Stadiums Need To Shape Up

Construction workers in the Ukraine cities of Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv have been told they have work to do if they’re if they’re going to complete stadiums in time for the 2012 European soccer finals.

Poland and Ukraine are co-hosting the European Championship but UEFA – European football’s governing body – has warned the latter that it will need to get a move on if it’s to have more than two venues.

At a May 13 meeting in Bucharest the soccer chiefs confirmed the Polish cities of Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw and Gdansk would host matches, but delayed naming more Ukrainian cities beyond Kiev and Donetsk.

The other prospective venues have until Nov. 30 to prove they can make the massive upgrades needed to cope with the tens of thousands of fans who’ll be pouring in from all over Europe.

Even in Donetsk, where Turkish contractor ENKA is likely to have the new Donbass Arena ready by the middle of the summer, there are still concerns over the local infrastructure such as the readiness of roads, airports, stadiums and hotels necessary to host matches. Donbass will be home to the local Shakhtar Donetsk soccer team.

A month ago UEFA president Michel Platini warned Ukraine that six to eight cities would be selected and not necessarily in equal proportion between Poland and Ukraine.

However, it’s still certain that Euro 2012 will be staged in the two countries after two years of often painfully slow progress since they were awarded the tournament in April 2007.

Sports officials and politicians say they want the games split down the middle between Ukraine and Poland.

“I’ll say it again: our position, along with the Poles, is in favour of complete parity, equal opportunity,” Ukrainian Soccer Federation president Grigory Surkis, a member of UEFA’s Executive Committee, told Reuters.“Even if my colleagues from UEFA offered me a greater number of spots than Poland, I would be the first to refuse them.”

A source close to the UEFA executive committee to;d the newswire that it’s unlikely it would want to walk in to a political minefield by choosing six Polish cities and only two from Ukraine when the eight venues should be equally divided among the two countries.

Having named only two Ukrainian cities UEFA has put enormous pressure on the local authorities to get a move on with the other two.

The country rallied behind Kiev’s preparations after Platini said that if the capital failed to modernise its stadium on time, the country risked losing the right to stage the competition.

Since that stadium was brought up to scratch, Ukraine’s been hit badly by the global financial crisis and a deep recession has brought construction to a virtual standstill.
Industry is producing about a third less than a year ago, severely depressing revenue from exports. However, the stadiums have been identified as priority projects and work is continuing on them.

Having convinced UEFA that Kiev is ready and Donetsk only needs the finishing touches, Ukraine will now focus on the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk, as well as Lviv, a historical tourist city close to the Polish border, if it’s to win two more finals venues.

In Kharkiv, the new OSK Metalist is still under construction and looks the most likely place to be guaranteed one of the two remaining slots. It’s scheduled to be completed by the autumn, although UEFA’s Nov. 30 means there’s no margin for any setbacks.

The Donetsk venue will also be used for various concerts and shows. It was designed by ArupSport Company, which also did the City of Manchester Stadium in the U.K., the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, and Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Spain.