| Current press events 2008 |
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 Current press events
e.g. the hand-book of preparations to Euro 2012
Source: A mix from Polish and foreign press
The quotation “Euro 2012” comes from the press and is not used as a trade mark being the property of UEFA January 2008
A new year and a new counting-out: will we manage to build the stadiums, roads and hotels or not? What do we really have to do and what don’t we need to? Will we manage on time or not?... It all sounds a little awesome. Where is football, where is the sport and people in all that jazz?... By June a building project for the National Stadium in Warsaw will have been ready. The new stadium will be located in the place of the old one. Technically, it will be put on the construction of 2000 stilts that will be stuck in the ground underneath. After completing tender procedures the building will set off in 2009. Two years later, in 2011 the stadium will be open to use. According to UEFA, it should be ready in 2010, but it is not so easy to build a nice new stadium, isn’t it? The point is – to be ready before 2012! In Gdansk a building project for the Baltic Arena will be prepared by Rhode Kellerman Wawrowsky (RKW) company. The project will cost 33 m PLN and should be finished by the end of 2008. At the same time tender procedures and building works will start. It is planned that all the preparatory ground works should have been completed by June 2009. Provided there won’t be any delaying formal obstacles or battles between the subjects involved in the whole event… February 2008
The overall costs of all EURO 2012 –connected investments have been estimated. It’s 91 billion PLN. 52% of this sum will go for roads. It seems that UEFA could as well change the official name of the Cup into “EURO of the Roads” or something like that (with no explicit date – it’s safer this way). Now, Poland is a complicated country. We will designate the only 5 billion PLN for stadiums and hotels, 2.85 billion for airports and a little bit for railways, about 26.5 billion PLN. After the dissatisfied Italians had wanted to organize the championships for us, after claiming their rights and complaining Croats, the Scots took their turn to interfere with the matter. General Chairman of Scottish Football Federation announced that Scotland would be able to organize EURO 2012. It all looks strange. Don’t they all read the newspapers? It’s been widely known for 10 months now that Poland and Ukraine are holding the Cup. It’s just as simple as that! After the presentation of the project of the National Stadium in Warsaw it turned out that this is a twin design to the one which is already being built in Cape Town, South Africa, for the World Cup 2010. The project was made by GMP International GmbH consortium together with the J.S.K. Architects Ltd. Now, if anyone wishes to see what the Warsaw stadium is going to look like, you are free to head for Cape Town for Mundial 2010. According to the Polish Prime Minister, the State Treasury will add 40 million euros in Gdansk and 30 m euros in Poznan and Wroclaw each for the stadiums building. The capacity of the stadium in Gdansk will be 40,000 spectators (the minimum for the quarterfinal) while in Poznan and Wroclaw – 30,000 spectators. It means that the state budget is going to co-finance each seat with the sum of 1,000 euros. Gdansk itself designates 120 million PLN for the Baltic Arena. Marcin Herra was appointed Chairman of PL.2012 (the partnership responsible for organizing EURO 2012 in Poland). For those who are especially interested, we remind that in Portugal for the same purposes two such bodies were established before EURO 2004: EURO 2004 (run mainly by UEFA), responsible for the organizational side of the tournament, and Portugal 2004 – whose aim was to keep control over public investments. Leo Beenhakker was honored with a high rank Order by the Polish President. This is a reward for leading our national team to the EURO 2008 finals. 65-year-old “Don Leo”, as he is called by Spanish journalists, has a rich coaching career. He used to coach Real Madrid and won the Championship of Spain three times; he has won the Championship of the Netherlands with Ajax Amsterdam and Feyenoord Rotterdam, he also used to train the Dutch national team. At present his home is in Belgium and the workplace in Poland. A famous Ukrainian heavy weight boxer, Wladimir Klitchko became the world champion of IBF and WBO. Why do we mention that? His brother, Witalij (also WBO champion) is one of the “activists” who had fought for the Polish-Ukrainian EURO and now he is still an important face to promote the event. An average number of spectators in Polish extra – league games has grown up to 7,200 in this season. March 2008
A new record of the spectators’ number in Polish stadiums was established. 41,000 football fans came to the Silesia Stadium in Chorzow. Nothing could frighten the folks away – neither “Emma” hurricane nor the performance of Doda before the match.The teams of Ruch Chorzow and Gornik Zabrze got led ceremoniously by Gerard Cieslik and Wlodzimierz Lubanski – living legends of Polish football. A minute of silence was held to honor the memory of the most known Polish coach, Kazimierz Gorski. The match was won by Ruch Chorzow (3:2). It is estimated that Poland and Ukraine together will spend around 38 billion euros for EURO 2012. In Poland we have been sparing on roads so far, so as much as 12 billion will be designated for roads building and modernizing. In Ukraine they will give 5 billion for roads which altogether will take up 45% of the total expenses. Another 44% will go for hotels and railways, 5% for airports. And finally, a little bit will be spent on stadiums - 6% out of 38 billion… An amber model of the Baltic Arena was made by an amber craftsman from Gdansk. It was shown at the Amber Market. A Polish – Ukrainian agreement concerning the cooperation in organizing EURO 2012 was signed in Kiev by Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Poland. The document includes such topics as: establishing a common organizational committee, modernizing and building new border crossings, facilities in the cross-border communication, extending the number of mutual airlines connections, coordination of road and railway investments. April 2008
