Wroclaw to the rescue for Poland - Portugal friendly?

President of the Polish Football Association Grzegorz Lato announced the back-up plan at a press conference in the capital on Tuesday.

“We must have an alternative,” he said.

“I am already in talks with the President of Wroclaw, Rafal Dutkiewicz,” he revealed.

The capital's new arena is one of the four Polish host venues for the forthcoming Euro 2012 tournament.

On Monday, the municipal fire brigade in Warsaw declined to grant a health and safety permit for the stadium, just days before the much-delayed inaugural opening on 29 January.

A pop concert was set to be held at the arena this Sunday. However, the fire brigade's negative decision was immediately endorsed by the Town Hall.

“I still hope that we will play in Warsaw,” Lato said yesterday, “as we need to test the National Stadium.”

He revealed that as far as the pitch itself was concerned, the turf was do to be installed by 10 February.

It is not the first time that a game has been thrown into jeopardy at the Warsaw venue,

“We already did a last minute move from Warsaw to Gdansk for the [6 September 2011] match with the Germans,” Lato noted.

“Now there are penalties in the contract if the match does not take place at the National Stadium,” he affirmed.

The alternative venue, the City Stadium in Wroclaw, is also set to host games in June's Euro 2012 tournament. (nh/pg)

Source: IAR