The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams sanctioned by UEFA. Poland and Ukraine will be the host nations of the final tournament, scheduled for the summer of 2012, following the election of their joint-bid by UEFA’s Executive Committee, on April 18, 2007, in Cardiff, United Kingdom. This bid defeated the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary, becoming the third successful joint-bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium/Netherlands, for Euro 2000, and Austria/Switzerland for Euro 2008.
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The President of Ukraine, Yushchenko, was appointed to head the national organizational committee for EURO 2012. The relevant decree signed by the head of the state was published on the website of the administration of the President of Ukraine.
Other members of the committee include Gregory Surkis, the head of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU), Oleg Blohin, the coach of the Ukraine’s National Team, Sergij Bubka, the president of the Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Vitalij Klichko, an advisor to the President, Andrij Shevchenko, the captain of the National Team, as well as heads of local administration. Domestic investors are also among the Committee composition: Rinat Achmetov, the owner of football club „Szachtar Donieck”, Ihor Kołomyjski, vice-president of FFU, and Ihor Taruta, the head of the Industrial Union of Donbas and football club „Metalurg Donieck”.
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