After having tapped previous football tournament hosts for tips, Poland's Euro 2012 organisers are now offering advice to upcoming World Cup venues Brazil and Qatar.
PL.2012, the Polish organisational arm of the looming European championship, said it was playing host this week to delegates from Brazil and Qatar, which will host the 2014 and 2022 World Cup respectively.
"We have a month and a half until Euro 2012 kicks off, and we're in the testing phase, before moving to full operational readiness," said PL.2012 spokesman Mikolaj Piotrowski.
"The Polish institutions responsible for preparing Euro 2012 have used the experience of previous international sports event hosts, so we're pleased to organise a visit for observers from Brazil and Qatar," he said.
"We believe we have valuable knowledge to pass on to the future World Cup hosts," he added.
The Brazilian and Qatari delegates are meeting with officials from PL.2012, Poland's sports ministry, the country's four European championship host cities, Warsaw airport and the capital's stadium.
Topics on the agenda include how to handle a massive influx of fans, organise a network of volunteers to smooth things during a championship, and the economic impact of a tournament.
Russia, which will host the 2018 World Cup, has also been taking advice from Poland.
Polish organisers themselves took tips from Austria and Switzerland, hosts of Euro 2008, as well as Germany and South Africa, which ran the World Cup in 2006 and 2010 respectively.
Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw on June 8 and ends with the final on July 1 in Kiev, capital of Poland's co-host Ukraine.
Source: AFP
