Kyiv’s fan zone during the Euro 2012 football tournament – especially in advance of the championship game on July 1— attracted people from many different nations, even non-European ones.
Two young guys proudly marched along Khreschatyk Street waving the Chinese flag. They came to Kyiv not directly from China but from Kharkiv, where they are university students. “Kyiv’s fan zone is better than the one in Kharkiv,” Wang Bing, one of the Chinese students, said.
The story repeated when the Kyiv Post spoke to a dozen of young people from Equatorial Guinea, who were carrying their national flag and strolling to a huge TV screen to watch the game. All of them were the students from Kyiv or the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil.
In the Kyiv fan zone, Ukrainian fans hailed the nation’s diversity and constantly asked foreigners of Asian or African origin to be photographed with them. The racist warnings from numerous foreign media did not pan out in this racist-free zone.
“We are all supporting Spain as Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa which speaks Spanish,” Benita Ebang Nzang, one of the Equatorial Guinean students, said.
Khadzh Berrezid Khakim, who was standing with the Tunisian flag, wrapped around his hips, said that he was a student from Dnipropetrovsk. Khakim was chatting in French with two fans from France who decided to visit Kyiv on the day of final even though their team was eliminated. All of three fans were supporting Spain.
The French, who came to Kyiv for a three-day trip, said they were “surprised with the level of preparations” and “impressed with the security measures” of the championship.
“I think now Ukraine will become a destination for vacations,” Januel Halbout said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected].
