EURO 2021

The anti-racist East Europe Monitoring Centre starts its operation in Warsaw this month. The newly launched centre is going to monitor, research and document cases of racism and xenophobia across the region, with a special emphasis on Poland and Ukraine. ‘The growing social significance of football in Poland and Ukraine before 2012 provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the pressing issues of xenophobia and racism in Eastern Europe’ – said sociologist Dr Rafal Pankowski, the Monitoring Centre coordinator. ‘Our starting point is racism in football, but we see it in […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The head of UEFA Michel Platini did not rule out the possibility of deprivation Ukraine of hosting EURO 2012, which is to be organized together with Poland, if Ukraine fails to catch up with the preparations until the end of the year. Such an opinion was expressed in an interview with French sports daily L’Equipe.” – The decision will be made at the beginning of December during the meeting of ourr (UEFA) Executive Committee in Madeira. December is the deadline. Now there is a fight with time, but at this […]

The construction of the stadium is delayed and the money for it stolen – announced a select committee appointed by the Ukrainian parliament to investigate the uncertainties concerning rebuilding of the final arena of Euro 2012. The head of the select committee, Rawil Safiullin has no illusions. – Everything points to the fact that the money is stolen – said Rawil in the Ukrainian newspaper “Today”. According to him, millions of ‘hrywien’ which flow from the country’s budget spreads “somewhere” on its way. Last year, the main contractor promised to […]

According to the requirements UEFA, the residential centers for teams are supposed to be ready in a year already, but actually will not be. – We will ask for more time – announces Olkowicz Adam, vice-president of the Polish Football Association. Up to 44 Polish towns would like to host 16 final groups of the European Championships, but for the time being any center meets UEFA requirements. Representations have to have available at least a four-star hotel with 60 rooms, football field for thousand of spectators and three training places. […]

After a stuttering start, Poland has, unlike Ukraine, finally gained the confidence of UEFA, the governing body of European football, which recently confirmed that four Polish cities will host matches during the Euro 2012 football championships. Following early delays, Poland is likely to have acceptable stadiums in six cities, and the airport and hotel infrastructure looks to be in good shape as well. The problem, as ever in Poland, is with building a modern system of highways and expressways that would allow fans to move easily from venue to venue. […]

Following UEFA’s selection of four Polish cities as hosts for Euro 2012, Lokale Immobilia takes a brief look at the state of preparedness of the winning urban centers. After months of doubt and sharp criticism, the four Polish cities chosen by UEFA to host games in the Euro 2012 soccer championship – Warsaw, Gdańsk, Poznań and Wrocław – have much of their preparation on track. Indeed, though Kraków and Chorzów were officially discounted, hope remains that a slip-up elsewhere in Poland or in Ukraine could still offer the opportunity to […]

During meeting today in Bucharest, the UEFA Executive Committee examined and discussed the state of infrastructure preparations for the final tournament of the 2012 UEFA European Championship due to be held in Poland and Ukraine from 9 June until 1 July 2012. After careful consideration of the evaluation reports prepared by the UEFA administration and consultation with the host associations, the UEFA Executive Committee took the following decisions concerning the selection of host cities for UEFA EURO 2012™: Host cities in Poland Progress has been made in the preparation of […]