Ukraine scores four host cities for Euro 2012
It’s official but with caveats: Four cities in Ukraine will get to host the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, but only if they complete preparations by June 11, 2011 – one year before the opening match kicks off.
Despite the equivocation, the Dec. 11 confirmation by the Union of European Football Associations came as rare good news from Europe, followed by recent threats that the nation may lose its status as co-host with Poland.
Prior to the announcement, only Kyiv had been confirmed as a Ukrainian venue because of a lack of progress on the construction of stadiums and infrastructure for the world’s most prestigious football event after the World Cup. But UEFA now sees enough hope in Ukraine to add Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lviv as confirmed hosts for group matches. The championship game is scheduled for Kyiv.
The football organization has, however, left itself some room to maneuver by warning that the cities could still forfeit hosting rights if Ukraine does not stick to the timetable and meet the required standards.
Leaving doubts aside, many see Euro 2012 as a chance for Ukraine to show off internationally, especially to soccer-crazed fans in the European Union, whose 27 members have snubbed the nation’s attempts to join. With hundreds of thousands of fans set to visit the country for more than a dozen matches over a three-week period, the tournament will be a boon to Ukraine’s tourism industry.
The infrastructure projects – including new airports, roads and hotels – are expected to give the economy a boost and improve Ukraine’s attractiveness to investors.
“The news is enormously positive for Ukraine’s longer-term reputation as an investment destination,” analysts from Dragon Capital, a Kyiv-based brokerage, said in a note to investors.
UEFA’s decision in 2007 to take the championship to Eastern Europe for the first time was meant to boost the economies in Poland and Ukraine, as well as to extend soccer’s geographical reach. “There was a feeling at UEFA that it should try to stimulate growth, in soccer and economically,”according to Jonathan Wilson, a soccer historian who has written extensively on Eastern Europe. “Soccer was trying to give something back. But it got the timing completely wrong as it has coincided with the global recession.”
The tough recession is one reason why some are warning it is too early for Ukraine to uncork the celebratory champagne. Speaking in Kyiv on Dec. 14, when the official Euro 2012 logo was unveiled at a ceremony on Mykhailivska Square, UEFA President Michel Platini alluded to the associations’ escape hatch: He said he will visit Donetsk, Lviv and Kharkiv in February to inspect the progress of preparations. UEFA wants to make sure that the airports, hotels, stadiums and roads are up to standards.
Skeptics say the announcement has not changed the fundamental problems behind Ukraine’s preparations – financing for infrastructure improvements, the low level of management skills and experience in Ukraine, and a lack of accommodation for fans.
While co-host Poland, an EU member, is expected to get tens of billions of dollars in assistance from the 27-nation bloc for infrastructure improvements, Ukraine has had to rely mainly on its own government spending and the generosity of its business tycoons.
Public finances in Ukraine have been squeezed by the economic downturn. Parliament has passed a law to squeeze Hr 10 billion out of the National Bank of Ukraine, but the institution has so far refused to transfer the cash after the president vetoed the legislation. Tymoshenko on Dec. 11 urged Yushchenko to remove his veto, accusing him of creating a “financial Holodomor” for Euro 2012 preparations, referring to the forced famine that killed millions in Ukraine in 1932-33. The president has continuously said that printing so much money would do the economy more harm than good, however.
Empty state coffers have meant a lack of financing for infrastructure projects. Only 20 percent of the planned amount of infrastructure investment has been made in Kharkiv and Donetsk, said Pavlo Tsirul, head of the Euro 2012 Citizens’ Control Committee, a non-governmental organization that is tracking preparations.
Tsirul said the main problem was a lack of accommodation. “Problem number one is the number of hotels and the poor service they provide: 200,000 fans are supposed to be housed in private flats in Kyiv, and 10,000 in sanatoriums outside the city. Donetsk is intending to put 16,000 people up in tents,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer James Marson can be reached at [email protected], while John Marone is at [email protected].
