Attendees at the ceremony included UEFA President Michel Platini, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, President Viktor Yushchenko, and Grigoriy Surkis, President of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv were also confirmed as Ukrainian host cities.

The announcement was made at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Funchal, Madeira.

UEFA have previously issued warnings on Ukraine’s ability to host matches and made threats to relocate some or all of the matches to co-hosts Poland.

Concerns were raised about the suitability and number of hotels, and the state of roads and railways.

UEFA President Michel Platini said ‘In September, we had to reserve our opinion on three of the four candidate cities in Ukraine – considerable progress needed to be made. I can say to you that today, thanks to the enormous efforts and great sacrifices undertaken by the Ukrainian government, we can finally give the green light to a symmetrical tournament with four cities in Poland – Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan and Gdansk – and four cities in Ukraine – Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk. The final will take place in Kiev.’

The tournament is scheduled to be hosted in both Ukraine (Kiev, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv) and Poland (Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, and Gdansk), with the final being held at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.

However, following a meeting in Bucharest yesterday the UEFA Executive Committee issued a statement confirming only the four Polish cities and Kiev as hosts.

A review of the Ukrainian host cities revealed serious shortcomings in the stadiums, transport infrastructure, and hotel accommodations. Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv have until November 30 to prove their suitability as host cities. Furthermore, Kiev was not confirmed as the venue for the final.

Should the Ukrainian cities not meet the UEFA’s criteria by the deadline they will not be appointed host cities, throwing the organisation of the tournament into disarray.

Projects to construct stadiums and infrastructure have suffered due to political instability in both countries. The countries were chosen as joint hosts in April last year. Neither country has hosted a major football competition before.