A meeting of representatives of Polish and Ukrainian cities hosting EURO 2012 was held in Lvov. According to the final official statements, the Council of EURO 2012 Cities is going to be established. There are plans in Wroclaw to organize an opening match on the new stadium between the national teams of Brazil and Poland. No need to say that it would be a hit game although the cost of hosting a team of that range – Brazil – must be enormous, up to 1 million euros. For the time being, they know nothing about these plans in Brazil, but what are the Internet and e-mail for? A special Parliamentary Sub-Commission has been established in order to deal with some legislative problems concerning the EURO 2012 organizing. The main task of this body is to analyze and eventually change those legislations that might be hampering this process. We are quite good and fast at creating different commissions and sub-commissions, partnerships and sub-partnerships and so on, aren’t we? May 2008
As everybody knows well, we are good at creating new formal bodies to support organizing EURO 2012. But not only – we are also skilful at conferences. A meeting of representatives of 6 cities hosting EURO 2012 and PL.2012 Partnership with chairman, Marcin Herra, took place in Poznan. The participants univocally declared that their co-operation is the key to success and that we shall set the standard of how to nicely organize a soccer championship. One would think that what you need is rather good logistics, effective organization, clear and simple investment procedures and - last but not least – a bit of money…How naive! Cooperation is the point! EURO 2012 oriented business start booming! Polmos Jozefow wanted to issue vodka called EURO 2012. Unfortunately for them, they somehow did not realize that this name is a trademark registered by UEFA. What a shame! The bottles with alcohol are piling up in storerooms waiting for the firm to buy the rights to use the mark. June 2008
There are speculations in the west-European press about so-called Plan B according to which the European Cup 2012 might not take place in Ukraine. In connection with those speculations, Italian papers have started an open attack. Some of them claim that neither Poland nor Ukraine is able to organize EURO 2012. Ho, ho, they must have forgotten that this is we, not them who won the Second World War in 1945! And in 2012 we are also bound to win… July 2008
During his visit to Ukraine, Michel Platini, Chairman of UEFA shook his finger at our dear neighbours. He politely asked them to send him present photos from the building site of the Olympic Stadium in Kiev every week. The UEFA supervisors demanded that the shopping centre which is being built nearby the stadium should be eliminated. Ukrainian businessmen involved in this place are not going to resign from it and Hryhorij Surkis, Chairman of Ukrainian Football Federation has a big problem. Summer troubles accompanying Platini’s visit have not quite omitted Poland either. The works over the National Stadium in Warsaw are proceeding rather lazily- and this is something to worry about. It is being said in the British media that Germany could co-organize EURO 2012 instead of Ukraine. As partner cities Berlin and Lipsk are being mentioned. The situation in Ukraine is becoming more and more uncertain. A UEFA press spokesman has denied rumours that Platini’s visitations will be followed by organizational changes about EURO 2012. August 2008
It is the mid of summer holiday season, but we are not the ones to waste time in Poland. High Polish sports officials went for a visit in China. There they found out that the Chinese are able to build everything and at low costs. Everything we want and we are lacking. They had built the Olympic objects over there in China, so they can as well build something here, in Poland. It’s simple – there are slightly more Chinese people than Polish people, so they can do more. September 2008
The first EURO 2012 stadium in Ukraine, in Dniepropetrovsk has already been completed. It took 3 years and 44 million euros to build it. It’s for 30,000 spectators. The founder of the stadium is Ihor Kolomyjski, a very mysterious figure in the Ukrainian business and the owner of Dnipro FC. Although a Swiss citizen, accordingly to Ukrainian oligarchs’ manners, he possesses not only a good car, house and yacht, but also his own club and now – even a brand new stadium. It is not at all easy or cheap to achieve such a status, but you can manage if you have some 1.5 billion dollars on your active accounts… By the way, each Ukrainian oligarch is able to have a stadium built for himself – provided nobody interferes in it. To sum up, in the Polish-Ukrainian match for stadiums we are obviously losing 1:0. Poland and Ukraine got another warning from UEFA for the lack of visible progress in EURO 2012 preparations. This is not the first reprimand and probably not the last one either. October 2008
