Monday in Donetsk

It is hot here in Donetsk. 33 C.
Met a local fan who speaks fluently russian, vietnamese and a little English in the train from Kharkiv.
He will help me selling the extra tickets of England-France.
Saw lots of neutral fans here for this game. Dutch, German; Danes, Mexicans, and many Russians.

also Canadians

and Mongolians.

Donetsk is a pro-russian city, compared to Kiev.
Hope the russian fans behave.
Hope for a great match. Like Italy-Spain last night.

Donetsk is a mining town but it has done a lot to make the city attractive. There are lots of roses planted everywhere, parks, and the new stadium is spectacular. I like very much the green spaces and the small pond around the stadium

but near the stadium, I could see the monument to the liberators of Donetsk (WW II) as well as the slagheap (hills of rocks and chemicals from the coal mines) that Donetsk was famous for.

When France takes the field later today, it will be the first tournament in 40 years that they do not wear an Adidas shirt. France switched to Nike when they were offered more than 300 mio Euros for a 7 year contract. This made France the best paid national team (in terms of shirt manfacturers) in the world.

in the meantime, Adidas shops in Ukraine are selling retro shirts of many teams, including France.

Will this french team inspire many fans to buy the new Nike shirts?

or will they make people nostalgic for the day of Adidas?

off to sell my extra tickets...