Euro 2012 in Ukraine in Doubt
It was supposed to refocus UEFA away from Western Europe — the awarding of hosting rights to Ukraine alongside Poland for Euro 2012 seemed like a giant leap forward for Eastern European football when it was announced two years ago.
But now, it looks like all the decision has done is given UEFA its hardest decision for some time: whether to remove the hosting rights from Ukraine, as stalled preparations for Euro 2012 are shedding an unpleasant light on all of the problems the game and the nation’s infrastructure has there. The necessary work on transportation links, accommodation and stadia is far behind schedule, even with three years to go.
UEFA this month confirmed five cities as hosts for games in 2012, but only one in Ukraine. The Dnipropetrovsk stadium, expensively built, has been dropped from UEFA’s list for 2012 as the 31,003 capacity is curiously just short of the required 33,000 minimum, with no commitment to a temporary capacity increase given.
And UEFA gave three Ukrainian cities, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv, until the end of November to prove that they will have adequate infrastructure for the tournament, leading the New York Times to comment that “Ukraine may, in the end, be an example of how not to prepare for a world-class sporting event.”
Political and economic problems have bedeviled preparations. A veto by President Viktor Yushchenko on €880 million of government funding for the projects on August 3rd was the latest blow, with parliament attempting to override his decision, which he argued was needed to prevent the inflation crisis in the country spiralling further and an increase in corruption.
Meanwhile, it seems almost certain that Poland will host the final of the tournament, after it was announced this month that UEFA was shifting the location of the International Broadcasting Center’s (IBC) broadcasting base from Kiev to Warsaw — the IBC is usually in the same city as the final. Kiev’s stadium project has been plagued by problems, including an enforced change of stadium contractor.
If UEFA determines Ukraine is too much of a risk by the end of this year, their reserve plan calls for the games planned for there to move to Germany instead, raising the remarkable prospect of a joint Polish-German European championship.
About the Author
Tom Dunmore is the founder and editor of Pitch Invasion. Follow him @pitchinvasion on Twitter.
Email this author | All posts by Tom Dunmore
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
|
11 Comments
Trackbacks
- Twenty Twelve Olympics Games
- Konstruktion des Stadions in Lemberg bereits 3 Monate hinter dem Zeitplan :: EM 2012 in Polen und Ukraine
why germany and not czech republic?
Czech Republic has got no stadium to cope and no plans for one. They don’t need big stadiums.
But Tom, seriously, I don’t believe you could write somethign as shameful as the last paragraph. There is no option of Germany hosting, this is the opinion of Platini from last week’s visitation of Poland. It would be a huge injustice done to Poland if we were forced to join forces with Germany. There is enough infrastructure for Poland to host the tournament alone, even on 10 stadia and at least the 6 named as bidders in the first place. 2 stadiums over 50k, 3 over 40k and Krakow with its 33,7k.
Another thing is the reason why Dniepropietrowsk was dropped. I seriously don’t believe it’s the capacity alone. There were stadiums below 30 net capacity in 2004 in Portugal and UEFA had no problem with that. I suppose it’s the extremely poor infrastructure in terms of hotel rooms in that region, but that’s just my thought. On the other hand, Odessa with great potential in terms of hotel facilities and a very original stadium in the making was also left out in the rain.
I still believe Ukrainians will cope with Euro though. There is no option for Germany to take over, not on this side of the Oder.
Michal — Thanks for the info. I think ’shameful’ is a little unfair though, with regard to the last paragraph. Platini is the head of UEFA, I’m just blogging on what was reported in the press following his visit and over several months. This is pretty normal practice on a blog. It’s pretty clear from various articles that UEFA has been in discussions with two German cities to step-in; whether it happens or not remains to be seen, it certainly would be an unlikely alliance.
I was ironic about the shameful thing and didn’t think you would take it seriously.
Sorry. But of course I’m serious that getting Germany involved would be unfair – they just had their World Cup and will have another big event in 2011, for the ladies. Especially that once Berlin would be added to the host cities, it would have to host either the opening match or the very final of the tournament. How serious is giving these prestigous games to a city that was never on the bidding list while 2 Polish cities were dropped despite being capable of hosting.
I have already heard the news, each time from supposedly reliable sources, that Spain, Italy, France, Germany, England, Scotland and even Bulgaria are going to take over the tournament. So I treat the “2 German stadiums” option as pure speculations, especially after Platini assured this is not even taken into account while he was here.
And though our relations with Ukraine are pretty rought these days and the state of Ukrainian investments is not satisfying for most people, not only UEFA, I think we should simply wait till November ends to see.
Oh, as for Germany I also forgot their Allianz Arena is the host of 2012 Champions League final. They would then just need the Olympics to get all major events in the World in just a few years…
PS: Despite everything that happened in the past I’m not against Germany here, I just don’t think this would be the right thing to do, by any means.
Oh, I didn’t pick up on the irony (it’s tough on these internets), sorry about that. Yeah, I think you’re better informed and probably right that it would make a lot more sense for two Polish cities to pick up any slack, though of course, parachuting Germany in would certainly make it a more financially attractive tournament in many ways after the success of 2006. In my view, governing bodies often shunt aside what’s “fair” when they can…..
In any case, it’s likely Ukraine’s government will pull its finger out when parliament reconvenes and will get enough done to reassure UEFA.
Of course we will have to wait and see either way as you say, but what would be the fun of being a blogger if we didn’t engage in a little speculation now and then?
German contribution would surely pay off for UEFA in the short run (direct benefits of this Euro), but then if this was a priority, they wouldn’t give it to us in the first place. what’s more, they wouldn’t even give it to Austria and Switzerland which surely have a smaller potential than the bigger ones of the football world. Germany surely has the best stadiums in the world, but that doesn’t mean they should take the whole pie, it’s about sharing
We’ve heard the same about South Africa. Portugal was supposed to be a no go until the month or two before kickoff. The stressheads are also out for the Olympics in England the same year. Of course UEFA must protect the cash cow that is the European Championships and get on the Ukraine’s case but rest assured football fans, were all off to Kharkiv in a couple of years.
I wouldn’t go to Kharkiv – that’s by far the ugliest stadium currently under construction.
And to add to the “doubtful” hosts – I remember Switzerland receiving official notice of concern from UEFA that the country might lose its share due to huge mess with Zurich stadium (Stadion Zurich blocked by residents, Letzigrund brought in emergency mode)