'Fairy tale' gives fresh hope
Thursday 19 April 2007
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Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin has plenty to celebrate (©Getty Images)
The media in Ukraine were keen to stress the ecomonic benefits as well as the obvious sporting ones after the country won the right to stage UEFA EURO 2012™ with neighbours Poland.
Friendship
Their bid was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee ahead of those from Croatia/Hungary and Italy in Cardiff yesterday, opening a new chapter in a friendship between the nations encompassing 12 centuries. "A chance to break through," read today's headline in Kiev's leading sports newspaper Komanda, referring to the opportunity to speed up Ukraine's integration into Europe.
'Economic stability'
Serhiy Bubka, the pole vault great who is now president of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee, continued the theme, saying: "Thanks to UEFA we'll be able to achieve that much faster than in the 15 or 20 years we would have needed otherwise. EURO 2012 will help us to achieve economic stability."
'Fairy tale'
Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin was widely quoted in the press today, saying: "EURO 2012 will help us discover thousands of new talents, and for that we ought to build a statue of Grigoriy Surkis!" The president of the Football Federation of Ukraine took a slightly more sober view, Surkis saying: "It's difficult to describe what I feel. I thank everyone who voted for Ukraine and Poland. We've created the future." Blik perhaps best summed up the mood in its pages, though, writing simply: "A fairy tale has come true".
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