ZCZC
BSP-05
FBL-EURO-2020-ROU-ROMANIA-PREPARATIONS
Bucharest racing to be ready for Euro 2020 as draw arrives in town
BUCHAREST, Nov 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Bucharest holds the draw for the Euro
2020 group stage on Saturday but with just seven months to go until kickoff
in Romania, one of the tournament’s 12 host countries looks far from ready
both on and off the pitch.
Mirel Radoi took over as coach after Romania failed to make next summer’s
finals by the main qualification route and his new side will have to navigate
playoffs in March if they want to take their place.
Meanwhile the promised modernisation of the training facilities for the
four countries who will play in Bucharest during the tournament, where three
Group C matches and one last 16 game will take place, has been hit by a
series of delays.
The holdups have caused consternation among the public and the new centre-
right government.
“I’m disappointed that neither the stadiums nor the transport
infrastructure for tourists will be finished, and what about the state of
Romanian football?” said Alexandru, 38, when asked by AFP after his country’s
5-0 defeat to Spain in qualifying earlier this month.
Romania finished fourth in Group F, seven points away from the two spots
that would have automatically qualified them for the Euros, and have to get
past Iceland in their playoff semi-final in Reykjavik on March 26 before a
potential final in either Bulgaria or Hungary five days later.
Success in the playoffs would give Romania the chance to play three Group C
matches in their home country, with the Netherlands and Ukraine already
assured of their places in that group.
Off the field, Romania’s new prime minister Ludovic Orban has bemoaned the
frequent delays in pre-tournament preparations.
The leader of the pro-European National Liberal Party (PNL), which leads
Romania after the previous left-wing government collapsed in a no-confidence
vote in October, was gobsmacked at the state of the four sites after a visit
earlier this month.
“Work only started four years after the bid,” he lamented, implicitly
laying the blame at the door of the previous government.
Orban believes that only two of the four training bases will be completed
in time for the first group game to be hosted at the city’s 55,000-capacity
National Arena, scheduled for June 14.
– Handled ‘the Romanian way’ –
The foundations have only just been laid on the third facility, while a
legal wrangle means that work on the fourth is yet to begin.
“I was happy when I heard that we would be hosting matches, thinking that
we would finally have some new infrastructure in Bucharest. But we’ve handled
‘the Romanian way’,” says Adrian, 32, joking about his country’s inability to
fulfil its commitments.
Begun in October, the construction of a railway line that was supposed to
connect Bucharest’s Henri Coanda airport to the city’s Gara de Nord train
station is being hamstrung by protests from local residents.
However Florin Sari, the head of Romania’s organising committee for the
tournament, insisted that worries over lateness were unfounded, saying that
“we have come a long way and we’re on the home stretch”.
“The promised infrastructure was not required by UEFA, it was simply to
support our bid (to host matches),” he said, adding that the teams would be
able to use three other training facilities in the Bucharest suburbs if
necessary.
The multi-host format of this edition of the Euros, brought in to celebrate
the six decades since the competition’s creation in 1958, has given Romania’s
tourist industry cause to celebrate.
“We estimate that a total of 120,000 foreign tourists will spend at least
two days in Romania and will spend between 72 million euros and 96 million
euros ($79-$106 million),” Calin Ile, president of the Romanian hotel
industry federation (FIHR), told AFP.
Meanwhile some fans are still excited about their country hosting matches
from one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
“It’s still pretty cool,” says Iulian, 31. “We have the chance to watch all
these games here, and that’s not something can do every year.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/0902 hrs