The English FA have announced that the England team at Euro 2012 will be based in the historic city of Krakow in Poland . The team will stay at the city centre Hotel Stary close to Rynek Square in the Old Town district and train at the rather dilapidated Hutnik Municipality Stadium on the city's outskirts. Krakow is Poland's second largest city after Warsaw, the capital, and is Poland's major cultural and artistic centre. Krakow is not one of Poland's Euro 2012 venue cities and is a five hour train journey (with no beer on sale) to Wroclaw. Tags Euro 2012 football

On Sunday night, London's Royal Festival Ha ll hosted an unusual football event. While three big screens played the infamous 1973 England v Poland W o rld Cup qualif ier in its entirety , a n ensemble of Polish folk, classical and rock musicians belted out a boisterous soundtrack to accompany it. Huge Aston Villa banners slung along the sides of the Clore Ballroom gave a clue as to the evening's instigator - Nigel Kennedy , the enfant terrible of UK classical musi c who became a household name in Britain twenty ye ars ago for his unusual image: A yobby football lad, albeit with a mockney accent, wh o at the same time brought Vivaldi to the masses with the elan and sophistication of the finest musicians. Instead of a violin case, Kennedy preferred a carrier bag, instead of black tie, a Villa shirt. An indication of how big Kenned y had become was that he was flown out to Sardinia during Italia '90 to entertain the England s quad with a flourish of the Four Seasons. Football still clearly matters for him as he took the stag e in a Villa shirt wit h 'Agbonlahor' on the back, and alongside the claret and blue were the red and white stripes of KS Cracovia, his adopted Polish club (he lives in Krakow with his Polish wif e.) For 'Nigel Kennedy's World Cup Project', the now middle-aged wild one, s till sporting his trademark quiff, jammed with the at times industrial roar of hi s Polish entourage, while the time capsule of the famously fated qualifier played out above them. Some Polish lads had come with shirts and scarves as if for a real match, cheering and clapping every wonder save from 'the clown' (as Brian Clough famously called him), Jan Tomaszewski . The match itself was fascinating, even if the result was known beforehand. England needed t o win to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and deserved to progress in terms of the enth usiasm and physical endeavour they displayed at Wembley. But despite laying siege to the Polish goal and peppering Tomazsewski until he sneezed, Alf Ramsay's men could only draw 1-1. Poland went to Germany; England stayed at home and Ramsay, England's so far only World Cup-winning coach, got the sack. The attack-attack-attack style England played that night created many a six- yard box scramble and last-ditch Polish tackle, but despite the overwhelming dominance of England, the Polish net only billowed once. I could not help feeling a good team today would take a mor e psychological approach and try to draw the opposition out and hit them on the counter once it was clear they were going to stick every man behind the ball and play for a point. Top-level football today is about playing in phases - understanding when to funnel men into attack, when to put men behind the ball and when to frustrate and tire out your opponents by maintaining possession. This 1973 England had but a single phase - an attacking one, which soon became predictable as one ball after another was lobbed into the box or thump ed down the channels. From a spectator's point of view it may have been fun to watch one team trying to scorch the other from the off, but the joy of a high-octane opening would become a frustrating toil by the end as the Polish woodwork wallowed in its charmed life and England huffed and puffed increasingly desperately. Kennedy's men strummed and stroked and drummed away happily, but almost oblivious to the events on-screen; not a silent film accompaniment, rather background music amplified so loud the matc h became a distraction high above. An odd evening therefore, but hats off to Kenn edy for flying football colours in unfamiliar surroundings, and reminding us of how far, or not, England has come in 37 years. England 1:1 Poland , 17th Oct 1973, Wembley, Att: 100,000 England - Shilton, McFarland, Hughes, Hunter, Madeley, Currie, Bell, Peters, Chivers, Channon, Clarke Poland - Tomaszewski, Szymanowski, Bulzacki, Gorgon, Musial, Kasperczak, Cmikiewicz, Denya, Lato, Domarski, Gadocha (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

