football jones

What does Uefa’s decision to send the 2012 European Championships to Poland and Ukraine mean for the two countries involved? What of the fact that the tournament was awarded to two former Soviet bloc countries at the expense of one of the heavyweights of western Europe in Italy? It would be tempting to say that the political balance of power is shifting in European football, but surely the major nations are not going to let go of any of their share of the pie anytime soon, no matter how disproportionately large that share might be. Certainly it indicates that the Uefa president, Michel Platini, himself from one of the so-called bigger countries, owes his current position in no small measure to the backing he received from eastern Europe. One of the more striking soundbites he generated during his campaign was his pledge to democratise the Champions League by taking away spaces from the dominant leagues to give to the rest. And it looks increasingly as though the Sheriff of Nottingham, an Italian citizen since the mid-20th century, (surely this must refer to pantomime villain Silvio Berlusconi) has had the wool pulled over his eyes by man in tights Platini.

On the domestic front, what will the effects be? It has been argued that Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko’s recent decree to dissolve parliament and hold early elections is tantamount to a coup sanctioned by the west. What will the effects be on countries trying to emerge the long shadow still cast to this day by the Soviet Union?

And what will the long term effects be on football in Poland and the Ukraine? Will this provide the spur two nations with a great love for the game need to lay the groundwork for successive generations of top class players? Will Poland and Ukraine be able to produce players with populations of over 38 and 47 million people respectively, surely the raw talent must be available in abundance. Let’s hope that in five years time, and in twenty-five years time, Andriy Shevchenko won’t still be the only genuinely globally recognisable star from the two countries.