MINSK, Belarus: UEFA finalized the match schedule for the 2012 European Championship Monday, seemingly putting an end to fears that some of the eight venue cities would not be ready to host games in the tournament. Ukrainian capital Kiev was confirmed as the venue for the final and will host a quarterfinal and three group-stage matches. Warsaw and Donetsk will also host five matches - a semifinal, three group matches and a last-eight game - after the schedule was rubber-stamped at a meeting of the European governing body's executive committee in Minsk. Donetsk will hold four matches, including a quarterfinal, and the remaining four cities - Wroclaw, Poznan, Kharkiv and Lviv – are scheduled to host three group games. Ukraine will host 16 of the tournament's 31 matches, the first of which will be on June 8, 2012. Ukraine's preparations for Euro 2012 have been hindered by delays in the building of stadiums, roads and hotels, although UEFA said in August after a two-day inspection visit that authorities were on track to meet deadlines. The draw for the group stages of the tournament will take place on Dec. 2, 2011. UEFA also approved an ammendment to the Europa League access list for the 2012-2015 cycle. The Executive Committee meeting in Minsk approved an amendment starting from the 2012-13 season. “A new access list was approved that allocates fixed slots with direct access to the UEFA Europa League group stage for the cup winners of the six top-ranked associations,” UEFA said in a statement. “This allocation of slots has a direct impact on the qualification path, and adaptations will have to be made to the access list in order to accommodate these changes.” England recalls Davies, Rooney Kevin Davies was called up by England for the first time Monday ahead of next week's European Championship qualifier against Montenegro due to the shortage of fit strikers. The 33-year-old Davies is included in the 23-man squad after Emile Heskey rejected a chance to come out of international retirement to help ease Fabio Capello's injury crisis. While Jermain Defoe, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Bobby Zamora are all sidelined, Wayne Rooney makes the cut after being declared fit by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson despite missing Saturday's 0-0 draw at Sunderland as he recovered from an ankle injury. There are recalls for center backs Rio Ferdinand and John Terry following injuries, while goalkeeper Robert Green and wingers Joe Cole and Aaron Lennon are also back in the squad having been dropped after the team's woeful exit from the World Cup in the second round. Despite Ferdinand returning for the first time since being injured ahead of the World Cup, Capello has indicated that Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerard may retain the captain's armband. Green hasn't been in any of the post-World Cup squads and only featured in the first game in South Africa when his blunder gifted the Americans an equalizer.
