively the crowd trouble at the UEFA Cup match between FenerbahC'e SK and Panathinaikos FC and the Moscow theatre siege. The UEFA president said there was no implication that these events may have any effect on the chances of the two bids.
There are seven candidates bidding to host the UEFA European Football Championship in 2008; Austria/Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia, Greece/Turkey, Hungary, the Denmark/Finland/Norway/Sweden bid known as Nordic 2008, Russia, and finally the Scotland/Republic of Ireland bid.
