UEFA eventually approved all four Ukrainian cities which are to host Euro 2012
Lviv – The UEFA Supervisory Board has approved the decision to confirm all four Ukrainian cities (Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv), as hosts of the European soccer championship of 2012. The decision was passed in Nyon, Switzerland, the seat of the UEFA headquarters, after a detailed review of Ukraine’s progress on the way to Euro 2012, reports Information Center Ukraine 2012. We will remind our readers that prior to passing a decision in favor of Ukraine, UEFA experts visited two cities, the Ukrainian capital and Lviv. They made a detailed analysis of problematic sites and reported to the Supervisory Board. Here is the reaction of Borys Kolesnikov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister for the Euro 2012, after the positive verdict of the UEFA experts: “Everything is in our own hands! The UEFA is pleased with Ukrainian government’s work on preparing the championship and stated that more had been done over the past two months than over the previous two years.”
The next examination in the country’s readiness for Euro 2012 will take place in Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv in September, when Ukraine, according to Kolesnikov, has to finally fit in the schedules of the implementation of all the projects. “If we work well, the Championship will be held in all four cities. Anyway, even now I don’t believe that one or two cities might lose their chance to host the Euro 2012,” emphasized Kolesnikov.
Tadei EDER, director general, Solomiia Krushelnytska Lviv National Opera:
“Personally for me, this decision passed by the UEFA Supervisory Board is a source of great joy. I think it will make history both for Ukraine as a whole and Lviv in particular. Euro 2012 will pass, and no one knows if it will ever come again to Ukraine and to Lviv – but it will be written with gold letters in the tables of history. Everything depends not so much on the fact that we were entrusted with the organization of this championship, but perhaps on all of us, on how well we can prepare for it. It is not a matter of building a stadium or repairing all our motorways before Euro 2012, although this is very important, of course. The main thing is that we will receive guests – lots of guests. We have to see to it that they are given a decent welcome at all levels, including public transport, streets, theaters – all this has to be done on a top level. I always remind people of the rule of ‘three and eleven.’ It boils down to this: if someone did something good to you, you will tell three people about it; but if you were mistreated, cheated or hurt, 11 will know about it. I would very much like not to trigger the principle of eleven. Let there be three, but let them have fond memories of Ukraine and Lviv – of everything we can treat our guests to. I remember my last year’s trip to Barcelona, which hosted the summer Olympics back in 1992. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that even now the whole world knows that the Olympic games once were held there. It means that this Spanish city has a fantastic influx of tourists, almost five million annually. Why? Because in Barcelona tourists feel comfortable, in terms of hotels, restaurants, theaters. This is exactly what we have to aspire to. That is why we should turn a deaf ear to skeptics who say that we don’t need a stadium, for who is going to play there after the Championship? Those skeptics fail to see further...”
