Apparently, Ukraine is bidding (as co-host with Poland) for Euro 2012. How would Ukraine do as a co-host? They seem to have decent stadiums, could they host a Euro on their own. I'm guessing crime and the economy would be factors against them, but hosting could really help the game in Ukraine. Thanks for your help.
Both Ukraine and Poland have long way to go before they could be considered to host an event such as Euro Championships. Yes, Ukraine does have stadiums of necessary capacity. Kyiv has 84,000, while Odesa, Donetsk, Dnipropetrivsk, Kharkiv and Lviv hav stadiums in the 30,000-40,000 range. But they all need considerable investment to reach the level of stadiums that we see hosting similar events. Surprisingly, the newest stadium is located in a sleepy town of Summy. On top of stadiums, such things as infrastructure, highways, hotels, etc would need a lot of improvement. Donetsk, for example, is not what one would call a vacation destination spot. So, right now, it would seem both Poland and Ukraine are outsiders at best to win the bid.
I agree, Stadiums in both Poland and Ukraine are the biggest issue. Crime is not nearly as bad as it was 3 years ago, and the event could give a huge boost to Ukraine's infrastructure as it would have to be rebuilt. But when it comes to stadiums, both Poland and Ukraine would have to start from scratch.
If they ever put the stupid politics and nonsensical grudges aside, Ukraine and Russia would be great candidates as co-hosts. Ukraine already has 4 very good stadiums (Lobanovsky, Olympic, Shakhter and Ukrayina). Unfortunately, all the best Russian facilities (Lokomotiv, Luzhniki and Dinamo) are in Moscow, but Petrovsky in St.Petersburg could easily be brought up to date. The same can be done in Volgograd and Kazan, and you got your necessary 8 sites. And even metros11 won't argue that Ukies have a LOT more in common with Russians than with Poles.
If we ever see a Russia-Ukraine Euro (I don't think we will ever see a World Cup - just a little bigger of an event), I think the countries could go w/ Moscow-St. Pete (either Petrovksiy or the old Im. Kirova, which much larger)-Samara-Volgograd (imagine a Russia-Germany match there. Ukraine could go w/ Kiev-Odessa-Donetsk-Lvov/Dnipropetrovsk/Khar'kov. Could do opening game in Kiev, with the final in Moscow.