On 18 April 2007, at the meeting in Cardiff, the Executive Committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced their decision to stage the finals of the European Football Championships 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. Many view it as the third largest sporting event in the world, preceded only by the Olympic Games and the football World Cup Finals.
The finals of the European Football Championships are not only about football matches. It is estimated that the organisation of the EURO 2004 finals in Portugal attracted over a million football fans to the country. In subsequent years, Portugal saw an annual growth of 5% in the tourism industry. Poland faces an opportunity for a similar scenario.
A precondition, however, is to carry out the largest investment programme in Poland since the collapse of the Berlin wall.
As assessed by economists, the investment related to the staging by Poland of EURO 2012 finals may translate into an extra growth in GDP of up to 1.5% in the years 2009-2012. It is worth mentioning that in 2006 Poland’s GDP grew by over 6 percentage points.
This significant economic growth will be related primarily to a substantial number of investment projects to be implemented in the forthcoming years in Poland, necessary to successfully host the EURO 2012 finals. Polish and foreign investors may therefore count on unprecedented contracts related to infrastructure (roads, rail, airports, stadiums, training centres), hotel, catering, transport and advertising projects.
Vitally important from the standpoint of investors is the financial support for those investment projects from the state budget, local government budgets, and the European Union budget.
In addition, an opportunity opens up in terms of cooperation with public sector entities responsible for the preparations for the EURO 2012 finals under public-private partnership.
In order to develop investment projects related to the organisation of the Finals of the European Football Championship 2012 in a smooth manner, the Polish government drafted a special Act. The Act introduces a special investment project category (”EURO 2012 undertaking”), the implementation of which will be markedly facilitated by a significant reduction in waiting times for administrative decisions required to proceed with investment projects, as well as significant facilitation of location and expropriation procedures.
The following Polish cities have been shortlisted as hosts of the EURO 2012 finals:
Poznań,
Warszawa,
Gdańsk and
Wrocław, while
Kraków and
Chorzów are on the reserve list.
It is estimated that the infrastructure investments associated with the organisation of the finals of the European Football Championships 2012 will amount to approx. EUR 25bn.
Investments in cities hosting EURO 2012 matches are only a portion of the total volume of projects to be implemented in Poland in the forthcoming years. Successful hosting of the EURO 2012 finals requires training centres where European national teams can practice for their games during the tournament.
Staging the EURO 2012 finals in stadiums in Poland and Ukraine offers an unprecedented opportunity for investors to participate in this project, which guarantees significant benefits both for the public stakeholders, acting as employers for the investment projects, as well as the investors, acting as developers.
