Euro 2012

Preparations for the construction of the stadium’s roof are underway: the first of 72 huge elements has arrived from Italy.

On Thursday the first of 72 elements of the inner ring truss arrived from Italy, one of the main elements of the roof. The element is over 12.5 meters long and weighs 48 tons.

First attempts at laying out the concrete for the floor construction on level +1 have begun, over the main entrance to the stadium. Work on the foundations under the columns of the steel roof is being done under a heated tent.

48 out of 72 steel support pillars for the roof’s construction have also arrived. Each element weighs 3.5 tons. The steel construction’s assembly will begin in March.

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Preparations for the Euro 2012 football tournament in Poland and Ukraine are well on track, the ruling body UEFA said on Friday with nine days left until the qualifying group draw.

The February 7 draw in Warsaw is the first big event around the tournament which created various problems in the early stages after the two Eastern European nations were elected hosts in 2007.

‘Preparations for Euro 2012 are going well,’ UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told the body’s website after an executive board meeting on Thursday in Malta.

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On Monday morning, lifting of the 400-tonne truss, one on the elements of roof structure, was supposed to begin.

The construction has to be lifted by three cranes excavators at the height of 58 meters and placed on two already mounted trusses. Meanwhile, works have not yet begun because builders of the Poznan stadium again have problems with the installation of roof construction.

Ryszard Dembinski, chief executive of Euro Poznan 2012, states that such a situation will no affect the deadline of returning Lech players to the stadium at Byłgarska street. Lech players were supposed to play their first match at the end of September, then it was 21 November and finally Kolejorz in Poznan is to play in March next year.

On Saturday, in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine the modernized stadium of the Metalist club was opened. Matches of the European football championships will take place here in 2012.

I am convinced that Euro 2012 matches will take place at the facility – said the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at a ceremony. In his brief speech he stressed that Ukraine organizes the finals together with Poland. “The hosts of Euro 2012 can only be Ukraine and Poland.”

Although, in view of the championships Ukraine has opened two stadiums so far (in September in Donetsk) it is still not known how many Ukrainian cities will be granted the right to host the tournament.

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The Ukrainian war between the president, prime minister and parliament and Euro 2012 in the background is gaining in strength.

Viktor Yushchenko has once again refused to sign the law on the preparations for the tournament, and thus he blocked the payment of the money. Local authorities throw down their arms and state that without government support there will not be a cup-final in Kiev.

The Government of Ukraine, which bears the results of the economic crisis is seeking money wherever to save the Euro 2012. There are not so many opportunities. One of the most serious opportunity was to be a national bank, or rather its financial reserves. Of these, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wanted to “snatch” almost 10 billion hryvnia in order that the biggest sport event in this country not resulted in a failure but without success.

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UEFA is delighted with the progress of Ukraine in preparations to organize the European football championships in 2012 in recent months – assessed on Wednesday in Kiev, Martin Kallen, UEFA chief executive for Euro 2012.

- Now, the situation looks good, works are being made, so we are pleased with the progress made by Ukraine – said Kallen at the press conference.

When asked by journalists how he assess the level of preparations in Poland and Ukraine Kallen said that “it is equal.”
He also pointed out that the Ukrainians still have a lot to catch up but if they deal with it, the division of host cities for Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine according to the 4×4 formula will be maintained. (read more…)

UEFA president Michel Platini has announced that he is pleased with Poland’s progress towards hosting the for coming UEFA EURO 2012™.

Platini believes that the UEFA EURO 2012™ organizing committee is operating successfully and the whole process of preparing the tournament is under control – such conclusions were reached by UEFA officials who have been following the situation in Poland to date.

“Preparations for UEFA EURO 2012™ in Poland are being realized according to schedule, but the situation in Ukraine is quite complex,” stated Platini after meeting the President of the EU Parliament, Jerzy Buzek.

In contrast, the decision on which cities in Ukraine can hold UEFA EURO 2012™ matches is yet to be made in December. Currently, observers are working on a complete report of Ukraine’s preparations.

Last May, UEFA stated that only Kiev meets all the football association’s required conditions and expectations. Three other cities – Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv – have been given a chance to convince UEFA they will be able to organize championship matches until December 2009.

Finally, Michel Platini was also asked about the UEFA EURO 2012™ final, scheduled to be played in Kyiv, and the UEFA head confirmed that the city still needs to improve the hotel and transportation situation.

On Saturday evening in Donieck a new stadium for Euro 2012 was opened.

This fact increases the chances of equal sharing of host-cities for the championships in Ukraine and Poland – says the Director of the Ukrainian national organizing committee of Euro 2012, Markiyan Łubkiwski

- The formula of four host-cities of Euro 2012 in Ukraine and four in Poland is the most probable one – said Łubkiwski just before the ceremony of opening the stadium Donbass Arena in Donieck.

Director of the Ukrainian part of the tournament does not hide the fact that apart from the ready stadium, Donieck should deal with the delays in preparing the infrastructure, but he is convinced that the city authorities will manage to do it.

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The city authorities have devoted 173.7 millions of hryvnias for the preparation of the Charkow region for the EURO 2012.

The largest part of these funds will be spent on the modernization of a stadium and the runway of the Charkow airport.

100 millions of gryvnias devoted to the reconstruction of Metallist stadium, 56.7 millions of hryvnias for the reconstruction of the runaway of the International Airport in Charkow and 17 millions of hryvnias for the reconstruction of roads.

The authorities also freed from the duty goods and commodities (total 10 names), which are not produced in Ukraine and which were not imported to the country and were used as an equipment for the Metallist stadium.

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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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