UEFA EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw (top seeds in bold) Group A: Germany , Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Group B: Russia , Slovakia, Eire, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra Group C: Italy , Serbia, N.Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands Group D: France , Romania, Bosnia-Hrzg., Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg Group E: Netherlands , Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, S an M arino Group F: Croatia , Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta Group G: England , Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro Group H: Portugal , Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland Group I: Spain , Czech Rep., Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein The nine group winners and best runner-up qualify automatically . The eight remaining second-place teams play-off to decide the final four qualifiers. Ties take place between September 2010 and November 2011. PALACE OF CULTURE & SCIENCE, WARSAW - Like Georgia & Russia, Armenia & Azerbaijan could not be drawn against each other for political reasons, so it was a humorous moment when Polish soccer legend Zbigniew Boniek kick-started the afternoon by drawing the Caucasian neighbours against each other. Boniek picked the teams along with compatriot Andrzek Szarmach and Ukrainian legends Oleg Blokhin and Andriy Shevchenko. Little stirred amongst the watching press pack and UEFA blazers until the final pot containing Europe's big guns was opened. Germany will renew acquaintances with two familiar countries it knocked out of Euro 2008 - Austria and Turke y. The clash with Turkey is sure to be hot one given the huge Anatolian expat presence in Germany; Belgium will hope to sneak in behind these neighbourly disputes as it seeks to become one of the major Euro pean footballing nations again, as it was in the 1980s. Group B's drawing provided the biggest sighs in the hall as all neutrals were p raying for a repeat of France against the Republic of Ireland. Russia were drawn instead and wil l be eager to bounce back after missing the boat for South Africa; Slovakia, the only World Cup qualifier among them, provide the m ain opposition to those two. Italy's Marcello Lippi chose to stay at h ome, leaving Angelo Petruzzi to answer questions, and Lippi will be pleasantly surprised, although World Cup qualifiers Serbia and Slovenia will provide real tests for the Azzurri awa y from home. France in reality got lucky with a kind draw: Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina are far from the worst teams they could have faced. Group E should be no trouble for the Netherlands, while Sweden and Hungary renew acquaintances after their mutually unsuccessful World Cup qualifying attempts. Sweden also have a Scandinavian border derby wi th Finland to look forward to. Euro 2004 winners Greece have an even chance of r eturning to the finals having been drawn into a balanced-looking group containing Croatia, Israel, Latvia and Georgia, while England will be confident of topping Group G ahead of Switzerland. Fabio Capello's men also have a mini return to the days of the Home Championship with Wales to play twice. Winning Group H looks tough for Portugal, who struggled in the World Cup qualifiers; Carlos Queiroz is surely hoping the local derbies between Denmark and Norway end in two ties. Finally, reigning champions Spain should have safe passage from Group I where the Czechs and the Scots will battle it out for second place. Europe's middle-ranking nations still provide the occasional shock such as Ukraine's quarter-final finish in the 2006 World Cup or Turkey's semi-final run at Euro 2008, but there do not seem to be enough sleeping giants to call any of the groups a group of death. As of now, the lineup for 2012 right now looks like being the cast of usual suspects. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

WARSAW, EURO 2012 Qualifying Draw As if worrying about Ukraine's hotels, roads and airports was not enough, UEFA President Michel Platini had other questions to answer in his press conference on the eve of the European Championship qualifying draw. Depressingly, four separate English journalists asked him the same question in different wording about John Terry's sex scandal, speciously implying a parallel with the one in 1982 when France sent Jean-Francois Larios home from the World Cup after he had been seeing Platini's wife. Thankfully the French legend was made of stronger stuff than to lower himself to those hacks' baiting, but seemed to lose patience eventually by replying 'I really don't care', which was met by applause by some non-Anglo writers. Platini did deflect a question about misbehaving rich stars by alluding to his plan to ban insolvent clubs from UEFA competitions. "What annoys me are the clubs who pay these high salaries when they don’t have the money," he made a point of telling the hall. Platini had started the press conference by referring to the continued uncertainly over the host nations' suitability in many eyes. "We are working on it...these things will develop," he semi-reassured the gathered media, whose experience of snowbound Warsaw has probably been a shock after the effortless charm of Vienna in the summer of 2008. After many deadlines, the eight venues are now at last "final" according to Platini, but o ne journalist still asked if Krakow, with its tourist infrastructure, might not yet replace one of the Ukrainian venues: The UEFA President said that was a matter for the national associations. The spread of stadia still looks daunting. In the media guide, train journey times are listed with the transfer between Gdansk and Donetsk taking a whopping 30hours at best... Then came the question of extra referees, with Platini defending his preference for more referees over more use of cameras. "I'm really a fan of the human method (of refereeing) rather than the technological method," he explained, adding he didn't want to let cameras run the officiating and noting that basketball had added extra officials over time. This led inevitably to Thierry Henry and Platini was quick to defend the referee in question from opprobrium: " The ref could not see a hand," he said. "It was a problem of refereeing rather than the referee – he is not to blame, though you could all see it on television." A rematch between the French and Irish in the qualifiers is one he would welcome, however. "Yes, I would love that," Platini smiled. In reality that would not produce anything like the sort of tension which led UEFA to extraordinarily add two political caveats to tomorrow's draw: Old enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot meet each other and neither can Georgia and Russia, following their military fracas two years ago. The introduction of what he called "geopolitics" into football was interesting. Russia's looming presence as former guardian of Ukraine and the controller of Europe's gas supplies has allegedly been the reason Ukraine kept its hosting prize when it looks in no shape to be ready in time. "To avoid political problems, we don't want to mix sport up with politics," explained Platini, in self-conscious equivocation. What was that draw caveat if not political then? Platini has a lot on his plate all right, but seems well able to manage. Shortly having taken over the job from Lennart Johansson, Platini confessed, "I quickly realised I was dealing with different mindsets and different philosophies, from Siberia all the way to Portugal." 53 nations' coaches will assemble tomorrow in the Palace of Culture and Science, although Italy's Marcello Lippi will apparently not be there because he wants to watch Serie A games. Unusually, some qualifiers will be played on Fri/Tues instead of Sat/Weds for 2012, but otherwise the format is familiar with six graded pots of teams to select six groups of six and three of five. The nine group winners and best runners-up qualify automatically and the remaining eight runners-up have playoffs to decide four teams to go through. Poland and Ukraine qualify automatically as hosts. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

