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UEFA files legal action over Euro 2012 rigged vote allegations

31 October 2010 00:13 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Union of European Football Associations confirmed on Saturday that it had filed legal action in Switzerland and Cyprus following allegations made surrounding the voting in 2007 for hosting UEFA Euro 2012, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
UEFA lodged a legal complaint against Spyros Marangos, treasurer of the Cyprus Football Association, who claims that five UEFA top officials received 11 million euros for voting for the right of Ukraine and Poland to host Euro 2012.
"UEFA has been obliged to take legal action firstly in order to establish whether any of the claims made by Mr Marangos have any substance to them, and therefore to make available any tangible elements in order to substantiate these claims. And secondly, to protect the integrity and the good name of UEFA and European football in general, which have been seriously damaged by these allegations," UEFA said in a statement.
The joint bid by Poland and Ukraine was chosen by the UEFA’s Executive Committee on April 18, 2007 in Cardiff, Wales, defeating the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary. The Poland/Ukraine bid received a total of eight votes and Italy received the remaining four while the Croatia/Hungary bid failed to win a single vote.