Poland, Ukraine want Euro 2012 as sign of eastern integration

unian.net ^ | 16.04.2007

[Grzegorz 246]

Poland and Ukraine aim to jointly host the 2012 European football championships not for national pride alone, but to establish integration of eastern Europe`s football, according to EarthTimes. "UEFA has said explicitly that it wants to develop football in the east (of Europe), so our joint bid with Poland is the best choice in this sense," said one football official in Kyiv.

The championships have never been staged in the East of the continent, the closest being the 1976 edition in then Yugoslavia.

Football has a proud tradition in both countries. Poland came third at the World Cup in 1974 and 1978 while Andriy Shevchenko`s Ukraine is now the top team in the region.

However, there are problems on and off the pitch.

Hooliganism overshadows the game in Poland. A corruption scandal in the game and government interference in the national federation has also not gone down well with international football officials.

In Ukraine, the political power struggle between the nation`s president Viktor Yushchenko and prime minister Viktor Yanukovich is overshadowing the bid.

"The political situation in Ukraine is definitely not a plus for our joint bid," said Polish football legend Zbigniew Boniek.

But there are other areas, which could be far more important for the UEFA executive board in its decision-making process - most notably infrastructure.

UEFA inspectors have reportedly complained about road conditions, but Polish sports minister Tomasz Lipiec said last Thursday that the tournament offers a chance to improve this situation.

"This is a chance for development of airports, roads, hotels and stadiums in Poland," he said.

The Polish and Ukrainian ministries of transport and regional development also plan an expansion of the highway linking Ukraine and Poland with western Europe at a cost of 1.3 billion euros (1.76 billion dollars).

The championships have never been staged in the East of the continent, the closest being the 1976 edition in then Yugoslavia.

Both countries have a massive popular support to get the event with matches to be played in the Polish cities of Warsaw, Chorzow, Gdansk, Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw and the Ukraine cities of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk and Lviv.

"We are creating a huge marketing value with a population of more than 80 million," Polish bid committee general director Michal Nykowski said.

[Grzegorz 246]

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[llevrok]

I’d rather see the former Eastern bloc countries not join the EU. Economically and socially, they will be drug down by the EU.

[wolf78]

I’d rather see the former Eastern bloc countries not join the EU.

Well, first of all, many Eastern bloc countries are already EU members: Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Romania, Hungary etc... The main exceptions so far are Ukraine, Belarus and the former Yugoslavian states (with the exception of Slovenia).



Light blue: current members

Economically and socially, they will be drug down by the EU. Which is ridiculous nonsense. First of all, internally the EU has a competitive, free market. In comparison to the western EU states, Poland is still a hardcore-socialist country (Source: Heritage.org).



Plus: Poland will profit from EU transfers of almost 100.000.000.000 $ (at current exchange rates) in the years 2007-2013, which is expected to have a noticable impact on GDP growth (~ 5% additional growth from 2010 onwards, compared to baseline scenario, source: IMF).

[wolf78]

A joint Poland/Ukraine bid?

Sounds like a great idea to me. Admitted, my absolute favourite would be Euro 2012 in Israel (Israel being a UEFA member. BTW: They recently played England in a Euro 2008 qualifier, the game ended in a draw). But that is rather unrealistic, so Poland/Ukraine's a great choice.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

South Korea and Japan jointly hosted the World Cup, so for Poland and the Ukraine to do similarly isn’t such a stretch.

[dfwgator]

Poland would have to build a lot of stadiums, aren’t most of their stadiums small by the standards of their German and English counterparts?

[wolf78]

South Korea and Japan jointly hosted the World Cup, so for Poland and the Ukraine to do similarly isn’t such a stretch.

Not only that, but also Euro 2008 is jointly hosted by Austria and Switzerland. UEFA is also much more open to such arrangements than FIFA (which wasn't that happy with the 2002 World Cup).

For comparison purposes: Euro 2008 Austria - Switzerland




Poland would have to build a lot of stadiums, aren’t most of their stadiums small by the standards of their German and English counterparts?

Well, there are only 16 teams able to qualify for the UEFA European Football Championship, instead of 32 for the world cup. Fewer matches mean fewer stadiums (e.g. 8 for Euro 2008 instead of 12 for the 2006 world cup). So you need 4 stadiums in Poland, 4 in Ukraine, which is far less of a challange than building all those stadiums for South Africa 2010.

But you are indeed right. Wikipedia lists only one stadium above 40.000 seats (Katowice) in Poland - Spain with approx. the same population has 8 (England 11, Germany 16)

[Atlantic Bridge]

Great idea!

Although you should work on your technique. In the past you Poles always had huge problems to win against our team. ;)

[Verdelet]

yeah:)

on the other hand it always makes me laugh when I hear term “national german team”

Borowski
Podolski
Klose
Odonkor

Did I miss someone? :P