The Soccer Federation of Ukraine and the Polish Soccer Association have conceived a grandiose joint project: to apply to the UEFA to award the final part of the 2012 Championship of Europe to both countries, Ukraine and Poland. This was announced at a joint session of the Soccer Federation of Ukraine’s Executive Committee and the Polish Soccer Association’s board in Lviv, where the two soccer organizations also signed an agreement on cooperation and decided to request the presidents of Ukraine and Poland to support this initiative of soccer fans.
It is Soccer Federation of Ukraine President Hryhory Surkis who hit upon the seemingly fantastic idea to jointly host the Euro-2012 finals, when he discussed this year’s Champions League final in Manchester with his Polish counterpart, Michal Listkiewicz. The Polish Soccer Association president supported the project and told journalists, “Of course, neither Ukraine nor Poland have today the conditions required for hosting matches of this level. Yet, if one is not courageous enough to overcome obstacles, he will never achieve anything. Put together, we have a population of 90 million. As many of our people love soccer, we should present them a soccer feast. But we will have to work very hard to make this possible.”
Mr. Surkis added, “When Portugal joined the foray for a right to host the final matches, it was perhaps even less prepared for it than we are today. But when it won this right in 1994, this helped create thousands of jobs, build new stadiums and roads — in other words, the economy received a powerful impulse. As to our countries, it is quite possible to do this, I would say, nationwide project provided we have the will and bear joint responsibility.”
Mr. Surkis immediately rejected the claims of journalists that this was an adventurous intention and stressed he was a pragmatist. In his words, many are surprised that this desire should be expressed by Eastern European states, which enjoy by no means the highest living standards in the Old World. However, the experience of previous competitions — the 1998 Championship of Europe in Belgium and Holland, and the 2000 World Championship in Japan and Korea — shows the advantage of joint projects. As is known, the coming Euro-2008 will be organized by Austria and Switzerland, also neighboring countries. While Poland has only one European-level stadium, there are several in Ukraine, so it would be wrong to say we will be starting from scratch. A new covered stadium was recently built in Sumy, and there is the required infrastructure in Poltava. Odesa and other cities could also be considered as hosts, although only four cities of Ukraine — Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv — have so far held games. In other words, we must first make a thorough analysis and convince the UEFA that we have the potential. Only then should we get down to business, attract foreign investment, upgrade our hotels, stadiums, roads, and many other still substandard things. Yet, the No. 1 task today is to enlist the support and guarantees of the two countries’ presidents to have certain expenditures included in the national budgets. As to soccer fans, they will undoubtedly show tremendous support for holding such soccer matches in our countries. Who on earth would refuse to watch the performance of Europe’s best teams and see genuine soccer stars in the stadiums of their native cities?
