The Executive Committee of UEFA has selected three countries eligible for the 2012 European soccer championship finals. The list includes Ukraine and Poland. Italy and Hungary will continue competing for the bid together with Croatia, and Greece and Turkey have been dropped from the list. Ukrainian Soccer Federation President Hryhoriy Surkis believes that Ukraine and Poland, having been chosen among the three 2012 European soccer championship contenders, may be a step forward in developing the Ukrainian infrastructure, Interfax Ukraine reports.
“The state has received a fantastic chance to take a dynamic step in developing this infrastructure. Congratulations!” Surkis declared at a press conference after returning from Malta, the bidding site. He also stressed that Ukraine has survived “a difficult competition,” despite experts’ unfavorable findings: “By almost all indices Greece, Italy, and Turkey should have won,” noted Surkis and emphasized that Ukraine lacks the proper infrastructure. At the same time, he is sure that Ukraine and Poland were chosen among the three because of “professional training and very substantial applications...including the promotional and high level security clauses.” The Ukrainian soccer federation president also noted that winning the 2012 European championship finals next December would be possible by synchronizing all efforts on the presidential, cabinet, and parliamentary levels, along with a concerted media effort, and after bringing Ukrainian legislation in line with European standards. This, in part, concerns synchronization in the export domain, including hard cash, imports, immigration control, and taxation. Also, volunteer clauses have to be added, players who will work in the European Cup finals, their training and employment. When he was asked how Ukraine and Poland are planning to win the second round of the tender, among the three bidders, Surkis said that a Ukrainian Soccer Federation memorandum addressed to UEFA reads that Ukraine deserves support in hosting the finals because “for the first time in its history the tournament may be held in Eastern Europe; Poland and Ukraine are offering capacious markets totaling 85 million residents, which is a bridge of sorts spanning West and East.” (Incidentally, the chairman of the 2006 championships organizing committee in Germany, Franz Beckenbauer, who flew to Kyiv recently, also pointed to this aspect and supported the Ukrainian-Polish claim — Auth.) “It’s our access to a new potential market. We can see that the Champion League is losing its television ratings, so we tell UEFA, let’s use our hidden potential; if we go through the second phase, we will actually be sending a positive signal for both the market and sports opportunities all over Europe,” added Surkis. Of the six Ukrainian regions willing to accommodate the European soccer matches, Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk each have two stadiums that conform to the required standards. If the bid is won, Warsaw will host the opening Euro‘12 soccer meet, and the final one will be held in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Family, Sports and Youth Ministry has also guaranteed the Euro‘12 organizing committee that the Olympic National Sports Complex will be available for the European soccer championships finals in 2012. The ministry’s press service issued this statement last Tuesday, after Ukraine was named one of the three countries found fit to host the Euro‘12 finals. “Our main task is to make sure that the renovated National Olympic Sports Complex can accommodate the final game of the 2012 European soccer championships,” declared Minister Yuri Pavlenko. According to the statement, “the ministry believes that the current status of the construction project and that of the square facing the National Sports Complex is interfering with the adequate exploitation of the National Olympic Sports Complex...Expert findings indicate that the project’s architectural and planning norms above the surface violate emergency management, safe mass evacuation, and fire safety standards and requirements.” At the same time, Surkis told the press conference — and emphasized it in his statement — that the “Olympic Stadium must be saved. Details of the Surkis-Pavlenko dispute have long been public knowledge.” Surkis is an old enemy of building up the square facing the stadium, which is being done by the Eugene Company. According to Surkis, Pavlenko is having “problems that stem from lack of experience, considering his young age; he has also problems with logic. On the one hand, he says, ‘There is no way I’m backing Eugene, as their actions aimed at blocking the stadium are incorrect.’ Therefore, by acknowledging the fact of gross violations of safety standards on the developer’s part, the minister immediately hints at some blackmail ‘on the part of an individual’ who, in turn, is openly protesting this development project.”
The minister has already shown that he lacks a clear and consistent stand. The clearest example was the presentation of awards to the Ukrainian Olympic champions at the beginning of the year, which, in the government’s opinion, came from the old cabinet’s reserve fund. At the time the minister stated that our champions “deserved” their awards, which were, nonetheless, “unlawfully” conferred. The case was soft-pedaled despite this legally dubious formulation.
