Michel Platini, the UEFA president, has said Ukraine has three months to prove it is ready to co-host with Poland the Euro 2012 soccer championship. As Reuters says:
"Ex-Communist Poland and former Soviet Ukraine face a colossal task in upgrading stadiums, building hotels and overhauling infrastructure including roads and airports if they want to stage their biggest event yet."
Ukrainians have been getting jittery this week with Platini's visit. One Ukrainian colleague said that he was extra-concerned as it was normally the custom for the location of the next tournament to be flashed on the screen at the end of the current tournament, which wound up last week. The bright lights of Kyiv and Warsaw were apparently not shown -- and that omission spoke volumes to many Ukrainians.
They shouldn't worry though. It wouldn't be an international sports tournament without a few stories about unfinished stadiums and crumbling infrastructure. I mean, they have until 2012. That's long enough isn't it? Isn't it?
-- Luke Allnutt
"Ex-Communist Poland and former Soviet Ukraine face a colossal task in upgrading stadiums, building hotels and overhauling infrastructure including roads and airports if they want to stage their biggest event yet."
Ukrainians have been getting jittery this week with Platini's visit. One Ukrainian colleague said that he was extra-concerned as it was normally the custom for the location of the next tournament to be flashed on the screen at the end of the current tournament, which wound up last week. The bright lights of Kyiv and Warsaw were apparently not shown -- and that omission spoke volumes to many Ukrainians.
They shouldn't worry though. It wouldn't be an international sports tournament without a few stories about unfinished stadiums and crumbling infrastructure. I mean, they have until 2012. That's long enough isn't it? Isn't it?
-- Luke Allnutt