Euro 2012 – Ukraine and Poland

A Ukrainian Jewish leader was named a head of the national council planning the Euro 2012 soccer championship.

Yevgeny Chervonenko, an aide to Ukraine’s President Viktor Yuschenko and a former governor of the Zaporozhzky region, was appointed by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers Monday as a head of the Ukrainian national council charged with planning the Euro 2012 European soccer championship.

Ukraine and neighboring Poland are co-hosting the Euro 2012. The soccer championship’s final will be held in Kiev’s Olympic Stadium.

Chervonenko, 48, is a member of the board of trustees of the World Jewish Congress; a special envoy of the European Jewish Congress for cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe; a vice president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine; and a vice-president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

Chervonenko has never been shy about his Jewish heritage. When he served as Minister of Transportation, he became the first Jewish official in Ukraine to affix a mezuzah to his government office door.

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira is a famous Brazilian football player who is better known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho. His name Ronaldinho was used to distinguish him from a fellow Brazilian football celebrity whose name is also Ronaldo. Gaúcho was used when the existing Ronaldo was also known as Ronaldinho.

He was born on March 21, 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He is the youngest among the three siblings. Miguelina, his mother, was a sales woman who soon decided to take up nursing. João, his father was a worker in the shipyard and a football player for Cruzeiro. He died due to a heart attack when Ronaldinho was at the age of 8. Ronaldinho’s brother Roberto was also a professional football player for Grêmio. But his career ended too soon due to his injuries. And now he manages Ronaldinho. His sister, Deisi, is his press manager.

During Ronaldinho’s childhood days, his interest in football was already evident. He started playing futsal and beach football which later lead into his passion for a more established football game. His character as a football player developed in his early years.

His career as a skilled football player started when he joined the youth team in Porto Alegre club Grêmio. His extraordinary ball control and capability to score was rapidly displayed which lead him to fame. Many clubs from all over the world attempted to get him to be part of their teams. Eventually Ronaldinho signed a 5-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain which he joined at the start of the new season.

During his years with PSG, there were still much larger offers from different clubs, but he opted to stay with the team. But after some time he decided to leave the team after their many unsuccessful attempts to qualify for any European competitions. This caused a bidding war among the many clubs. Finally, the bidding ended up with FC Barcelona as the winning club for Ronaldinho’s services. They acquired him for £18 million. He was a very high paid player in Barcelona. He has had his terrible times in his career but his many achievements was far more overflowing than that. He had also joined the Brazilan National team.

Ronaldinho is one of the most successful football players in the world. He had so many achievements in his arena which includes the FIFA World Player of the Year wherein he was awarded in 2 consecutive years (2004-2005), the European Footballer of the Year award and the FIFPro World Player of the Year award which was also awarded to him in 2 successive years (2005-2006).

In 2012, ukraine and Poland will host the uEFA – EuRO 2012 European Football Championship. According to estimates, as many as 400 000 foreign fans and tourists should visit ukraine in connection with the event.

EURO 2012 means a huge investment opportunity for ukraine and Poland.

According to official information of the Ukrainian Football Association, the matches in Ukraine will take place in Kiev (Olympic Stadium), Dnipropetrovsk (Dnepr Stadium) , Donetsk (Stadium) and Lviv (Ukraina Stadium); Kharkov and Odessa have, however, also been mentioned. In connection with the organization of EURO 2012, immense investments are awaiting Ukraine, especially in the areas of transportation infrastructure, sport and city infrastructure, accommodation and catering complexes, hospitals, energy supply networks, etc.
The Ukrainian government estimates that the overall investments for the preparation and organization of the Championship will reach the amount of UAH 120 billion (USD 24 billion). The state is prepared to invest USD 2.52 billion, and local governments have plans for almost USD 1 billion. This means that approximately 90 % of all investments, i.e. USD 21.5 billion, will have to be invested from private sources.

The estimate of overall investments in Lviv, for example, reaches EUR 200 400 million – in cooperation with Hochtief, the city has been developing project concerning the construction of a stadium on an area of 6 ha, with another 27 ha designated to be used for the construction of hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment centers, residential houses, etc…
The first private investments have already materialized:
In September 2007, the Prime Minister A. Klyuev and a representative of American Sun Land Group Corp., Chose Daniel Meyea, signed a Partnership Memorandum between the government of Ukraine and Sun Land Group Corp.

