Poland Prepares for Euro 2012

Poland has completed the construction of new Euro 2012 venue, the Municipal Stadium, in Gdansk. The stadium, which can house more than 34,000 football fans, has been described as a “major step forward” for the country, ahead of the start of the fourteenth European Championship, on June 8 2012.

Zbigniew Canowiecki, of the Gdansk Support Committee, said that the stadium “came into being thanks to all the citizens” of the Polish city.

The Municipal Stadium, which is known locally as the Stadion Miejski, hosted its maiden fixture on Sunday, a First Division clash between KS Lechia Gdansk and MKS Cracovia Krakow. Prior to the match, Pawel Adamowicz, mayor of Gdansk, said that the new stadium would take football “to a new level”. The Gdansk-Krakow match ended in an unspectacular 1-1 draw. Those following the Betfair Euro 2012 betting will be hoping the games it hosts next year are more exciting.

Lechia Gdansk, who finished eighth in the Ekstraklasa, Poland’s ‘Premier League’ will occupy the stadium until the likes of Italy and Spain arrive in the country, in a just under 12 months time.

Poland will share responsibility for Euro 2012 with its neighbour, Ukraine. The two countries will provide four stadia each, with the Municipal Stadium expected to host three group games and one quarter-final, next year. The venues include stadia in Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland, and Kiev and Donetsk, in the Ukraine. Six of the eight venues selected for use in Euro 2012 will be brand new. Betfair international football fans will be hoping everything goes smoothly.

Adamowicz has high hopes for the Municipal Stadium – perhaps, even too high. The official said that there will soon be a “new tradition of people” who will choose to avoid shopping centres, and visit stadiums with “their whole family”. The venue is worth a look, at least; the exterior is coated in 18,000 plates of synthetic amber, to commemorate the amber industry that operates, to this day, on the Baltic Coastline.