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Overview of Ukraine hosting EURO-2012 championships with Poland
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The final tournament of the 14th UEFA European Football Championship will be held in Poland and Ukraine from 8 June to 1 July 2012. It will be the third time that the final tournament is jointly hosted by two countries (after Belgium/Netherlands in 2000 and Austria/Switzerland in 2008).
Sixteen national teams will compete in a total of 31 matches to be crowned European champions. The format of four groups of four teams will be used for the last time in this tournament. The competition format will change for the next edition in 2016 as the lineup of participants competing in the final tournament will be increased to 24.
The UEFA EURO 2012 matches will be played in eight stadiums, four in Poland – Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw, Wroclaw – and four in Ukraine – Donetsk, Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv. The opening match will take place in Warsaw on 8 June and the final on 1 July in Kyiv. No fewer than 1.4 million fans will be expected at the stadiums and the matches will be broadcast live in more than 200 territories around the world.
Ukraine
Population: 46,000,000
Area: 603,628km²
Currency: Hryvnia (UAH)
Time zone: CET+1
The modern republic of Ukraine, home to over 46 million people, was declared in 1991 but the nation's history goes back far longer. Indeed, the state of Kyivan Rus – based around Kyiv – was the dominant regional force in the medieval period, and was converted to Orthodox Christianity by St Volodymyr in 988. However, from the Mongol sacking of Kyiv in 1240, geographical Ukraine became dominated by neighbouring powers and only achieved independence following the Russian revolution in 1917, though it was soon incorporated into the USSR. On the restoration of independence Ukraine became the largest country by area that is wholly contained in Europe, though the European part of Russia is larger.
Ukrainian cities hosting EURO 2012 championships
Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine and one of the largest cities in Europe. Its territory is 839 km2. The city population is over 4 mln citizens. Of them, around 2.7 mln live in Kyiv on a constant basis. The city itself and the neighbouring area constitute an agglomeration with total population of 5 mln. Kyiv is the main political centre of the country.
5.6% of the country’s population live in Kyiv. The Kyivites are engaged in production shpere which generates 20% of the country’s gross domestic product. Moreover, 30% of the direct foreign investments are put into Kyiv enterprises. The gross domestic product per capita in Kyiv is by 75% higher than the average one across Ukraine. Services sector produces 82% of the gross domestic product. Transport and communications shpere, retail and wholesale sale, law and finance services are principle spheres which fill the city budget. The key fast-growing sectors of economics are retail sale and information technologies. At the same time, the capital city is the largest industrial centre of Ukraine. Almost 300,000 of Kyivites are employed in machine building, metal processing, food industry, and other spheres.
Donetsk is a regional centre of Ukraine, the heart and brains of strong industrial centre Donbass. The well developed megapolis with 1 million of population is located in the south-east of Ukraine. From the north to the south, the city stretches for 28 km, and from the east to the west – for 55 km, and is divided into 9 districts. Total length of its streets exceeds 2,500 km. There are 21 squares, 2,200 streets, avenues, and boulevards.
It is the economy which speaks about the city’s character most. That mighty industrial and financial centre at the east of Ukraine is often called the capital city of mines. Donbass economy spans 200 industrial enterprises, with production turnout of over UAH 5 billion, and above 20,000 small and middle businesses.
Lviv is a city in the west of Ukraine, the capital city of Halychyna, and a regional centre of the Lviv region. It is the seventh in terms of population. In 2007, 735,000 inhabitants lived in Lviv. The city’s area is 171.01 square meters, with population density being 4,300 people per square meter.
Modern Lviv holds a key position in the Ukrainian railway system. Thanks to its geographical position, the Lviv railway line secures passenger transportation as well as the export and import cargo delivery between the West and East, North and South. Therefore, it has got its name of the main Ukraine’s gates to Europe. 19 border entry points connect Ukraine with the countries of Europe, CIS countries, and the Baltic states. The check points are equipped with the necessary devices for loading, unloading, and cargo transportation and carriages replacement.
Kharkiv is a city in the North-East of Ukraine, administrative center of Kharkiv region. In all probability the name of the city of Kharkiv is derived from Kharkiv River. Its population is 1 470 900 inhabitants, city area is 306. The density of the population is 4500 persons per. It is the second Ukrainian city by population number. The years of 1654-1655 are considered to be the date of Kharkiv foundation.
Modern Kharkiv is one of the most developed industrial centres of Ukraine, with enterprises for machine-building, metal-working, energy and military complex playing the leading role. Powerful scientific and technical potential is enhanced by the city’s wide net of higher educational, secondary, special, and comprehensive institutions.
There are 380 industrial enterprises in Kharkiv, where over 150,000 people are employed. Among the 25 regional centres of Ukraine, Kharkiv is the sixth in respect of the industrial product output and the third – in terms of retail sale. Machine-building, metal-working (45.7% of the industrial products), food industry (22,4 %), power industry (8,7 %), fuel (8,7 %), and medical industry (4,2 %) dominate. The city houses production of steam turbines in Ukraine, 60% of tractor manufacture, 55% of bearings manufacture, half of the digital control workbenches and large electric machines, etc. One of the priorities of the Kharkiv economy is development of agricultural machine-building. There is a powerful tractor-building complex, which includes well-known Kharkiv Tractor plant OJSC, Kharkov Tractor Motor Vehicle Chassis Manufacturing Plant OJSC, Serp i Molot OJSC, and Kharkiv Tractor Engine Plant OJSC.
Ukraine and foreign countries know very well the energy equipment produced in Kharkiv, such as steam, hydraulic, and gas turbines of Turboatom OJSC, heavy energy equipment of Electrovazhmash OJSC. Apropos, its propulsion engines and contactors are fixed on the first Ukrainian cargo electric locomotive DE-1. The Kharkiv aviation production plant started mass production of AN-140 aircraft, which made its mark at international exhibitions. The Kharkiv specialists contributed a lot to the rocket production and space development. The local scientists created unique systems of carrier rockets and spacecraft. Several generations of rocket complexes secured important stages of the national space programme development.
During the years of independence, Kharkiv expended production of consumer goods, which exceeds the industrial product growth by several times.
Due to concentration of research and industrial potential, which deals with research, development of the scientific and technical documentation, introduction and production of drugs, the medical industry (including the pharmacological one) was further developed. These are the State scientific centre of medical products, National Pharmaceutical Academy of Ukraine, 10 scientific and research medical institutes, 6 enterprises and associations. The industrial enterprises produce over 300 medical products. The Kharkiv region takes the second place after Kyiv in terms of the number of enterprises and pharmacological products.
Kharkiv Sponge Cake Making factory is the leading food enterprise of the city. Its products are produced under new technologies and are distinguished by their high quality, taste, and bright packing.
According to the statistics data, Kharkiv is at the 10th place among the regional centre of Ukraine in terms of investments into the city economy.
Convenient geographical location of the city facilitated its economic growth as well as development of the transport communications system. There are three large railway terminals, an international airport, and five bus stations connecting Kharkiv with Ukrainian localities as well as foreign countries.
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