Playing the perfect host

Qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany means a real golden autumn for Polish football, but now the high-stakes game has moved from the pitch to the boardroom. Next month the European Football Federation (UEFA) will choose three finalists in the race to host the European Championships in 2012. Poland, together with Ukraine, is in the top five, and it has prepared an ambitious plan for building and modernizing a network of stadiums to host the competition. Portugal performed a similar feat for the last competition, but will the Polish plan be enough to sway the suits in UEFA?

The idea of organizing a football championship in Poland seemed like a cruel joke for anyone with even a moderate interest in the game. The stadiums in Western European cities seem out of this world in comparison to Poland's domestic venues, many of which were built in the 1950s. Some even come from the pre-war period, such as Legia Warsaw's stadium, where the national team regularly plays.

Technically, Poland does not have world-class football stadiums - the national stadium in Chorzów manages a meager one star in UEFA's ratings, while the venues that hosted last year's European Championships in Portugal are ranked as five-star facilities. Only in the last two seasons have a few Polish grounds installed equipment that is standard in their European counterparts, such as pitch warming systems. "The capital city of an EU member state has a stadium in which it is an embarrassment to invite guests not only from the West but also from the East," admits the president of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), Michał Listkiewicz.

Blank slate

However, PZPN is anything but defeatist and it sees a lack of stadiums as no barrier to its candidacy. "UEFA does not require that a candidate should have venues when applying," says Adam Olkowicz, the head of the commission responsible for organizing Poland's bid for Euro 2012 and a member of the presidium of PZPN. "On the contrary, the fact that we do not have any stadiums can be to our advantage. This means that we can build brand new stadiums using the most modern construction techniques."

The construction plans for Euro 2012 look impressive on paper. PZPN's application to UEFA lists six Polish cities where matches could be played - Warsaw, Chorzów, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Poznań and Kraków. Initially 13 cities applied, but only six were chosen by a joint commission of PZPN and the Ministry of Education and Sport (MENiS). If Poland and Ukraine were chosen to host the competition when UEFA makes the decision in December 2006, only four of the six cities would get to play hosts as four venues would be in Ukraine. 

Brand new stadiums are planned in Warsaw and Gdańsk. Construction has already started on grounds in Poznań, Kraków and Chorzów, and Wrocław's arena will follow in their footsteps soon. The modernization of the stadiums in Poznań and Kraków should be finished in June 2010. A year earlier the arena in Chorzów should be fully renovated. 

Counting the cost

Based on estimates provided by the candidate cities the cost of building the stadiums and modernizing the existing ones will amount to zł.1.59 billion. The bulk of these costs will be building the two new stadiums - Stadion Narodowy (National Stadium) in Warsaw for 55,000 spectators, and the Arena Bałtycka (Baltic Arena) in Gdańsk for 44,000 fans. The two will cost zł.648.6 million and zł.438.3 million, respectively. 

A second tender for the construction of the stadium in Warsaw should take place later this year and if all goes well works should start on ul. Łazienkowska in the fourth quarter of 2006. Works in Gdańsk should take off a year later and completion of both projects is scheduled for 2010. 

But constructions costs are just the start. Basing its calculations on data from the organizers behind Portugal's hosting of the event in 2004, PZPN's foreign department reckons that for every zł.7 spent on the stadiums, another zł.3 will go on infrastructure around the facilities. In Poland's case this means building access roads and a logistics infrastructure.

This will cost around zł.684 million, says PZPN. All in all the new stadiums and their surrounding infrastructure will come to zł.2.28 billion. This does not include security - based on the Portuguese experience, PZPN estimates that it needs to spend EUR 53 (zł.208) million on the men in black. 

Show me the money

"Part of these funds should come from the central budget," says Olkowicz. He points out that in Portugal the state covered 25 percent of the stadium-building costs. However, the cities will be the investors in creating the necessary sport infrastructure. "It will be up to them to decide who they want to invite to build the stadiums," Olkowicz added. He sees sponsors, private domestic and foreign investors as well as lotteries as other potential sources of financing. 

"The EU would be a significant source of financing. There are structural funds and we could also apply for special subsidies from the EU for building the sports infrastructure," he adds. The Portuguese got around EUR 100 million (zł.392.5 million) from the EU for erecting the venues and all the surrounding facilities, which was about 15 percent of the total construction costs.

Although state aid is seen as vital for preparing to host the tournament, Michał Listkiewicz complains about the lack of government support for the bidding process. "The state's interest in the candidacy in other countries is much greater," he said, pointing out that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is very involved in promoting Italy's bid. Italy is the favorite to host the tournament with a budget worth several hundred million for the renovation of stadiums. "But even in Hungary and Croatia the governments have given the respective federations EUR 1.5 million [zł.5.9 million] and EUR 2 million [zł.7.85 million] respectively" he underlines. "In our case [the bid is based] more on our enthusiasm than real state support."

The underdog bites back

Listkiewicz notes that Poland and Ukraine, though not favorites, have certain advantages. "Demographics is definitely one. Together those countries have populations of nearly 90 million," which should keep the stadiums nicely packed. UEFA is keen to avoid a repeat of England's hosting of the competition in 1996, when teams played to cavernous half-empty stands. UEFA's policy could help Poland's bid as well. "The European Championships have never taken place in Central and Eastern Europe and UEFA has a policy of promoting and developing the game throughout the continent," Listkiewicz said. 

Organizing a sporting event ranked third in popularity behind the Olympic Games and the football World Cup, is a great way to promote the country. "I can't imagine a better promotion for the country. It will be in the media around the world for a month or so," says Krzysztof Turowski, a spokesperson for the Polish National Tourist Office (POT). "All big sporting events, especially football ones, attract hundreds of thousands of spectators. They will visit the country and perhaps tell their friends back home."

Portugal made around EUR 796 million (zł.3.1 billion) from direct tourist revenues during Euro 2004. Independent analysts expect tourist revenues to grow by three to six percent at a minimum of EUR 350 million (zł.1.37 billion) a year.  

Win-win situation

Regardless of the tournament, PZPN says Poland needs these facilities. "We need a real stadium," Olkowicz says. "Even if we will not get chosen to organize Euro 2012 the stadiums will be used by the national team, by league teams and perhaps we could organize the finals of European club competitions there. Modern stadiums are no longer only venues for football matches." He points out that cafes, pubs for fans, swimming pools and even entertainment facilities such as bowling alleys are often located in stadiums. "The sporting stadium in Lisbon has an investment return of 13 percent per year. This means that the investor will get his money back in just seven years," Olkowicz concludes. 

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Sport, Marek Skorupski, points out that even if Euro 2012 goes to another candidate all will not be lost. "The sports infrastructure will stay. So will the roads, hotels and the modernized airports. This would mean that we could try to organize the next championships, this time being more experienced and better prepared," he says.

Listkiewicz confirms that even if the Euro 2012 project doesn't succeed, Poland will apply to host the 2016 championships. 

"We might apply with Ukraine again, we might want to do it alone or perhaps with somebody else from the region - the Czech Republic for instance. It seems that it is hard to win the right to hold the championship at the first try, but we are patient and we are not giving up," Listkiewicz says.