Bilic, who played for West Ham and Derby in the Premiership, said: “UEFA have a great opportunity but if they give it to Italy they are just giving it to Italian football.

“For Croatia and Hungary it would be giving the tournament to the whole countries, and giving them an opportunity to really change the lives of people in the country.”

Italy are overwhelming favourites despite their bid being overshadowed by last season’s corruption scandal and the ongoing problems with football-related crowd trouble.

By focusing their bid for the European Championships as an opportunity for a fresh start, the Italians look to have done enough to convince UEFA’s executive committee, meeting in Cardiff, to vote for them.

World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, who was part of the bid team in Cardiff, said: “Winning the World Cup showed very clearly that football has the strength and the passions to overcome all the problems – our passion for the game prevailed, and will do so again if we are given the opportunity to organise the European Championships.”

The biggest factor aiding Italy is that UEFA are falling out of love with the concept of joint hosts despite Euro 2000 being in Holland and Belgium and next year’s championships being hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

One senior UEFA source said: “There is no getting away from the fact that there are extra problems to deal with when there are joint hosts – two FAs, two governments and two sets of security forces.”

Italy also boast the best infrastructure despite Poland and Ukraine making extravagant promises about building new stadia and transforming the footballing landscape of their countries.

However they are hampered by the sheer size of their countries, especially when put together, a lack of unity during the bid, and that the Polish government have been hauled over the coals by FIFA and UEFA for political interference in the running of the country’s football federation.

The 2012 hosts will not have to expand the tournament from 16 teams to 24 however. UEFA are continuing to explore such a possibility but have made it clear that any changes would only come into effect from 2016 onwards.