UEFA bans smoking at Euro 2012

Smoking will be banned at the Euro 2012 football championships in Poland and Ukraine, the sport’s governing body in Europe said Thursday. UEFA said was enforcing “a complete ban on the use, sale of promotion of tobacco” at all stadiums involved in next summer’s tournament. Poland and especially Ukraine have notoriously high smoking prevalence rates, but both have taken steps to combat it over the last few years. The regulation will apply to all spaces within stadium perimeters, both indoors and out, the Swiss-based body said. “A tobacco-free Euro 2012 is about respecting the health of our spectators and everyone else involved in the tournament,” president Michel Platini was quoted by UEFA’s website as saying. Poland and Ukraine are providing four cities each for the competition, which kicks off June 8 and ends in Kiev on July 1. Some Euro 2012 stadiums such as the Donbass Arena in the east of Ukraine have already banned smoking, but with varying degrees of success.