The Germans were chanting: “Ukraine! Ukraine!” Impressions and conclusions about the Euro 2012 from regional experts, fans and show men

We asked Transcarpathian football experts, coaches, journalists, show men, fans and not fans what remained in Ukraine after Euro and what are the memories of this event. We got a lot of interesting responses – ranging from German adoration and ending with anti Hungarian mood…

Alexander Koval, the head of the "Tourism information center Zakarpattya":

"Euro has been a brilliant tool to advertise the country, its cities and regions. Lviv (as the cultural center of the country) and Kiev (as the capital and a very interesting city) experienced more positive moments for themselves. Transcarpathia has probably not fully used the opportunities for development and "self promotion for the West". But the specifics of tourism should be taken into account. After all, fans have little interest in museums and culture, which is actually our forte. But at least they have seen that we are not a third world country with racism, poverty and rampant theft. Fans were living in good conditions, flew into modern airports, met hospitable people, beautiful scenery and attractions. They will tell friends about it and this will make the best advertising of all possible!

Vladimir Tarasyuk, a sports journalist and commentator

"I wan to emphasize the fact that the Euro has been one of the most spectacular football forums of the Old World. This has been stated by the organizers, players, functionaries and fans. Another interesting fact is that our championship has become a record in terms of historical results: the largest ever number of fans in stadiums and in Fan zones, 2 team captains in the finals – goalkeepers, the team won the Euro two times in a row, the player scored in two finals in a row (Torres). There were no weak teams and only few matches lacked intrigue.

Stepan Selmensky, football referee, the editor of sports newspaper:

"Well, the first thing that caught my eye was a high level of competition in general and refereeing in particular. Performance skills of teams led to a spectacular game. Several matches in the tournament were simply of transcendental level. As for our team, everything went well. They did everything they could. The appointment of the head coach 10 months before the start of such a serious group could not affect the results. It is a pity that the Hungarian referee’s mistake was mostly blamed for the failure… This was the only significant error which affected the outcome in the match Ukraine – England. Other contests were judged by at least four-plus on a 5-point scale. One of the reasons is the ideal training and instruction of all referees and the command "not to interfere," that is to let the teams struggle. Therefore, the referees were invisible on the pitch, but when needed they saw and recorded everything 

Tudor Kilaru, a Transcarpathian citizen, a presenter on the main stage at Lviv Fan zone:

"I was invited to present the show by the Lviv firm that won the tender for servicing fans. Besides Ukrainian, I speak English rather well and this is the main language for foreigners. First of all I was struck by how Ukrainians in Lviv cheered, how they reacted to the phrase "Glory to Ukraine": it is so cool when a crowd of forty thousand people burst answering to you: "Glory to Heroes!" I was pleasantly surprised by the attitude to foreigners. I didn’t see any incidents… Foreigners were happy with the work and organization of the Fan zone and stadiums. However, Germans pleased most, joining to the chant "Ukraine-Ukraine" – almost everybody sincerely thanked, showing that we showed "class".

Marian Leniv, an experienced fan:

"On the one hand, at first glance, everything looked very nice and orderly. Visitors were welcome, free brochures and maps of the city were given too. However, on the other hand, the lion’s share of effort ​​to the organizational problems was made by the UEFA. Establishment of press centers was organized by a special team of UEFA, shooting matches and videos about Ukraine was also made by a special team of UEFA, the selection and training of volunteers – a special team of UEFA. Even the symbols were developed by an international corporation. But the question arises: what is left for us? Well, they managed to build stadiums in time. But a lot of money was buried. And will they be profitable projects in the future – that is the question. They repaired roads, but only motorways. And, given the speed of work, we know what their quality is. Also note the disproportion in the distribution of matches over the Ukrainian territory. A team had to play at least in three cities and one of them had to be Lviv".

Onika Medvetskaya, UzhNU graduate:

"I’m not really a football fan, in addition, because of the Euro I had an unpleasant incident. Due to the fact that the Hungarian referee ruined the game of Ukrainians, in Transcarpathia people looked angrily at almost all Hungarians. Some drunk men in a bus even said invectives when I was talking with my father in Hungarian (xenophobia appeared where it was expected least – Ed.) And, by the way, during the matches of Euro almost all the cafes became noisy. There was no place to sit quietly and to chat. I believe that it was not necessary for all places to broadcast the football! " 

The opinions were collected by Taras Vashchuk