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By Mark Ledsom
BERNE, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Euro 2008 plans are well on track with "all milestones fulfilled", organisers said on Thursday as they marked the 100-day countdown to the event.
"I am sleeping very well because we are well on programme and have fulfilled all our milestones," tournament director Martin Kallen told a news conference.
"The last 100 days are going to be a real pleasure because after three years of preparations we can see now that the tournament is really coming."
Kallen said a "huge amount" of mainly logistical work still had to be done, including final adjustments to the stadiums and surrounding areas.
Grass pitches still have to be laid down at the stadiums in Berne and Salzburg in place of the current artificial turfs.
Recruitment drives are also underway for volunteers to assist at the tournament.
Kallen said tickets were being printed at an unnamed location and would only be sent out to fans at the beginning of May to try to reduce possible forgery and black-market sales.
More than 8.7 million requests were placed for the initial batch of 350,000 tickets released to the public in March 2007, before fans even knew which teams would qualify for the finals.
Subsequent sales organised by the participating national associations have been similarly oversubscribed. In Germany, fans tried to order more than 1.5 million tickets for their team's three group-stage matches -- with just 14,400 available.
"We obviously cannot entirely stamp out the black market because we could have doubled or tripled the size of the stadiums and still not had enough tickets," Kallen told reporters.
"But we are taking action against those agencies who are trying to cheat people and we will also be doing random checks at the stadiums. We have also made it clear that the person who buys the ticket will be held responsible for any problems."
Public authorities in the two host nations have also expressed their readiness for the event.
SECURE TOURNAMENT
Security preparations in the four Swiss host cities were declared "on track" this month following an independent review by EU security adviser Otto Adang.
Both countries say they have modelled their policing plans on the three-pronged approach of "dialogue, de-escalation and intervention" used to general success by German police at the 2006 World Cup.
"Of course we have to look week by week at the political situation but at the moment everything is quite relaxed with no special need to be worried," Kallen said.
"The public authorities have a well-worked security concept and are working well with the 14 visiting nations. We are also confident on the private side that we have appropriate measures in place."
Another notable success of the World Cup is set to be expanded upon with the setting up of large numbers of public viewing areas for ticketless fans.
In Switzerland the scheme has been expanded to cover not only the host cities but also 16 other cities and towns around the country.
The free use of public transport has also been extended in comparison to the World Cup with match-ticket holders now able to travel free on both countries' networks on the match-day and the morning after.
Euro 2008 will kick off in the Swiss city of Basel on June 7 and end with the final in Vienna on June 29.
Berne, Geneva and Zurich are the other Swiss host cities, with Austria hosting additional matches in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Klagenfurt.
