Friday in KIEV

Welcome to Kiev

for the first time in my 18 years of football tournaments, I went home after the first round and then came back for more matches.

I thought this was unique until I met 2 English fans on my flight to Kiev.

One of them looked like Robbie Williams and the other John Barnes.

Robbie Williams is a publisher of soccer books and he took interest in works by a Vietnamese soccer journalist.

with Robbbie Williams

John Barnes told me this was his third trip to EURO 2012. after every game, he went home and then came back to Poland or Ukraine for the next England match. If England makes to the Final, he would have made 5 round trips England to Poland/Ukraine.

when asked why, he answered 'it is cheaper this way'. I was not convinced.

and then he added, well me and my friend, we are family men. we do not want to stay away from our family too long. so we go home after each match to be with our family.

hum.

I did not ask the next question. but I thought to myself. England-Italy is on Sunday in Kiev. you are already here in Kiev on Thursday. oh yes, family men!!!

the word here in Ukraine is that the girls are ready for the latin fans. In the first round, Ukraine hosted mostly northern europeans except for Portugal and not so many Portuguese came.

but now for the QF's, Spain is here and Italy is here. The local young female population is mucho feliz.

when I was home for 2 days early this week, I got a chance to see some matches on TV. It was then
that I realized what they did not show on TV.

Before each game, there are entertainment (dancers) and a mini-ceremony along with very loud music for about one hour. then there is a 10 second countdown before kick-off and at half-time, demonstration of free style soccer.

 

at times, it was annoying as one could not talk to friends due to loud music. at other times, I felt like watching a pop concert.

I figured all of these add-ons are necessary to justify the high prices of the tickets to the locals. for most of the Ukranians, the match tickets are too expensive.

to make a comparison, in Suisse, the cheapest ticket for a Grasshopper game is 30 sfr and a Coca-Cola in the stadium is about 5 sfr.

At the EURO in Ukraine, a Coca-Cola costs 14 UAH (less than 2 EUR) inside the stadium so one could say a match ticket should cost around 84 UAH.

Platini asked for 300 UAH for the cheapest ticket in the first round.

as a result, there were many empty seats in the matches in Ukraine so far.

I guess UEFA needs money...

I will go to Donetsk tomorrow for Spain vs France and then I am back here in Kiev for Italy vs France and then back to Donetsk next week for the Semi-Final.

and no, I do not go home after every match.

like the family oriented Englishmen.

from the fanzone in Kiev, this is Sebastian (you can see the protest tents to the left of the fanzone.)