Poland and Ukraine will co-host the 2012 European Championship, REPORTED AP. UEFA overlooked the favorite Italy and a joint bid from Croatia and Hungary on Wednesday to award the continental championships to the former eastern bloc for the first time since Yugoslavia in 1976. UEFA president Michel Platini announced the winner at Cardiff City Hall after a private meeting of 12 members of the executive committee. «It will be a milestone in the common history of two Slavic nations,» Poland soccer federation president Michal Listkiewicz said. Poland and Ukraine won the right to host the tournament in the first round of balloting, collecting eight votes to Italy's four. The Croatia-Hungary bid failed to win a single vote. «Within five years we will build a new country and we won't have a better opportunity to do so,» Ukraine soccer federation president Hrihoriy Surkis said. Chelsea's Ukrainian striker, Andriy Shevchenko, and Liverpool's Polish goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek, supported the bid at a presentation from the two former Communist countries. Ukraine's ex-world heavyweight boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, and its former Olympic pole vault champion, Sergei Bubka, were in Cardiff for the vote, along with Ukraine President Victor Yushchenko. «I'm happy they trusted us,» Bubka said. «I don't see any problems, everything will be done in time. We need this and this decision will accelerate the development of