Sun Land Group Corp. is planning to invest resources especially into the construction and reconstruction of transportation infrastructure in the volume of approximately USD 6 billion. It plans the construction of major highways connecting western and eastern parts of the country and northern Ukraine with the country’s southern part.

The construction of these highways generates further investment opportunities – it will be necessary to build more facilities – hotels, parking lots, gas stations, stores, catering facilities. The governments of Romania and Ukraine are planning to ask the European Union for a contribution to another transportation project – the construction of a traffic corridor connecting both countries in the Bukovina area. Investments in the housing and municipal area remain a large challenge for foreign investors. Businessmen from Germany, for example, have declared their preparedness to invest EUR 5 billion into this field. Investment intents have also been declared by other countries– Israel, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Turkey and others.

The information has been provided by Jana Vasilenková, managing director in the company accace TOB in Kiev, which is the subsidiary of the company accace k.s. with its headquarters in Bratislava. The company provides services such as outsourcing of accounting, payroll agenda, tax advisory and establishment of company and is focusing on companies with international operations, which run their business through branches in various European countries. For more information see www.accace.eu.

An agreement concerning the EURO 2012 Football Championships was signed by Polish Radio, Polish Television, Polish national telecommunications provider TP S.A. and the Polish Football Association (PZPN) on Tuesday.

The agreement will facilitate preparations and organization of the Football Championships Finals in 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Head of Polish Radio Krzysztof Czaba?ski said that the fourth programme of Polish Radio (BIS) will be transformed into Polish Radio Euro. He stressed, however, that this doesn’t mean that the new programme will be only about sports. The station is to retain its youthful character, but there will also be a place for music and education.

Implementation of the agreement will include a broad media campaign, including an Internet portal on EURO 2012.

Czaba?ski pointed out that thanks to cooperation within the framework of the agreement the Radio may find its place on the modern media market. According to the head of the Polish Radio, modern broadcasters need to use new mass media, including mobile phones and the Internet to enrich their messages with pictures or short films.

Eugeniusz Kolator of PZPN said that within the framework of cooperation the football association will prepare materials for this programme. It will also help with making contacts with the UEFA and Ukraine.

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Italian Fabio Capello was given the England manager’s job until 2012 by the Football Association (FA) on Friday.

The FA confirmed his appointment on a four-and-a-half year contract in a statement on its Web site (www.thefa.com). The 61-year-old succeeds Steve McClaren, who was sacked last month after the team failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

Capello, the oldest man to take charge of England, will start his new job on Jan. 7. His first match is a friendly against Euro 2008 co-hosts Switzerland at Wembley on Feb. 6.

The appointment of England’s second overseas coach following Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-06) was ratified by the FA board on Thursday. Contract details were finalised by the FA and Capello’s lawyers on Friday.

“I am delighted Fabio Capello has agreed to become England manager,” said FA chief executive Brian Barwick.

“When we set out to recruit the new manager we said we were committed to appointing a world class candidate. In Fabio Capello we have that man.”

BACKROOM STAFF

Capello’s backroom staff will consist of assistants Franco Baldini and Italo Galbiati, goalkeeping coach Franco Tancredi and fitness assistant Massimo Neri.

An English presence will also be drafted into the set-up in due course, the FA said.

Tancredi, 52, was looking forward to the task.

“I am very happy but I realise it will not be an easy job seeing as there are four foreign keepers at the first four teams in the Premier League and often the reserve keepers are too,” the former Italy keeper told the Italian news service ANSA.

Capello has had a glittering career in club management and was also a top player, winning 32 caps for his country.

He has won nine league titles in Italy and Spain, although the two he achieved with Juventus in 2005 and 2006 were wiped from the record books because of an Italian match-fixing scandal in which he was never implicated.

Capello took AC Milan to Champions League glory in 1994 and also won domestic titles with AS Roma and Real Madrid.

