Medical challenges being met

With UEFA EURO 2012 now in full swing, UEFA medical representatives have been assisting local stadium and medical service operators by conducting stadium medical checks to ensure the service provided to visiting teams and spectators meets requirements.

The first matches at every stadium were attended before and during the match to review the provision of pitch-side medical services for players and officials, ambulances and medical posts for spectators, and the overall co-ordination of emergency care. These inspections are the culmination of considerable work by the local medical service, stadium operators and the UEFA Medical Committee over the last few years to ensure that stadiums are ready to meet the challenge of safely hosting UEFA EURO 2012 matches.

"For UEFA it is really important that matches at EURO meet the standards that the teams, the players, and the spectators expect," said UEFA Medical Committee chairman Michel D'Hooghe. "There has been an extremely impressive commitment by Poland and Ukraine to ensure that their stadiums are safe venues, equipped and staffed with medical personnel at the level that one would expect of any top stadium. Our inspections are the last stage of the preparation process, fine-tuning a notable effort by stadium operators and, in particular, the LOC medical teams to provide a high-quality medical EURO."

All UEFA EURO 2012 matches are equipped to adhere to UEFA's minimum medical requirements, which ensure the availability of defibrillators, oxygen, stretchers, airway equipment and other life-saving equipment for anyone who may need treatment. These standards will become mandatory for all UEFA matches from the start of the 2012/13 season and reflect the work of the UEFA Medical Committee in promoting the optimum health of players.

"It has been impressive to see on all our inspections how the stadiums have risen to the challenge of providing a high-class medical service," said Professor Stewart Hillis, UEFA tournament general medical officer for Poland. "Services are planned, organised and implemented to the kind of standards that one would expect at a tournament of this size and profile. Of course no one wants medical cases to arise, but they do happen within football stadia both to players or spectators. Our aim is to ensure that when this happens, the stadium is equipped to manage the situation. Poland and Ukraine are certainly prepared to do this."