UEFA Evaluation

Motivation

Each candidate bidding to host EURO 2012 had to present a long-term strategy for development of football and principal motivation for hosting of the Championships. In Poland-Ukraine bid dossier the motivation was formulated as follows: UEFA EURO 2012 “will enhance the social cohesion of our countries and the management capabilities of these people. Our nations will be united in delivering a superb event which will enhance our population’s sense of national pride. As a result, our countries will be more firmly integrated in the European family of nations and more committed to and capable of further development of European values in social, cultural, economical and political matters”. It is also of great importance that those would be the first EURO finals held in Eastern Europe, which would be consistent with UEFA development strategy and provide an excellent opportunity for a further integration of Ukraine with the family of European countries.

Interest in the idea

One of the major criteria for evaluation of the bids in the UEFA report is the public support for hosting of EURO 2012 in a given country. 85.4 % of Ukrainians and 66.8 % of Poles support the joint bid of our countries. The public opinion poll showed the highest scores in Italy (92 %), but lower ones for Croatia (83 %.) and Hungary (45.5 %).

Equally important for UEFA as public support is whether citizens of the candidate countries express willingness to go to matches, if the European Championship finals were to be staged in their country. Willingness to go to matches is declared by 44.2 % of Poles and 38 % of Ukrainians. For the sake of comparison in Italy, despite the huge public support for this country’s bid, only 35 % of the population would go to a match during the finals. In the case of Croatia and Hungary the results are, respectively, 66.6 % and 26 %. If we look at those results from the perspective of the population of individual countries (see Table 1), Poland-Ukraine remain a definitive leader (over 35 million individuals), followed by Italians (20 million individuals) and Croatia-Hungary (5.5 million individuals).

Table 1. Willingness to go to matches expressed as a percentage share and as a number of citizens in individual candidate countries.

Country	Population*	Willingness to go to matches expressed as a percentage share**	Willingness to go to matches expressed  as a number of citizens
Poland	38 635 144	44,2%	17 076 734
Ukraine	47 425 336	38%	18 021 628
Croatia	4 495 904	66,6%	2 994 272
Hungary	10 006 835	26%	2 601 777
Italy	58 103 033	35%	20 336 062

Source of data:
*CIA – The World Factbook - http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
** UEFA Evaluation Report – “UEFA European Football Championship Bidding for Final Tournament 2012. Phase I Evaluation Report”

When evaluating the conclusions, UEFA took into account football’s place in a given society. It considered both the football’s score in the ratings of the most popular sports in a given country and audiences’ interest in television broadcasts of previous European Championships. Both in Poland and in Ukraine football is a very popular sport. Football audiences account for 50 % of top sports audiences. UEFA EURO 2004 enjoyed in Poland high (Top TVR 24%) Television Rating, considering that Poland did not participate in the tournament. Moreover 4 out of 10 sports audiences of the year were for matches played during UEFA EURO 2004™.

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Event experience

In the so-called „general evaluation conditions” of bids to host EURO 2012, UEFA also took into account experience of the candidates in organizing major sporting events. Although Italy has the greatest event experience, Poland and Ukraine also organized major sporting events of international importance.

In 2004 Poland hosted 2004 UEFA Regions Cup Final Tournament, i.e. European Championships for amateurs. Moreover Poland can boast hosting of Ski Jumping World Cup Zakopane (2000-2005), 2001 Winter Universiade Zakopane, 2001 Volleyball World League Final, 2000 Judo European Championship and 1999 European Women's Basketball Championship.

Ukraine organized several major, international sporting events. In 2005 it hosted European International competitions from track and field and Championship for calisthenics. In 2004 Ukraine hosted International Football Tournament in memory of V. Lobanovskiy and European Championship for heavy athletics.

Political support

A separate issue evaluated by UEFA was the political system of the candidate countries, political support for the candidature and legal conditions for hosting of the Championships. All candidate countries enjoyed support of their respective governments. At the time when bids were submitted, support for the Poland-Ukraine bid was expressed, inter alia, by the then Poland’s prime minister Marek Belka and president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, while in Ukraine the Council of Ministers adopted a special resolution on that matter. After autumn 2005 parliamentary elections in Poland, the issue of hosting EURO 2012 was one of the first ones to be addressed by the new Polish government headed by prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.

