Europe in general is suffering a real economic crisis at the moment, and while the various governments try to restore balance and unity, UEFA are hoping that the past five years of often stressful preparation will ensure that it avoids its very own Euro crisis next year when the prestigious Euro 2012 tournament is held in Poland and the Ukraine.
When these two nations which were once neighbours behind the Iron Curtain were first selected as joint hosts of Euro 2012, many concerns were raised and those that are typically raised where further magnified by the fact that these countries were being faced with producing a world class tournament of the magnitude never attempted in this part of the world before.
UEFA clearly took a gamble by appointing two countries suffering from both social and economic challenges to host the biggest football tournament in Europe, and whilst both countries are respected for their own footballing prowess, their pedigree as hosts was non existent. It did seem to be a bit of payback to the eastern bloc nations from Michel Platini, as they helped him into office a mere 3 months before the decision was made.
Four years down the line, the decision looks a lot smarter than it did back then. The runner up in the vote was Italy, and considering the current crisis facing this country in both their politics and their economy, if the vote had gone their way it seems very unlikely that next years tournament would happen at all.
It is good to see, therefore, that to the governments of Poland and the Ukraine have put Euro 2012 as a top priority and have between them spent an estimated €25bn to properly prepare for the tournament, but there can be no doubt about it that this has been one massive challenge for these countries.
A model tournament in 2008 was jointly hosted by Austria and Switzerland but the challenge of the infrastructure alone will make next summers jamboree a whole different ball game. Any supporter who intends travelling to the event and wishes to see matches in Gdansk in the west and Donetsk in the east faces a journey of 1850km, or 1150 miles.
At either end of their trek, however, they will find magnificent new state of the art stadiums, and with the impressive upgrades that have taken place at the stadiums in Kiev and Warsaw, the players will at least have the knowledge that they are playing in much superior stadiums than those which were used in 2008.
Article courtesy of www.footballandfashion.co.uk
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