Inspections by FIFA and UEFA have concluded that Kyiv’s National Olympic Sports Complex cannot host Euro-2012 soccer matches because the Troitsky shopping and entertainment complex is being built next to it, which halves the stadium’s seating capacity, Interfax reports.
According to the press service of the Soccer Federation of Ukraine (FFU), last Tuesday Hryhorii Surkis, the federation’s president, received letters from UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA commissioner Gerhard Kapl.
“It is obvious that the stadium’s current infrastructure and the ongoing construction work (Troitsky shopping and entertainment center — Interfax) next to the Olympic Stadium will, in the nearest future, inevitably lead to an essential — more than 50 percent — reduction of the stadium’s seating capacity,” Platini says in his letter of Sept. 12 . “The partial blockage of exits from the stadium and its emergency routes, plus the limited area in which spectators can move about, significantly raises the threat of poor security for fans. The conclusion leaves no doubt: the stadium, with limited space for movement, clearly cannot host matches for Euro-2012,” the UEFA statement says.
FIFA experts came to a similar conclusion in their report of Sept. 4. “The current infrastructure and construction work near the Olympic Stadium will inevitably lead to an essential reduction of the stadium’s capacity in the nearest future. In this case the stadium will not only be unable to host UEFA Euro-2012 matches but will also pose a serious risk of poor security.”
In an interview with Gazeta po-kievski last Tuesday, the manager of the Olympic Stadium, Valerii Buhai, said: “Kyiv City Hall should invite all the sides to the negotiating table. It is the city authorities that allowed the construction (of the Troitsky shopping center — Interfax), so they should now make some other offer. Otherwise, the decision on demolition may be referred to a court, and the case may drag on for years.”
It has been reported that the Troitsky shopping mall is being built by Eugene Ltd.
By his decree of Aug. 31, 2007, President Viktor Yushchenko banned any construction work on Troitska Ploshcha near the Olympic Stadium. Earlier, the Soccer Federation of Ukraine quoted the UEFA administration, including its president, as saying that the Olympic Stadium could only host Euro-2012-level matches if the Troitsky mall, now under construction, is torn down.
On its part, Eugene Ltd. announced that it may go to court to defend its interests. A spokesperson for Smart Holding Ltd., which owns a 50-percent stake in Eugene Ltd., told Interfax that the facility would be commissioned by the end of 2008 if construction is resumed in the nearest future. He also pointed out that in 2002 Eugene Ltd. secured the right to use the land and drew up a project report that was approved in all the necessary governmental bodies.
The Urban Construction Department of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, the French company ATN, and the Ukrainian Research Institute of Fire Safety of the Ministry of Emergency Situations have conducted three expert examinations to assess the possibility of evacuating spectators from the Olympic Stadium.
Smart Holding Ltd., founded in 2006 and managed by businessman Vadym Novynsky, controls a number of mining and metallurgical enterprises, such as Inhulets Ore-Refining Mill (Dnipropetrovsk oblast), Makiivka Steel Mill (Donetsk oblast), and Balaklava Ore Authority (Sevastopil). The Olympic sports complex is one of the main venues for the European soccer championship in 2012.
