Post by LesT on Jan 29, 2005 23:11:03 GMT
Advertisement
Hungary and Croatia have announced a joint bid to host the Euro 2012 football tournament, it was revealed on Friday.
Other countries hoping to organise those 16-nation European championships are Italy, Greece and Romania, plus a joint bid from Poland and Ukraine.
European football's governing body UEFA is expected to announce the host nation in December 2006.
Zagreb would host the opening game while the final would be played in Budapest. Both candidate countries have in the past submitted unsuccessful bids to host the continental championships.
Vlatko Markovic, president of the Croatian football federation, told Hungarian news agency MTI: "I secretly think this bid is the favourite as it is Croatia's second and Hungary's third candidacy for the continental tournament."
Portugal played host to Euro 2004 while Austria and Switzerland will jointly organize the championships in 2008.