Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine

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The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams sanctioned by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012.

The joint Poland/Ukraine bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 18 April 2007, in Cardiff, Wales. This bid defeated the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary, becoming the third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium/Netherlands, for Euro 2000, and Austria/Switzerland for Euro 2008.

This will be the last European Championship finals in which only 16 nations will participate, with Euro 2016 being the first European Championship finals with 24 competing nations. Qualification for the final tournament will be staged between September 2010 and November 2011.

Euro 2012 is a great transportation challenge for the host countries. Poland and the Ukraine must ensure that spectators are able to transfer freely between the cities where games will take place, as well as around these cities. These preparations are supervised by coordinators of transportation and airports. Their task it to make sure the construction and adaptation of roads, highways, train stations and railroads, together with airports – from planning to the moment of obtaining operating permits. They cooperate closely with institutions responsible for carrying out these investments, above others with the General Board for National Roads and Highways, The Polish Railroad Bureau for Strategy and Development, the Polish State Railways Ltd. Bureau for Implementing Investments, and airport owners.

Most spectators at the games in June 2012 will have arrived by air. In connection with this, the airports in the host cities need modernizing, which usually means expanding, in practice. Moreover, for the time of the championships additional passenger terminals will be open. Efficient transportation between the cities’ centers and the airports is equally important, as well as good public transportation inside the cities.

The alternative for flying is railroad. In Poland the process of modernization of the main lines is taking place, and it is to be continued in the coming years. Additionally, both in Poland and the Ukraine, there are plans to modernize the key train stations so that they can serve more passengers. In case of motor transportation, Poland will be continuing its investment plans to modernize the existing road infrastructure and build new express roads and highways.

In a few cities (Chorzów, Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw) works on connecting the airport to the city center by railroad are in progress. This will ensure greater capacity and shorten the time of travel as well as have another advantage: it will be more environmentally friendly. In the remaining two cities road infrastructure is modernized in order to make the car and bus transportation more effective and quicker. All the six cities are planning to modernize and expand the tramway infrastructure and purchase new, modern trains.

31 matches will be played during Euro 2012, with Ukraine hosting 16 matches and Poland 15. The breakdown of hosting duties is as follows:

• Warsaw: 3 group matches including the opening match, quarter-final, and semi-final (5 matches in total)
• Gdańsk: 3 group matches and a quarter-final
• Wrocław: 3 group matches
• Poznań: 3 group matches

• Kiev: 3 group matches, quarter-final, semi-final, and final (6 matches in total)
• Lviv: 3 group matches
• Kharkiv: 3 group matches
• Donetsk: 3 group matches and a quarter-final

WARSAW

The National Stadium in Warsaw is a planned football stadium, which will be built in Warsaw, Poland, on the site of the former stadium Stadion Dziesięciolecia.
The new stadium will have a seating capacity of 55,000. Its construction started in 2008 and is to finish in 2011. The national stadium is due to host the opening match (a group match), remaining 2 group matches, a quarterfinal, and a semifinal of the UEFA Euro 2012 hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine.
The National Stadium will not be the new home of Legia Warsaw or Polonia Warsaw football clubs. However, it is expected that Legia and Polonia may choose to use the National Stadium for their most prestigious matches.
Along with the stadium the plans include constructing a general purpose indoor sports arena with places for 15,000 spectators, an olympic swimming pool for 4,000 spectators and an aquatic park, hotel and congress center, catering and service facilities. The construction will be followed by a complete refurbishment of the nearby Warsaw Stadium railway station and the opening of a subway station and a segment of the second line of the Warsaw Metro linking the area with the city center. As the grounds are the property of government the investment will be financed by it, rather than the city of Warsaw.

GDANSK

The PGE Arena Gdańsk, previously called the Baltic Arena, is a football stadium in Gdańsk, Poland, that is being constructed for the UEFA Euro 2012. The stadiums' exterior is designed to resemble amber which has long been extracted on the Baltic coast. Construction started in 2008. Once completed in 2011, it will be used mostly for football matches and will become the home stadium of Lechia Gdańsk. The stadium will have a capacity of 44,000 people.
In December 2009, the stadium’s name was purchased by the Polish Energy Group (PGE) for 35 million złoty (about 8.5 million euro) for a duration of five years.[1] The city of Gdańsk sold the naming rights in order to cover some of the costs of its construction. The only stipulation was that the name must include the word "Arena". The oil firm Lotos and PGE were the final competitors for the sponsorship contract which also includes the display of the firm’s logo in at least two locations at the top of the stadium, along with internal advertisements. The stadium was originally known before as the Baltic Arena.

WROCLAW

Olympic Stadium built in the interwar period is a stadium proposed by Wrocław in the official offer of Poland and Ukraine on Euro 2012.
According to conception of stadium conversion it is expected to reach capacity over 40 thousand seats and is expected to be a part of sports center, with a swimming pool, a sports hall, a shooting range, tennis courts and also shop centres and gastronomic centres.
Below you can see graphic symbols of Olympic Stadium after planned conversion.
Organizers of the European championships make plans for playing some group matches in Warsaw.
But after granted organization of championships to Poland and Ukraine authorities in Wrocław addressed building project of a new stadium for Euro 2012. This stadium would be located in Drzymaly Street in the part of city called Maslice. There are no projects of stadium so far, and possible realization of this conception depends on the possibility of obtaining by the city additional funds (a new stadium is estimated at over 100 mln EUR0).
So an issue concerning the choice of stadiums in Wrocław where the European championships matches would be played stays unnegotiated.

POZNAN

The Municipal Stadium in Poznan in Bulgarska Street was built and was put into use in 1980. Lech Poznan plays their matches on this stadium.
Because of the European Football Championships the conversion of stadium is planned and this allows among others to enlarge its capacity almost twice (to 44 thousand seats). A car park for about 4000 parking spots and training field will be built. According to schemes of city authorities modernization is expected to finish in 2008. The cost of this investment is estimated at about 200 mln zlotys.
During the European Football Championships some group matches are expected to be played.
Below you can see graphic symbols of the Municipal Stadium in Poznan after finishing conversion.
The object in Poznan is the most advanced, as regards workmanship, the stadium which is suggested on the basic list of the Polish stadiums which will play host to footballers during the European championships in 2012.