体坛英语新闻：UEFA worried about Polish football rowdies

WARSAW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- UEFA Wednesday voiced concern about Poland's highly aggressive stadium rowdies, calling them "a huge image problem" in connection with Poland's co-organization (with Ukraine) of the 2012 European Football Championship, local media reported.

UEFA especially referred to last Friday's fan riots during a Lithuania-Poland friendly in Kaunas, Lithuania, in wake of which Lithuanian police arrested 60 Polish rowdies.

At a conference, UEFA's Euro 2012 commissioner Martin Kallen mentioned the rowdy problem and pointed out that Polish football rowdies were "active".

"We saw what happened in Kaunas on Friday. This is a huge image problem for Poland," Kallen warned. He added that UEFA was monitoring the situation and praised the Polish government for undertaking steps against stadium rowdyism.

UEFA's Polish Euro 2012 commissioner Michal Listkiewicz has assured that rowdies will not interfere with the tournament.

"We just won't let them onto the stadiums," Listkiewicz said, adding that the events in Kaunas should not be linked with Euro 2012.

The Euro 2012 soccer championship, to be hosted by Poland and Ukraine from June 8 to July 1, 2012, will take place in four Polish cities of Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan as well as four Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Lvov, Donetsk and Kharkov.