A House for Soccer

The word combination soccer house, until now used in the figurative sense only, will assume quite material shape in the nearest future. On April 16, a capsule was solemnly laid in the foundation of Ukrainian Soccer House being built on the initiative of the Soccer Federation of Ukraine (SFU) near the central arena of the National Olympic Complex (see photo). This high-profile project of establishing a modern sports facility will be implemented at the expense of UEFA investments and SFU funds. There will emerge be soccer fields with natural and artificial covering. A modern mini-stadium that meets UEFA standards is being finished next to Ukrainian Soccer House. The pitch will be equipped with a heating and automatic watering system, covered grandstands with a 2000 seat capacity, a display board, a lighting system, and a changing room block for four teams.

SFU President Hryhory Surkis thinks that, in addition to being a place for all kinds of soccer offices, the future Soccer House will also embrace all the best that exists in Ukrainian soccer, a truly popular sport. The construction of Ukrainian Soccer House will be the peak of the mass-scale soccer pyramid that will complete the first stage of the work the soccer federation is doing to revive the glorious traditions of Ukrainian soccer.

Incidentally, Mr. Surkis told Interfax-Ukraine last Friday that, in his opinion, the joint bid of Ukraine and Poland for hosting the 2012 Soccer Championship of Europe would make Ukraine more attractive to foreign investors. Mr. Surkis emphasized that Presidents Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine and Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland had supported this initiative when they met in Kyiv last March.

The capsule-laying ceremony was attended by SFU President Hryhory Surkis, Vice Premier of Ukraine Dmytro Tabachnyk, Chairman of the State Committee for Construction and Architecture Valery Cherep, President of the Kyivmiskbud holding company Volodymyr Poliachenko, as well as UEFA guests: member of the UEFA Executive Committee and President of the German Football League Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder; UEFA treasurer Mathieu Sprengers; manager of the UEFA Assistance Program, Andreas Kuhn; senior manager of the UEFA Hat Trick scheme, Bruno Wolfisberg; and chief secretary of the German Football Association, Jan Lengrke. The ceremony was preceded by a session of the SFU Council, which discussed performance of the SFU Council of the Regions as well as convening the IV Congress of the SFU.