SOUTHGATE RESERVATIONS

Although his appointment looks set to galvanise a team that for too long has underachieved, not everyone in England was happy with the FA’s choice.

Former England defender Gareth Southgate, now manager of Premier League Middlesbrough, said: “I feel it should be our (English) players, our manager, our coach, our kit-man and our faith-healer against the best of the rest of the world.

“I don’t see the point of having a national team with a national anthem and patriotism and a foreign coach. It might as well be club football.”

Former England winger Steve Coppell, manager of Premier League Reading, welcomed Capello’s arrival but said he wished he was English.

“I am sad,” he said. “I’m a proud English manager and I would have loved an Englishman to be in charge.”

TOP MANAGERS

The FA canvassed the opinions of many of the game’s top managers including Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) and Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) on McClaren’s successor and spokesman Adrian Bevington said Capello was the only man they interviewed for the job.

The only other candidate appeared to be former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho but the Portuguese ruled himself out this week.

Among the issues to be resolved is whether Capello can continue working as a pundit for RAI TV in Italy.

RAI want him to stay on until Euro 2008 but it remains to be seen whether he can combine both roles. He is due to be on a RAI show on Sunday evening before holding his first news conference in London on Monday.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News Writer
Warsaw, Poland (AHN) – To ensure extensive coverage of the Euro 2012 Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine, the Polish Football Association and three state media organizations signed an agreement on Tuesday. The Polish Radio, Polish Television and TP S.A., the national telecommunications provider, agreed to join hands in facilitating media coverage of the regional sport meet.

According to Krzysztof Czabanski, the head of Polish Radio, the fourth program of BIS will renamed Polish Radio Euro. The station will still keep its youthful character, but will reserve a big chunk of broadcast hours to the football finals. It will continue to air music and educational programs.

Czabanski added a website on Euro 2012 will be created, while modern tools of broadcasting and communication will be tapped to ensure the European continent as well as the rest of the world will be updated on the major event.

The Polish Football Association will prepare background materials on the sport for use by the media, and liaise with the UEFA and Ukraine, which co-hosts the event.

Extensive preparations are being done by co-hosts Poland and Ukraine even if the championship is 5 years away. A study by MasterCard said the European Championship will bring in $2.1 billion (1.4 billion euro) for 2008 championship co-hosts Austria and Switzerland. MasterCard is the games’ official sponsor since 1992.

The economic boom will come from ticket sales, travel, food and beverage sales, merchandising, sponsorship income, advertising and telecommunication and media coverage. In the Euro 2004 event held in Portugal, $1.2 billion (800 million euro) was generated throughout Europe by the football championship.

source:allheadlinenews.com

Poland’s President Lech Kaczy?ski has paid a two-day visit to Ukraine. During bilateral talks Presidents of Ukraine and Poland have discussed political relations and border issues. The organization of the Euro 2012 Championships and European and Euro Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine and energy issues have also been on the agenda.

Danuta Isler reports

On the first day of the visit presidents Viktor Yushchenko and Lech Kaczynski signed joint Declaration “Modern Challenges – New Dimensions of Strategic Partnership”. During the official signing ceremony held in Kyiv the Polish President reiterated that Poland strongly supports Ukraine’s wishes to be part of NATO and the EU. He also said that the Polish authorities will do everything to make Poland’s entering the Schengen zone not burdensome for Ukrainian citizens.

‘We have expressed our support for the future government which will hopefully be created soon. We have also expressed our hope that the new government and its policies will be completely unequivocal, i.e. pro-western.’

On his part president Victor Yushchenko said that his country was and is Poland’s strategic partner. The Ukrainian president also stressed that the Polish elections and formation of a new Government will not change bilateral relations with Ukraine.

‘It is very important for us to have good relations with Poland. And we can definitely talk about progress looking at the recent years. It is very good that such a dynamic is supported even at the highest state level.’

Pawel Wolowski of the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw welcomed Poland’s confirmed support of Ukraine on the way of integration to NATO and the EU. He expressed concern, though, about the implementation of the Ukrainian aspirations.

‘Ukrainian political elites are quite unanimous in aspiring to membership of the European Union and this idea also has a wide support of the Ukrainian society. However, Ukraine is not ready for the integration while the EU is not ready to enlarge. As for the perspective of NATO membership the situation is complicated. There is no social support while the political elites are also divided on this issue.’

