Euro 2012

Two years before the first match of Euro 2012, no one talks about removing Poland the right to host this great football event.

Polish organizers are happy. During the Monday’s news conference they proudly quoted the words of the head of UEFA, Michel Platini said at the beginning of June: – Preparations in Poland run properly and there are no great risks.

- This is a great satisfaction for us – said Adam Olkowicz, head of the Euro2010 company established by UEFA, which is responsible for preparation and managing the sport part of the championships. However, he added that much is still to be done and our rival is now the running time.
- The process of preparations went from the conceptual and planning stage conducted in 2007-2008 and stage of the implementation of projects in 2008 to the most important one – the executive stage – said Marcin Herra, president of the state company PL. coordinating preparations for the Euro2010 in Poland. Preparations go full steam ahead. – Everyday, several thousand of people work on the construction of stadiums. There are no risk. Also, Wroclaw, which change the contractor is already on an even keen – ensured Herra. (read more…)

We will not have problems with hotels for Euro 2012. We already meet UEFA requirements – according to a report prepared by the international consultancy company in the property market, Cushman & Wakefield.

According to the company calculations in Polish cities in which the European Championships in football in 2012 will be held, there are currently about 38 870 accommodations at hotels (about 20 170 rooms). More than half of them falls to Warsaw, where an opening match and quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be played.

- Tourists who will use the Polish base of hotels during Euro, can be divided into three groups: the so-called UEFA family, football teams and fans. Taking into consideration the current state of the hotel base in Poland and investment projects which will executed before the start of the Championships, it can be assumed that Poland will meet the criteria of UEFA concerning accommodation base for organizers, activists and VIPs, this is the so-called family – says Dorota Malinowska, hotel property consultant from Cushman & Wakefield.

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Wrocław, despite the delay in construction of the stadium not only will not lose the possibility to organize Euro 2012, but apart from three group matches it may obtain right to play one of the championships quarter-final meetings.

For the time being, UEFA decided that the Euro 2012 opening match will be played in Warsaw, and the final of championships in Kiev. It is also settled that semi-finals will also take place in these cities. However, the unsettled question is still the place of four quarter-final matches. At some websites devoted to Euro 2012 it is said that Gdansk is supposed to be one of these cities but this information is out of date and not officially confirmed by UEFA.

It was initially assumed that UEFA authorities would indicate cities which will be given the right to organize quarter-final matches during the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee on Madera in December 2009. However, at that time, they postponed the decision. Finally, UEFA was to inform about it on last Sunday in Warsaw during the draw for qualifying groups. But it did not happen – the decision has not been taken again and it is not known when it will.

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How to fight racism in sport?

A practical guide for football clubs published in Poland

News from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association

26.02.2010

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has released a toolkit entitled How to fight racism? It contains practical guidelines and advice concerning the elimination of racist and xenophobic behaviour from stadiums and pitches. The toolkit is tailor-made for Polish football clubs.
The manual has been prepared with the support of UEFA and the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. The Council of Europe, the Polish Football Association and the Polish Former Football Players’ Association have also expressed their support for the project.

-’We have prepared the toolkit in a CD format, we have drawn from the best European experiences, and adapted them for use by Polish clubs. It is supposed to be a powerful instrument in the combat against discrimination, racism and prejudice. We propose good solutions and show how to promote multiculturalism in sport and in the stadiums’ – explains Jacek Purski, a representative of the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums’ campaign.

The toolkit ‘How to fight racism?’ contains explanations of what is racism in sport, what are its most common manifestations as well as information on how to face it successfully. It presents advices and tips, which have already proved to be successful in many Western European and Polish football clubs.

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Martin Kallen, the UEFA Director responsible for the organization of the Euro 2012 finals, strolled through the Palace of Culture and Science – where the draw for European Football Championship qualifying groups was held – with pride.

He ensured that the draw, a test for Poland as co-host of the championships, was enjoyed by all participants.

- The draw was very successful – it was a great start of the tournament. All the guests felt a little Polish spirit. From what I heard, everyone was happy and satisfied. Now they are going home and will battle it out on football pitches for the chance to return to Poland with their teams in 2012,” said Kallen.

- It’s hard for me to judge the draw’s results. Traditionally, the A team travels far distances. And it will be the same this time. The German team will travel to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. I for one was anxious about Switzerland – he added.

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мебель в болгарииSunday’s draw for the Euro 2012 Championships qualifying competition was finished.

Each team in the qualifying groups will play one another on a home and away basis, with matches taking place up to October 2011.

The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify directly for the final tournament. The eight remaining runners-up will contest two-legged play-offs to decide who gets the four remaining places.

Euro 2012 qualifying draw:

Group A: Germany, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan
Group B: Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Macedonia, Armenia, Andorra
Group C: Italy, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Faroe Islands
Group D: France, Romania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Belarus, Albania, Luxembourg
Group E: Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Moldova, San Marino
Group F: Croatia, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Georgia, Malta
Group G: England, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Wales, Montenegro
Group H: Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Iceland
Group I: Spain, Czech Republic, Scotland, Lithuania, Liechtenstein

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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The final tournament of European football championships in 2012 will start one day earlier than originally planned.

The opening match at the National Stadium in Warsaw will take place on 8 June, not 9 June. Information about the change of the date was confirmed by PAP spokesman of the company Euro 2012 Poland Julius Głuski.

The decision, which was formally approved at the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in December, is justified by the need to extend the period of rest between the group phase and quarterfinals.

According to the new schedule, team players advancing to the next phase of tournaments will have three days of rest before the next meeting.

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Euro 2012 will take place in four Polish and four Ukrainian cities with the final match in Kiev – decided UEFA Executive Committee, which finishes deliberations on the Portuguese island, Madera.

Recent decisions of the government, which granted additional means for preparations and approved financial plan, decided about such division – admitted Michael Platini.

- It’s victory of Ukraine – said, with relief, the Prime Minister Julia Tymoszenko at a special press conference. – I’m happy that the championships will take place in all four Ukrainian cities!

Likewise most of the Ukrainians who were anxiously waiting for UEFA’s decisions. Now Ukraine may breathe a sigh of relief – we got everything we’ve been concerned about since May.

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The official logo, visual identity and slogan for UEFA EURO 2012™ have been unveiled at a special event in Kyiv’s Mykhailivska Square with co-hosts Ukraine and Poland looking forward to ‘Creating History Together’.

Star guests

Polish Football Association President Grzegorz Lato, his Football Federation of Ukraine counterpart Grigoriy Surkis and UEFA President Michel Platini officially unwrapped the logo as the highlight of the launch proceedings. The ceremony was attended by the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, representatives from the eight host cities – Gdansk, Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kyiv – and numerous other dignitaries.

Visual identity

The purpose of the logo is to give UEFA EURO 2012™ a personality of its own, with the visual identity to be applied across a range of promotional applications from tickets to web banners. The objective is to help promote the tournament – one of the world’s biggest sporting events – by providing an easily recognisable identity with a flavour of the host nations. The logo takes its visual lead from ‘wycinanka’, the traditional art of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine, as a tribute to the fauna and flora of the region. (read more…)