An Austrian company that was going to build the stadium in Lvov has withdrawn from the contract. They came up with the conclusion that the Ukrainians would not pay them much enough. The Ministry of Sports and local governments of the cities organizing EURO 2012 start counting their chickens before they’re hatched. They’re already pondering over a question how much they could charge for the official names of EURO stadiums. For example, in Germany a well known insurance company, Allianz, pays around 6 million euros a year for the name Allianz-Arena in Munich. In Poland three new modern stadiums will be built (in Warsaw, Gdansk and Wroclaw) and three others will be widely modernized (Poznan, Krakow, Chorzow). After the championships large amounts of money will be needed in order to properly maintain such big objects. The 9th Poland – Ukraine Economical Summit was held in Ukraine. The Presidents of both countries were present at the meeting as well as 400 business and state institutions representatives on both sides. Issues connected with EURO 2012 were also discussed. Grzegorz Lato, freshly appointed Chairman of PZPN (Polish Football Association) worries about Ukrainian potentials concerning EURO 2012 preparations. It has been stated on the Ukrainian side that the world financial crisis and lack of good legislations will cause serious troubles with building objects connected with EURO 2012 (e.g. roads or hotels). November 2008
A serious crisis in Ukraine! The Ukrainian Government has liquidated EURO 2012 Agency which was established in August 2007 with Jewhen Czerwonenko as chairman. UEFA had strong objections to the work of the Agency. A new Organizational Committee with Prime Minister Julia Tymoszenko will take over the EURO 2012 preparations. According to official statements, 80% of private investments connected with building hotels have been held up. This is rather a disastrous piece of news. Germany is stepping out on the stage! Franz Beckenbauer announced that the plans concerning EURO 2012 together with Poland are no secret. In Germany the matches could be played in Berlin, Lipsk and Dresden. In the meantime the stadium in Donieck is being built with no bigger obstacles. The stadium for 55,000 spectators is going to cost 500 million dollars. It is going to be ready in spring 2009. Why does it look so good and problem-less??? Because Renat Achmetow, the owner of Shachtar Donieck FC is one of the wealthiest men in Ukraine. It is estimated that the fortunes of 50 richest Ukrainian oligarchs outnumber as much as over twice the annual national budget of Ukraine. The problem is, this is not the oligarchs who are bound to organize EURO 2012. In Lvov an official Office concerning the stadium building has been established. Well, it’s always better this than nothing. The stadium for 33,000 people will be built by a Ukrainian company. There are some minor problems such as unclear ownership regulations, lack of geological reports and a perfect uncertainty as for the source of money and the amount of money needed. But, who would care of such trivia?... Chinese delegations have come to Poland to have a look at our roads, stadiums and railways and to talk about possible cooperation. The subject is a progressive one. Ilia Szelak was appointed head of the Government Coordination Office to deal with the EURO 2012 preparations in Ukraine. It seems that the organizational crisis in Kiev has successfully come to an end. December 2008
Building teams have entered the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. Thus the modernization of the stadium has started. The expected capacity of the object is 72,000 spectators. It’s going to be finished in 2010. Hard works have started in Lvov where local authorities decided to modernize railways (a section from Lvov to the Polish border) and the airport. All of these is in strict connection with the stadium which is still far from any material shape. In Gdansk a contract for ground and drainage works preceding the Baltic Arena building has been signed. Wakoz company has won the contract which is worth 102 million PLN. These works will take six months starting from December 15th. The whole stadium shall be finished by the end of 2010. It will cost 600 million PLN altogether, its capacity – 44,000 people. It took 300 files to put in the whole executive project for the National Stadium in Warsaw. Preparatory building works are in progress now. The stadium in Poznan is being modernized. By the end of the year the old stands will have been dismantled. Every day 30 trucks full of rubble and dirt leave the stadium. The works are bound to be finished in June 2010, the expected capacity of the stadium – 41,000 fans (46,000 – off the record). A project of modernizing the stadium in Chorzow was made. The planned cost – 360 million PLN, expected capacity – 55,000 spectators. The works will start in July 2009 and should be finished in April 2011. In Lvov the first stage of building a … runway on the local airport is expected to begin before the end of the year. According to Polish Railway Company (PKP), a train journey from Gdansk to Warsaw takes 270 minutes now, but before 2012 it will be shortened to 180 min. (this means as long as it used to take before … II World War). And yet there are not many optimists who believe such promises. An interesting thing with the tender procedures for building the stadium in Wroclaw. The city was planning to designate for it 521 million PLN while the cheapest offer estimates the enterprise for 729 million. Something must have gone wrong… The executive project for the Baltic Arena is ready. The general building company is going to enter the building site in May 2009. |