FAI will not re-enter race to stage Euro 2008

FAI chief executive Fran Rooney made it clear yesterday that the association would not be re-entering the race to stage the 2008 European Championships even if UEFA takes the event away from Austria and Switzerland because of growing doubts about their ability to deliver the eight stadiums required.

"It's only a matter of speculation at the moment," said Rooney, "but in the event that there was an opportunity to re-engage in the bidding process it's very likely that the lack of progress on our own stadium and the time frame involved now would have a negative bearing on any assessment of our options."

The Irish end of the joint bid to stage the championships with Scotland failed to make the selection committee's shortlist last December. And even if there were any enthusiasm within Merrion Square for entering a reopened race to stage the competition, it seems unlikely UEFA, having stripped the Austrians and Swiss due to their problems with delivering venues, would turn around and give even a quarter of it to an association which is no closer to securing a home of its own almost a year on from the conclusion of the original bidding process.

The question of whether bidding might be reopened arises as a result of the problems being encountered in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt, where three games are supposed to be staged in a new 32,000 seat stadium.

The original arrangements put in place to provide the required around €40 million have fallen apart, with local government officials describing the plan put together by a group called Deutsche Arena as "laughable" after it emerged that, amongst other things, a Swiss firm said to be interested in putting €60 million into this and other related projects does not exist.

Klagenfurt's mayor, Harald Scheucher, is now hoping to persuade a UEFA delegation due to visit his town today on a fact-finding mission that the project can be salvaged by a substantial injection of public funds.

Matters have been further complicated, however, by the involvement of far-right politician Joerg Haider, who is both the president of local club, FC Kaernten, and the regional governor. Haider has said that Austria "should not be disgraced internationally because of Klagenfurt", but his rivals still fear he will make political capital if such significant funds are diverted in order to save the project.

This is the second controversy to hit the Swiss-Austrian organising committee since they beat Hungary into second place in the race to stage the competition.

Plans for a new ground in Zurich, a 30,000-capacity venue intended to stage three matches during the championships, have been repeatedly hit by planning problems and doubts persist over whether any games will be played in the city. The Swiss, however, are confident they can produce an alternative if required to do so.

The three-man UEFA committee which has been viewing other sites in Austria during the week will seek clarification on the latest position in Klagenfurt today, but its leader, Jurgen Muller, said that, at this stage, the problem remains one for the Austrians to resolve.

UEFA have refused to comment on the situation, but rather than falling back on an impressive but highly ambitious bid from Hungary as a realistic alternative, or reopen a process in which none of Europe's major football powers participated, it seems most likely the organisation will allow the Austrians and Swiss a good deal more time to resolve their problems before turning to the likes of Spain, France or Italy to take on the project at relatively short notice.