THE FAI HAVE paid the deposit and booked the accommodation for next summer’s European Championships adventure.
And they’ve chosen Gdynia as the team’s base.
Manager Giovanni Trapattoni and asistant Marco Tardelli were in Poland this week to look at prospective locations.
The Sheraton Sopot Hotel was previously provisionally booked by Sweden’s national side, but when they were drawn in a Ukraine-based group, they cancelled.
The five-star facility is on the beach in the tourist hotspot, Sopot. The town is outside Gdansk – where the Boys in Green will take on European and world champions Spain.
“I am very happy that that we have been able to secure Gdynia as a base camp for Euro 2012,” said Trapattoni. “This base meets and exceeds all of our criteria, having a good training ground, being close to the airport and being based in Poland. The hotel and training facilities are excellent and provide us with a well positioned base with all of the facilities required for the championships.”
The squad will train at the the Municipal Stadium in Gdynia, a new ground with a capacity of 15,000.
The FAI say that the decision came ‘after site visits of more than 15 options across Poland and the Ukraine and extensive research carried out over the past three months with UEFA, the Local Organising Committee in Poland and Abbey Travel’.
Ireland were drawn in Group C, seven days ago Kiev, along with the aforementioned Spanish, Croatia and Trap’s home country of Italy.
