Euro 2012 finals to head east

Updated 15.20 Wed Apr 18 2007

Keywords: Ukraine and Poland, Euro 2012, Uefa, football, sport

The 2012 European Football Championships will be heading east after Poland and the Ukraine's joint bid beat off competition from Italy.

Croatia and Hungary had also combined to bid for the tournament but it is that of Poland and Ukraine which has triumphed.

Italy were seen as favourites to stage Euro 2012 but their bid was overshadowed by last season's referee corruption scandal and their on-going problems with football-related crowd trouble

Italy were seen as favourites to stage Euro 2012 but their bid was overshadowed by last season's referee corruption scandal and their on-going problems with football-related crowd trouble.

However, the winning bidders pulled out all the stops with an impressive presentation to Uefa's executive committee in Cardiff.

The likes of Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko, Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek, world heavyweight boxing champions Vitali Klitschko, former pole vault Olympic champion Sergei Bubka and Ukraine president Victor Yushchenko all made appearances.

The decision marks the first step in new Uefa president Michel Platini's plan to spread the benefits of the game throughout the whole of Europe.