EURO 2021

During the biggest open-air free music festival in Europe, Pol’and’Rock (4-6 August), also known as Polish Woodstock, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association organized a football tournament promoting the message of ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’, involving teenage players who are refugees from Ukraine. Together with the other participants, they manifested their protest against the war. On another festival day a meeting was held with the rock band Strachy na Lachy (Empty Threats) at the information stand of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. For many years, this group has been involved […]

The anti-racism ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has teamed up with the Football is Beautiful Foundation and numerous other partners for a joint ‘Friends of Football Day’ series of events taking place on 8 June to celebrate the power of football to unite across differences and promote social inclusion. More than 300 football matches, community festivals and other grass-roots events were organized across Poland on the ‘Friends of Football Day’, marking the anniversary of the kick-off of the historic European Football Championships which took place in Poland and Ukraine in 2012. A […]

The Poland-Ukraine World Cup qualifying game at the National Stadium in Warsaw provided an opportunity for both nations to celebrate the legacy of Euro 2012 through anti-racism and pro-diversity activities organized by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. Thousands of fans and hundreds of journalists received Polish and Ukrainian-language leaflets with information about anti-racist activities run by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and the FARE network. An anti-discrimination manifesto was read out on the stadium tannoy shortly before kick-off and a video reminding of the Euro 2012 ‘Respect Diversity’ message was shown on the big […]

With a week to go until the start of Euro 2012, the FARE network programme for Poland and Ukraine is making final preparations ahead of a launch in Warsaw next Friday (8 June). With concerns over potential racism and far-right activity high on the public agenda, the FARE programme includes an unprecedented level of monitoring at matches and a high profile campaign that comes to a focus at the semi- finals of the tournament. FARE has been working with UEFA on a ‘Respect Diversity- Football Unites’ programme that will include […]

Almost half (48%) of Poland’s population trust that the Polish national team will be able to advance to the next stage and play in quarterfinals, while only a few respondents (3%) hope for the championship – results from the latest survey carried out by CBOS. According to the CBOS survey, the Poles are careful optimists in evaluation of chances of our national football team at Euro 2012. Over ¼ of respondents (29%) are pessimistically disposed and anticipate that the Polish team won’t be able to win the group. Almost half […]

Rio Ferdinand, former England’s national team captain, defender of Manchester United, wasn’t nominated to the European football championships in Poland and Ukraine roster. On Wednesday, the head coach Roy Hodgson announced the names of 23 squad players. According to British Isles media speculations, Hodgson should have selected for Euro 2012 roster only one player from the pair John Terry (Chelsea London) – Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United). The reason should have been a conflict between both players, an aftermath of events from October 23, 2011. During a league match, defender of […]

The European Championship tournament co-hosts in football will be debutants in this great event. The only tournament in which Ukraine participated as an independent state was the World Cup in Germany in 2006. There, after two wins in the group stage the team was promoted to 1/8 of the finals by beating the Swiss on penalties and then to the quarter-finals where the team managed to cope with the later winner, Italy. Due to the fact that the Yellow-Blues are guaranteed to start in the main event, they played friendly […]

Numerous sites in Poland and Ukraine begin to display the symbol of Inclusive Zones contributing to a friendly multi-cultural atmosphere at EURO 2012. Schools, NGOs, local authorities, cultural institutions, community centres, sports clubs as well as businesses, shops and pubs have all been invited to join the initiative. The Inclusive Zones initiative is a part of the multi-faceted ‘RESPECT Diversity – Football Unites’ project in frames of the official UEFA EURO 2012 Social Responsibility programme. The project is delivered on behalf of the FARE network by by its long-established regional […]

The Czech team coach Michal Bilek announced on Wednesday that it already knew the names of 18 of 23 players who will play at this year’s European Championships in Poland and Ukraine. Czech Republic will be one of the group competitors of Poland. “I already have 18 names in my head that I think are the certs. The team may include 23 players and this number will go for the May grouping to Austria” – said the coach at a meeting with journalists in Prague. He said that he had […]

The fourteenth finals of the UEFA European Football Championship will be held in Poland and in Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012. For the third time the right to organize the tournament was given to the two countries. Sixteen teams divided into four groups will compete in eight stadiums for the final triumph. Cities in which the matches will be held in Poland – Gdańsk, Poznań, Warsaw and Wrocław – and in Ukraine – Donetsk, Lviv, Kharkiv and Kiev. Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated in the previous […]