EURO 2012 - A Planned Tournament

UEFA decision to choose Poland and Ukraine as the host was dealt with criticism. Those two countries are known for hostile attitudes. Poland which has pure 96.7% of polish people is among the much racist nations. While Ukraine has 78% pure Ukrainians and 17% Russians. Whereas Poland is ranked 14 and Ukraine as 23 in most racist countries in the Europe. We were not aware of the situation in Ukraine and Poland before the release of famous BBC documentary "Stadiums Of Hates" ( Here, it  is the link if you haven't watched the video yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z93iQgI3_Iw&feature=share ).  Asian countries are called bitter terrorist and are deprived from sporting events but take a brief look at the events in these two host nations. The murder of an Irish fan, open warning from Ukraine racist groups for the English supporters will be buried in Ukraine, riots with police. Apart from these terrorist and threatening facts the Polish and Ukrainian people are overcharging the tourist. After the 2008 economic crisis these countries suffered staggering losses which are still not recovered. Like Ukraine’s GDP fell by 15%. It was reported that UEFA intentionally requested Spain and Portugal to submit weak bids in order to support these two countries.

How will Euro 2012 benefit these nation?

Poland: In fact, infrastructure spending associated with the UEFA EURO 2012 amounted to 110 billion zloty (about €25.6 billion). 63 billion zloty was connected with road construction. Investment in hotels also increased. Infrastructure projects add around 1.5 percent to Polish GDP.
Ukraine: But infrastructure investment surrounding the soccer tournament have been a major driver of investment activity growth. Infrastructure expenditures related to the UEFA EURO 2012 championship, totaled 107 billion hryvnia or 8.3 percent of GDP. More than 73.8 percent of Ukraine’s UEFA EURO 2012 investments have been aimed at modernizing their transportation infrastructure, namely urban transport, roads, railways and airports. It will boost the GDP by almost 5%. Official numbers put the number of foreign tourists visiting Poland for the euro 2012 at 820,800. out of whom 453.5 thousand will stay in Poland longer than one day. Polish press expect 200K - 250K to come from countries whose national teams are expected to play in Poland during the group phase and only expect them to spend 180 - 230 million zloty. Given that Ukraine is hosting the final, it is naturally expected to be the more attractive tourist destination. Government official expect 800,000 - 1.2 million tourists through the duration of the tournament, each staying for about three - four nights and spending $1,000. But these numbers were based on 700K ticket sales, a large portion of which were bought by local residents, expect 500K tourists and SocGen anticipates they will spend $400 - $500 million.

Does all this call UEFA sanity into question? Well, there was one attack on Sri Lankan cricketers during the arrival of players in Iqbal Stadium, Lahore and whole western media turn their eyes against  Pakistan and deprived Pakistanis from almost all major sports mainly includes cricket, hockey, SAF games, etc. Pakistan is still suffering from the sequences and international teams of all sports afraid of visiting Pakistan just because western media represents Pakistan as failed  Muslim terrorist country and not a part of European council whom they wish to support even many lives are at risks.

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