On the left side of the stamp, based on a design by the graphic artist Attila Elekes, are pictogram-like depictions of typical moves in football, and on the right side there is a football decorated with the national colours of the organising countries with a map of Europe in the background. The 14th European Football Championship is being jointly organised by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012. Four cities from each of the two countries will host the matches with the opening match held in Warsaw and the final to be held in Kiev. Ten countries applied for the right to organise the matches which the approval committee of UEFA narrowed down to three on 8 November 2005: Italy, Croatia-Hungary, and Poland-Ukraine. The winners were announced in Cardiff on 18 April 2007. 51 countries participated in the qualifying rounds from which 14 teams reached the European championship. The two organising countries have joined the finalists, thus a total of 16 teams will participate which are the following in alphabetical order: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine. UEFA designated 16 referees on 20 December 2011, of which 12 may lead the matches for the European Championship, while the remaining four will only play a part as fourth referees. Hungarian international football referee Viktor Kassai belongs to the first group, who in addition to numerous recognitions and titles was awarded the title Referee of the Year in 2011. The EC emblem has petals in the national colours of the two organising countries and a football in bloom. Its slogan Creating History Together refers to the common history of Poland and Ukraine. The official ball was given the name Tango 12, a modern redesign of the original Tango ball which was typical in the 1980s. The colours from the national flags of the organising countries can be found on the ball.
