Donetsk almost ready to rumble
AP

Donetsk almost ready to rumble

April 09, 2009 at 18:33
An inside glimpse of Donbass Arena, a brand new stadium in the industrial city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, being built by Ukraine’s richest man, billionaire Rinat Akhmetov.

An inside glimpse of Donbass Arena, a brand new stadium in the industrial city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, being built by Ukraine’s richest man, billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. The stadium, expected to be one of the best in Europe, is scheduled to be completed this summer. It will be one of several Ukrainian stadiums that will host games during the Union of European Football Association’s Euro 2012 tournament, which will be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland. The Donetsk stadium will seat about 50,000 spectators and is the first in Eastern Europe designed and built in line with Elite-Class UEFA standards, the so-called 5-Star Standard. As recession bites Ukraine hard, many worry that the cash-strapped country will not complete preparations in time for the Euro 2012 tournament. Yet unlike Poland, construction and renovation of stadiums is near completion in Ukraine thanks to financial backing by soccer-crazed benefactors such as Akhmetov. Experts are more worried about Ukraine’s ability to renovate its airports and build new hotels in time for the tournament.