Legal conditions

Regardless of the government’s support, our countries will certainly need to put much work into creation of legal conditions conducive for hosting of EURO. The issues of customs, immigration, visas and work permits are to be solved by the future act “EURO 2012 Law”, to be adopted in both countries. Legislation in the area of intellectual property protection presently does not meet all the requirements set by UEFA in any of the candidate countries but Poland and Ukraine are the only ones that provided drafts of relevant laws. Moreover Poland and Ukraine will need to regulate issues pertaining to labor law, volunteer work and tax system. As regards anti-doping laws, the WADA code is in force in both countries.

Stadia

From the point of view of organizing the finals, the most important issue is certainly to ensure adequate number of stadia meeting UEFA requirements regarding the size, seating capacity, number of covered seats, safety and security and financing. Each candidate proposed 8 stadia to host matches. Croatia-Hungary additionally identified one, Italy – seven and Poland-Ukraine four back-up stadia. The overall net seating capacity of the stadia amounts to 1,278,500 for Croatia-Hungary, 1,717,115 for Italy and 1,532,000 for Poland-Ukraine.

Presently stadia in none of the candidate countries fully meet UEFA requirements. All stadia require refurbishment, are under construction or are planned. The UEFA report evaluates that the proposed stadia infrastructure could meet UEFA requirements but a final decision on that matter will be made after precise information on the building projects has been provided. It is worthwhile stressing that when Portugal won the bid to host EURO 2004, it had only one stadium meeting UEFA requirements while ten modern and functional facilities were built from the scratch or refurbished. It should be also borne in mind that stadia and other sporting facilities are constructed only after the bid to host an event has been won, which is evidenced by experiences of Australia (Sydney Olympic Games 2000), Greece (Athens Olympic Games 2004), or Portugal (UEFA EURO 2004™).

Table 2. Stadia infrastructure in candidate countries to host EURO 2012.

	Stadia to be refurbished	Stadia under construction	Planned stadia
Croatia-Hungary	3	3	2
Italy	6	-	2
Poland-Ukraine	4	3	1

Source: UEFA Evaluation Report – “UEFA European Football Championship Bidding for Final Tournament 2012. Phase I Evaluation Report”.

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Accommodation

UEFA EURO 2004™ finals attracted to Portugal almost 250,000 supporters. Hosting of Championships also entails presence of several thousand official guests and journalists. For that reason UEFA sets for candidates to host EURO the obligation to secure adequate hotel capacity and transport infrastructure. Such factors as number of hotels, their standard, hotel rates, quality of training centers and issues of tourism management in a given country are taken into account.
The only country with a very large hotel capacity is Italy. Croatia-Hungary do not meet UEFA requirements as regards four- and five-star hotels. In the case of Poland-Ukraine presently only Warsaw and Kiev offer a sufficient number of hotels meeting all UEFA requirements. An increase in the number of hotels is envisaged by 2012, and moreover our countries were the only candidates to address the insufficient room capacity in its bid dossier through a proposal to use such alternative solutions as youth hostels, motels and university campuses.

Hotel rates in the candidate countries were described as extremely high in Italy and competitive in Croatia-Hungary. For host-cities in Poland and Ukraine, UEFA evaluated hotel rates as being below the level of other bids.

Safety and security

The final element evaluated by UEFA was the issue of safety and security of the events during the championships. In Poland and Ukraine the central role is played by the Ministers of Interior. A specific, bi-national set up is foreseen for EURO 2012 (the Safety and Security Committee). Our strategic approach and the global concept addressing the challenges was assessed as clear and comprehensive. Similarly was evaluated the concept regarding the stewarding in the stadium, which – according to the UEFA report – will ensure a legacy to both countries. Given how important the issue of safety and security is during such events as EURO finals, UEFA evaluation is a great success for Poland and Ukraine and can be yet another advantage of our joint bid.