UEFA, European football's governing body, unveiled five candidates Friday to host the 2012 European Championship. The national associations of Croatia/Hungary (joint bid), Greece, Italy, Poland/Ukraine and Turkey are up for consideration. Russia, Azerbaijan and Romania had shown some previous interest but did not apply an official bid for the competition. "UEFA is delighted with the interest shown in hosting one of the world's biggest sporting events and will now make an extensive evaluation of the dossiers," UEFA said through a written statement. Italy is the only candidate to have hosted the tournament before. It welcomed the competition in 1968 and 1980. The Azzurri won the title in 1980 on home ground. None of the other countries up for consideration have ever hosted the event. The selection process will be finalized by December 2006. The list will be whittled down to three in November of this year. Portugal hosted last year's installment of the competition. Austria and Switzerland will co-host the 2008 European Championship.