UEFA Praises Euro 2012 As 'Big Success'

UEFA's Euro 2012 Director Martin Kallen

European football's governing body, UEFA, says high ticket sales and a large influx of tourists contributed to making the Euro 2012 tournament co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland a "big success."

UEFA operations director Martin Kallen is quoted as saying during a visit to Warsaw that the June 8-July 1 tournament drew 1.44 million fans and marked the first time a Euro tournament had sold "100 percent" of its tickets.

The match with the highest attendance, the June 15 Sweden-England contest in Kyiv, saw a turnout of 64,640 fans.

Euro 2012, which marked the first major international sporting event to be hosted by the two post-communist countries, had been dogged early on by concerns about high accommodation costs, poor organization, and the threat of racist violence.

Based on reporting by uefa.com and AFP