Ukraine draws Sweden, France and England for Euro 2012

Ukraine will face Sweden, France and England in next year’s European soccer championship, today’s Euro 2012 final draw in Kyiv announced.

The blue and yellows will play Sweden on June 11 in Kyiv, and France on June 15 and England on June 19, both in Donetsk.

Having reached the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals in their only previous major tournament appearance since independence in 1991, the co-hosts are eager to go even further at Euro 2012. According to coach Oleh Blokhin, back in charge after a turbulent couple of years in which three coaches came and went, the minimum target is advancing from Group D. The tournament is likely to mark the curtain call for Andriy Shevchenko, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Olexandr Shovkovskiy. For the likes of Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka it could be just the start.

The 16-nation tournament kicks off for three weeks on June 8 in Warsaw and ends in Kyiv on July 1.

Tens of thousands of foreign visitors are expected to visit co-hosts Ukraine and Poland, the first time Europe’s premiere soccer tournament is taking place in Eastern Europe. This the first time Ukraine is hosting such a large event and it’s first time participating in the competition.

The official Euro 2012 tournament ball unveiled in Kyiv on Dec. 2, on the eve of the competition’s final draw. AFP

Ukraine has spent billions of dollars to prepare for the event. Most of the money has gone to overhaul its outdated, Soviet-era infrastructure, mainly stadiums, airports, and inner-city and inter-regional transportation links.

As two large countries with a combined 80 million population, Ukraine and Poland have large distances between their host cities. The shortest distance between host cities in Poland is 175 kilometers: Poznan-Wroclaw.

In Ukraine the shortest distance is between Donetsk and Kharkiv: 315 kilometers.

The largest distance overall is between Gdansk and Donetsk: 1,810 kilometers.

Europe’s top governing body, UEFA, said it expects to earn some $1.8 billion in income from the tournament, mostly from broadcasting rights. UEFA, which has 53 members – 27 states inside the European Union and 26 outside it, including the former Eastern European bloc – is a non-profit organization registered in Switzerland.

Group A (Warsaw and Wroclaw)

Group B (Lviv and Kharkiv)

Group C (Gdansk and Poznan)

Group D (Kyiv and Donetsk)

Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].

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