WARSAW - UEFA president Michel Platini has hinted that Poland may have to host the 2012 European Championship on its own if construction of co-host Ukraine's national stadium is delayed.

Platini, who said on Wednesday that he had full confidence that preparations in Poland and neighboring Ukraine were on track, also downplayed earlier suggestions from Polish football officials that Germany could step in as host in case of delays.

'Germany? Only if bulldozers are still working on the site of the National Stadium in Warsaw in June 2012,' Platini told the Dziennik daily. 'But that's rather impossible.' But Ukraine's capital of Kiev is 'another matter,' he said.

'If the city does not make it on time with its stadium, there is a possibility that the Euros will take place only in Poland,' Platini was quoted as saying.

Last month, Ukraine reorganized its agencies responsible for building stadiums, hotels and infrastructure in order to speed up preparations after UEFA warned of delays.

Dziennik quoted Platini as praising progress in Poland after a recent meeting with Poland's news football association head Grzegorz Lato, who made the suggestion in September that Germany could stand in Ukraine's place.

'All is going according to plan. Not too slow and not too fast.

You are more and more like a Swiss watch,' Platini said.

Thousands of supportive pillars are being pounded into ground for Warsaw's basket-shaped stadium that is to hold 55,000 fans.

Construction is scheduled to be finished in mid-2011.

Anastasia Krychyhina, a spokesman for Ukraine's sports ministry, said construction on the stadium in Kiev began on Dec. 1 after workers tore down a nearby business centre.

The chairman of Ukraine's organising committee, Evhen Chervonenko, said in late October that construction on hotels were also behind schedule because of the a liquidity crunch caused by the global financial crisis. -- AP