It's fitting that 35-year-old Andriy Shevchenko should bow out as his country revels in the limelight as co-host of the Euro 2012 championships. "Sheva," after all, put his country on the football map -- its first superstar kitted out in the blue and gold of an independent Ukraine.

In Ukraine, authorities are warning soccer fans about the dangers of buying Euro 2012 tickets on the street from scalpers. But some people are still turning to scalpers -- and finding good deals at the same time.

In the frantic race to be the top animal predicting results of the European soccer championship taking place in Poland and Ukraine, it appears one has clearly fallen off the pace.

Nonwhite soccer fans are traveling to the European soccer championship in Ukraine and Poland despite a wave of allegations about racism in the stands. RFE/RL spoke to black fans and students about their personal experiences in host city Kyiv.

A Croatian soccer fan site has expressed regret that a heavy police presence deterred thugs from throwing stones and otherwise harassing participants in a gay-pride march, fueling notions that wide swaths of the Balkans are intolerant of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community.

The biggest soccer festival of the year -- the Euro 2012 championship -- is getting under way in Poland and Ukraine. As RFE/RL reports from Kharkiv, the northeastern Ukrainian city is putting the final, frantic touches on its preparations for the tournament's first match in Ukraine on June 9.

The European soccer championships in Poland and Ukraine kick off in Warsaw on June 8. RFE/RL takes a look at how Eastern Europe’s biggest sporting event in decades adds up.

It's shaping up to be Eastern Europe's biggest contest this summer. No, not the Euro 2012 championship, but the contest between rival "psychic" animals touted as having the ability to predict soccer results.

Outrage over Tymoshenko's jailing last autumn and what is seen as her continuing harsh treatment has already cost Ukraine plenty, particularly in its relations with Europe.

To counter bad publicity, hundreds of Ukrainians have flooded online to offer free lodging to Euro 2012 guests looking for an alternative to pricey hotels or a chance to mingle with the locals.

Ukraine has accused the British media of waging a campaign to discredit the country ahead of the European soccer championship that it is co-hosting next month with Poland.

Ukrainian officials say their country could make up to $1.5 billion in profit during the Euro 2012 football championship, which runs from June 8 to July 1.

Brash protesters from the famously bare-breasted Ukrainian feminist group Femen staged another assault on the Euro 2012 soccer championships that Ukraine is co-hosting along with Poland.

Warsaw's feel-good effort to jointly host the Euro 2012 soccer championships with its eastern neighbor has left it in a difficult position, as European officials announce plans to boycott matches on Ukrainian soil to protest the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Despite media coverage and protests at home and abroad, and even an official moratorium by a ministry, animal-rights activists in Ukraine say that a systematic culling of stray animals continues ahead of the Euro 2012 soccer championships this summer.