The fourteenth final tournament of the European Football Championship will take place this summer in eight cities of two countries - Poland and Ukraine. Their joint project for a holiday for football fans was selected by UEFA from eight contenders. For the past seven years, the two countries have been preparing their cities for the implementation of the planned - they are reconstructing stadiums, equipping fan zones, preparing special routes for public transport, tourist programs designed for football fans, etc.
The first city to host the final tournament will be the Polish capital. The opening match will take place on June 8 at the National Stadium with a capacity of almost 60 thousand spectators at eight o'clock in the evening local time - Warsaw's time zone differs from Moscow by two hours. The Russian national team will play the group stage matches in this city twice. Warsaw will also host one of the quarterfinals and semifinals. The Polish capital is one of the three cities of the final part, which have a subway. A station with an unambiguous name "Stadium" is located near the stadium.
Three hours after the opening match, the game will take place in another Polish city - Wroclaw. This will be the first match of the Russian national team. It will take place at the 42,000-seat Meiski stadium, where only three Group A matches are scheduled (Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, Russia).
On the next day of the championship, a game will take place in the first of the Ukrainian cities - Kharkov. The local stadium "Metallist" accommodates almost 39 thousand spectators, and you can get to it by metro ("Sportivnaya" and "Metrostroiteley named after Vaschenko" stations). In total, this city will host three matches of the teams of group D (Ukraine, France, Sweden, England).
Another game of the day will be played in another Ukrainian city - Lvov. Group B teams (Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Germany) will play at the Arena Lviv stadium with a capacity of almost 35 thousand.
On the third day, the games will begin in the northernmost city of the championship - the Polish city of Gdansk. The PGE Arena of this Baltic city accommodates 41 thousand spectators, who will be able to watch the matches of the teams of group C, as well as one of the quarterfinals.
In the last Polish city - Poznan - teams of group C (Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia) will also play. The city stadium can accommodate over 41 thousand spectators here.
Ukrainian Donetsk is the southernmost city of Euro 2012 located closest to the border with Russia. Its Donbass Arena (almost 52 thousand spectators) will host the games of the teams of group D, and then one of the quarterfinals and the semifinals. Theoretically, it is here that the national teams of Russia and Ukraine can meet if they reach the semifinal stage.
The final match of the 2012 European Championship will be held on July 1 in the capital of Ukraine at the NSC Olimpiyskiy. The 70-thousandth Kiev complex - the largest sports facility of the championship - will also host matches of the D teams and one of the quarterfinals. Near the stadium there are exits to the Palats Sportu and Olimpiyskaya metro stations.
Theoretically, the geography of the games of the final part of the championship can expand at the expense of four more cities. In the Polish Chorzow and Krakow, as well as in the Ukrainian Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk, there are reserve stadiums for Euro 2012.
