Euro 2012

Where even soccer is politics, infrastructure improvements have fallen behind.

KIEV — In Ukraine, soccer is simply politics pursued through other means.
The vicious and sometimes petty power struggle at the highest reaches of the country’s government has spilled over to its sports fields.

Two years ago, UEFA, Europe’s governing soccer body, awarded Ukraine and its Slavic neighbor Poland the prestigious designation as co-hosts of the European soccer championships in 2012. The European championship, held every four years, is the largest international soccer tournament after the World Cup and one of the world’s largest sporting events.

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Polish Minister of Sports and Tourism Mirosław Drzewiecki and Andrzej Bogucki, Board Member of PL 2012 have met with a visiting trade mission from Saudi Arabia.

The visit of potential investors is the result of Minster Drzewiecki’s, Treasury Minister’s Aleksander Grad’s and Prime Minister’s Donald Tusk’s visit to Saudi Arabia last March.

The main subject of the talks were possible investments ahead of the UEFA EURO 2012 Football Championship which will begin in Poland and Ukraine in 1045 days.

Andrzej Bogucki of PL 2012, the coordinator of preparatory undertakings for Euro 2012 in Poland, outlined the financing framework for the Championship. ‘A sum of PLN 1 billion is earmarked by the Polish government for airports, PLN 121 billion for accelerating the preparations and PLN 126 billion for road construction. EUR 67 billion comes from the EU. The National Stadium in Warsaw is 100% funded from Poland’s central budget but private contributions are still needed, also in other host-cities’ Bogucki said. ‘The sectors reserved for private investors are: hotel and team base camps construction, telecom and IT. The Master Plan naming all the constructions is available on the PL 2012 website’ he added.

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UEFA president Michel Platini confirmed that the final decision concerning EURO 2012 host cities will be taken in December.

During his of the western city of Poznan, Platini said that four Polish cities – Gdansk, Wroclaw, Poznan and Warsaw – as well as the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, have initial approval to host the event. The decision was conditional in the case of three remaining Ukrainian cities, however: “These cities have five more months to work on their progress,” he said.

The UEFA president denied reports that UEFA is planning to send incognito delegates to further check Poland’s preparations. “I have total trust in whatever Poles present to me. What’s more, what we are seeing now looks good,” he said.

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The finals of the UEFA EURO 2012 championships may be held in Warsaw and not Kyiv, writes Gazeta Wyborcza, quoting recent decisions by UEFA.

The final match would be played at the new National Stadium in Warsaw.

Reportedly, UEFA is concerned over the number of hotels in Kyiv to accommodate fans, as well as problems with municipal transport and communications.

“We are very closely reconsidering changing the the venue of the final” says UEFA president Michel Platini.

“At the time being we are still closely monitoring this situation if there will be any improvements shown from Kyiv’s side.”

The ultimate decision on the venue for the finals is expected in December but UEFA has already decided to move the International Broadcasting Centre from Kyiv to Warsaw, and it has not happened in the history of the championships for the IBC to be in another city than the host of the final.