On the agenda of talks was also the issue of the Odessa-Brody-Plock oil pipeline which will be discussed at the energy summit in Kyiv next March. Halyna Pastushuk, our correspondent in Kyiv.

‘According to the vice head of the president’s secretary office, Oleksandr Chalyy during his stay in Odessa Mr. Kaczynski had significant conversations connected with the long-lasting project of the pipeline Odessa-Brody-Plock. He said that during the last year and a half Ukraine has been working in the format Poland-Ukraine-Lithuania-Georgia-Azerbaijan to move forward the project Odessa-Brody-Plock and to promote the Black Sea, Caspian and Baltic energy transition space. All such questions were discussed.’

While in Odessa today the Polish Head of State also met Julia Tymoshenko, the official candidate to the post of Ukraine’s Prime Minister. President Kaczy?ski said that Poland was interested in seeing the Ukrainian government formed as soon as possible.

Source:polskieradio.pl

By Mikhail Volobuyev

KIEV, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Oleg Blokhin quit as Ukraine coach on Thursday after his team failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

“This was a hard decision, it wasn’t easy,” the former Soviet striker told the Ukrainian FA’s executive board meeting.

“After four years with the team, I am resigning because I think, I have nothing more to give to the national team.

“I’m not putting the blame for the team’s failure on anyone but myself,” he added.

Blokhin, 55, European Player of the Year in 1975 after leading Dynamo Kiev to their first European Cup Winners’ Cup success, was appointed Ukraine coach in September 2003.

He guided the national team to their first major finals at the 2006 World Cup in Germany where they reached the quarter-finals.

Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine failed to reach next year’s European championship finals from one of the strongest qualifying groups, finishing fourth behind world champions Italy, World Cup finalists France and Scotland.

Media reports said Blokhin, whose contract expires at the end of the year, was seeking a four-year extension so he could coach the team on home soil at the 2012 finals, but Ukrainian FA chief Hrigory Surkis would only offer a two-year deal.

Blokhin wanted more security with Ukraine also facing an uphill battle to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals after being drawn in a tough group with Croatia and England.

Blokhin, who also coached Greek club Olympiakos in the early 1990s, said he was taking a rest for now and dismissed media speculation he might join either FK Moscow or Dynamo Kiev.

“There are no talks with any club at the moment,” he said.

Surkis said the federation will meet next month to plan for next year and hopes to have made a choice by then. “There are no candidates right now, we are looking around,” he said. (Writing by Gennady Fyodorov; editing by Ken Ferris)

Source:uk.reuters.com

The stadium should be 33 hectares large and provide seats for 33,000 spectaculars and 1,200 parking lots, hotels with 200 rooms and other objects.

The competition is open for any juridical body irrespective of location, legal form and properties. The investor should provide guarantees of 100 M. Euros. The projects should be drafted by June 1, 2008. The deadline for applications is December 18, 2007 with further consideration on the next day. Interest in construction of the stadium in Lviv was stated by companies of Switzerland, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic and USA.

KIEV, Dec 3 (Reuters) – A dispute surrounding a construction site next to Kiev’s main stadium could lead to Ukraine losing the chance to host the final of the 2012 European championship, national coach Oleg Blokhin warned on Monday.
Ukraine are co-hosting the tournament with Poland but both FIFA and UEFA have said the construction of a shopping and leisure centre by Kiev’s 84,000-seat Soviet-era Olympic stadium would break safety rules by blocking some emergency exits.
President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree in September, ordering the dismantling of the half-built facility but compensation is still being worked out.
“If the complex being built in front of the Olympic Stadium is not torn down then we may not have a tournament,” Blokhin was quoted by news agencies as saying.
“If this continues — that the president talks, the government talks, and the Kiev mayor talks but all these problems remain unresolved — then I think we will be left without Euro 2012.”
Former communist Ukraine and Poland must undertake a colossal amount of work on stadiums, transport infrastructure and hotels to prepare for one of the world’s largest sporting events. (Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Alison Wildey)

source:football.guardian.co.uk