Here amid the palatial surroundings of the Palace of Culture and Science, a Stalinist skyscraper which towers over the Polish capital, UEFA President Michel Platini has just met the press ahead of tomorrow's UEFA 2012 Qualifying Draw . Platini's welcome to the tournament however w as slightly stained by repetitive questions from English journalists about the John Terry affair. Four separate reporters from football's homeland saw fit to probe him for his views on the matter, causing the UEFA President to eventually spout out, "Je m'en fous completement" - 'I really don't care!' The subtext to these interrogations was a similar case involving Platini in 1982. For the World Cup in Spain, midfielder Jean-Francois Larios had been picked for the French squad alongside his St Etienne teammate. Larios started France's opening 1-3 defeat to England, playing 73 minutes before being replaced by Jean Tigana, but was then promptly dropped by coach Michel Hidalgo after reports surfaced about an affair with Platini's wife. The resemblances to Terry's travails were too juicy a cherry for England's ta bloidy media to miss. But to tell the truth I felt embarrassed to be from the same country as them after they kept poking a man who was plainly was not going to take the bait. Expect Fabio Capello to be grilled on Terrygate rather than th e draw tomorrow. When the English tabloids choose to follow a story, they pursue it come what may. I can't stand Premier League press conferences where the clique of established hack s force their agenda through at the expense of a wider set of question s. Non Fleet Street reporters like me are frozen out with no time to ask what we want to: This is journalism rather than reporting. Today was supposed to be about Poland and the Ukraine's first chance to host a football tournament and the English hacks tried to make it about sex. I am on Platini's side: The football is just more interesting and i mpo rtant than the tittle-tattle. And I began to wonder whether this sort of dis-repecting the game contributes to England's wider lack of clout in global football politics. We are trying to p ersuade the world, or more specifically the 24 members of FIFA's Executive Committee , including a certain M.Platini, to back us for the 2018 World Cup, but our journalists are showing no respect to the FOOTBALL above all. "It's your problem in England," Platini finally said, half-exasperated. " I thought I had come here to talk about the Euros, not the problems of each country's media." Hear, hear. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Soccer News football

Poland and Ukraine will host the 2012 European Championships. Poland and Ukraine's joint bid beat out favorites Italy and the joint Croatia and Hungary bid. Despite a recent match-fixing scandal in Poland, 3rd favorites Poland and Ukraine's joint bid got the nod from UEFA in a major shock. The 2012 tournament will be played in four Ukrainian cities (Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kiev and Lviv) and among four of six possible Polish venues (Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Chorzow). Kiev's Olympic Stadium with a capacity of 80,000 will be the venue for the final.

Fans finally did it. Feyenoord kicked out of the UEFA Cup The notorious Feyenoord ultras have finally dealt a fatal blow to the club they supposedly love. UEFA has banned the Dutch club from the UEFA Cup because of violent incidents caused by Feyenoord fans in Nancy. The raging supporters even forced the referee to stop the game for several minutes. Even though Feyenoord were to be just fined and have their stadium closed for two years, the UEFA's Appeal Committee decided to increase the sentence. Twice the UEFA Cup winners and once European champions, Feyenoord have become one of the biggest clubs to suffer the ignominy of UEFA suspension, Real Madrid, Milan, Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split having also been punished in this way because of their fans' conduct.