Euro Winners Start On Road To 2012

The award of the European Championships to Poland and Ukraine will provide the
catalyist for a huge rebuilding scheme in the two countries, which they hope
will provide a legacy long after the 2012 event.

And beyond the stadia and
infrastructural work, the sponsorship and sports marketing industries is set to
shift its gaze east.

UEFA inspectors were concerned about road conditions, but were
reassured by Polish sports minister Tomasz Lipiec who said:”This is a chance for
development of airports, roads, hotels and stadiums in Poland,” he said. The
Polish and Ukrainian ministries of transport and regional development also plan
an expansion of the highway linking Ukraine and Poland with western Europe at a
cost of 1.3 billion euro.

“We are creating huge marketing value with a
population of more than 80 million,” Polish bid committee general director
Michal Nykowski said.

Italy’s hopes of hosting Euro 2012 were dashed by a
combination of hooliganism, corruption and a joint bid by Poland and
Ukraine.

Uefa’s executive committee voted with a two-thirds majority to
take European football’s prize event to eastern Europe.

World champions
Italy were expected to win the bid despite a worsening reputation in
international football. Serie A has been rocked by match fixing scandals and
crowd trouble, including the recent match between Roma and Manchester United,
where Italian police’ handling of the situation received much criticism.

Poland and Ukraine were comfortable winners, defeating the Italian bid
by eight votes to four, with the third contender, a joint bid from Hungary and
Croatia, attracting no support in a secret ballot of Uefa executive committee
members in Cardiff.

Former Ukraine great and current head coach Oleg Blokhin
expressed his delight at the decision – and saluted the hard work put in by
Ukrainian Football Federation president Grigoriy Surkis.

He said: “We should
build a memorial to Grigoriy Surkis as he made the application from nothing and
made such a great win possible, which was very complicated due to a lot of
scandals.