Euro 2008 organisers narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat on Sunday when voters in the Swiss capital Berne gave their cautious support to the tournament.
Just over 52 percent of voters were in favour of a contribution of 5.6 million Swiss francs ($4.5 million) by the city government towards the cost of staging three group stage matches in the capital.
Local politicians and tournament organisers had warned before the vote that a negative outcome would almost certainly have seen the matches being moved to another location.
"I'm not surprised by how tight it was in the end, because I always said it would be a narrow vote," Berne mayor Alexander Tschappat told Reuters shortly after the results were announced.
"Still, a shot that hits the post and then goes in the goal still counts as a goal.
"Berne has a great passion for sport but I think you will always have these kind of political discussions when it comes to public funding for events that also involve private organisations like UEFA or FIFA."
The city's main political parties had all come out in favour of the government payment, but a small committee of green and left-wing politicians had urged voters to reject it -- arguing that public money was being used to boost profits at European soccer's governing body UEFA.
"Of course it's disappointing to lose by such a narrow margin," committee member Daniele Jenni told Reuters. "But with so many of the political parties stacked against us we are delighted that we were able to garner so much support.
"We think it is a clear sign that the authorities have to be careful how they spend taxpayers' money and that they should not just follow the diktat of big sports organisations."
Berne is the only one of the eight Euro 2008 host cities that is expected to vote on the staging of the tournament.
Zurich, Geneva and Basel are the other Swiss cities involved, while Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt are hosting the Austrian side of the tournament.Labels: football news, news |
