Hamburg - Italy are seen as favourites to host the Euro 2012 football tournament, but like other bidders they have been plagued by domestic problems ahead of Wednesday's vote.

The ongoing corruption scandal and the death of a policeman during fan riots have not helped Italy's bid to win the tournament for the second time since 1980.

Italy are competing against joint bids from Hungary/Croatia and Poland/Ukraine to win the vote from the 14-strong UEFA executive board led by president Michel Platini on Wednesday in Cardiff.

According to UEFA vice-president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder of Germany, the final presentation before the UEFA officials on Tuesday can be vital.

'Emotions play a big role in football. This is the chance for all candidates at the presentation,' said Mayer-Vorfelder.

This was highlighted ahead of the vote for the 2004 edition, where outsiders Portugal got the UEFA officials on their side and eventually won the vote over favoured Spain.

Austria and Switzerland will host the 2008 edition which could work in Italy's favour as UEFA may prefer one nation instead of two in 2012.

Italy hosted the Euro finals in 1968 in the old four-team format and again in 1980, when the event was played as a proper tournament with eight teams in two groups for the first time. Italy won the World Cup a fourth time last year and has also hosted that event twice, in 1934 and 1990.

But the corruption scandal around officials from Juventus and other clubs which widened last week may hurt the bid. So could the fan violence which culminated in the death of a policeman during riots in Catania earlier this year.

Italian football supremo Giancarlo Abete has promised a tough stand of his body FIGC on the issues while bid committee chief Luca Pancalli hopes that winning Euro 2012 can help overcome the problems.

'Euro 2012 is not just a sports event. It offers a chance to win back the credit Italian football is looking for right now,' said Pancalli.

FIGC has also agreed to introduce stewards in the stadiums to take care of the fans after riot police police reportedly dealt harshly with Manchester United fans during a Champions League match in Rome's Olympic stadium. The force used drew criticism from UEFA and others.

The Euro tournament would also offer Italy a chance for a badly- needed renovation of its stadiums. Matches are to be played in Rome, Milan, Bari, Florence, Naples, Palermo, Turin and Udine. Bologna, Cagliari, Genoa and Verona will be added should the tournament be expanded from 16 to 24 teams.

Hungary and Croatia, meanwhile, hope for a boost in all areas from venues to tourism, and so do Poland and Ukraine.

'We would rather host the Euro tournament than win the World Cup. It is much better for our country in the long run,' said Croatian football federation president Vlatko Markovic.

Staging the event would be a massive image boost for Crotia which is a nation for less than two decades. Tourism is also expected to further rise.

While Croatia is a football-mad country and claimed a third-place finish at the 1998 World Cup, the game is on the decline in Hungary.

The national team has not qualified for an international tournament in 20 years, league matches attract few fans and the nation's most successful club Ferencvaros Budapest is in deep financial trouble.

'Give us a chance,' is the appropriate motto and Hungarian bid chief Tamas Gyarfas says that it is UEFA's duty to help countries lagging behind.

'For a long time now European football has split into two camps: top dogs and also-rans. If no helping hand takes care of those lagging behind, the distance between those ahead and those behind is bound to grow,' he said.

The same could apply to Poland and Ukraine, who can also do with a boost from an event like Euro 2012 despite massive public support in both countries for the event.

'UEFA has said explicitly that it wants to develop football in the east (of Europe), so our joint bid with Poland is the best choice in this sense,' said one football official in Kiev.

But there are uncertainties as well in the form of the Ukrainian political power struggle between the nation's president Viktor Yushchenko and prime minister Viktor Yanukovich. Poland's concern centres on football corruption and fan violence.