Poland-Ukraine are hosts for the 2012 European Championships. What's more surprising than the victory - is how decisive a victory it was. Capturing 8/12 votes, with only 4 going to the Italians, this wasn't even a close call.
Perhaps it is UEFA's way of sending a message that it is serious about corruption, that it truly believes these two countries can pull it off, or both. One could argue Poland had its troubles with corruption too, but Poland's government has also been fairly proactive in doing something about it. But that's also something UEFA hasn't been fond of. So why did Poland-Ukraine win this bid by such a margin?
I believe it's as much to do with not giving the tournament to Italy as it is to do with Poland-Ukraine being such a potentially great host (at least, in UEFA's eyes). Had it been a narrow victory I would gather that Poland-Ukraine impressed enough people to pull it off, but given the convincing victory, I'm more inclined to believe that it was a political statement towards the Italians. After all, despite both Poland and Italy having problems with corruption lately, the Italian case has been made much more public and perhaps put FIFA and UEFA under significant pressure to take a stand against it. The penalties assessed to the Italians have gone predominately against individual teams, losing Euro, however, hurts the country as a whole.
However, at this point it's irrelevant why it happened, as there is no reason to believe Poland-Ukraine can't be great hosts. Both are great soccer countries with strong European cultures, both have never hosted such an event, and let's also not forgot how big these two countries are and what it could mean for them in terms of revenues and foreign investment. Unlike Italy, these are two markets that haven't been saturated. Whatever the reasons this bid was given the right to host, it is also deserving of the event in many respects.
There are a number of improvements both countries are promising for 2012 - including changes to stadiums and infrastructure. Below are some of Poland's projected stadiums for 2012.
The rest of the photos can be found here
View promotional videos for each major city (in Poland)
2012 is still a long way away, but it is definitely a once in a lifetime event not worth missing. One that I'm definitely going to use as an excuse to go overseas.
