There must be someone up there looking out for Ukraine. Just as the country was plunged into another clumsy political mess, the powers that be were thrown a much needed lifeline that could go a long way to restoring Ukraine's international image.
Ukraine and its co-host Poland will be the first Eastern European countries to stage one of the world’s top international sporting spectacles since the break-up of the USSR.
The Union of European Football Associations' (UEFA) decision last week to appoint Ukraine as a joint organiser of the European Football Championship in 2012 provides an opportunity for Ukraine to boost its economic and geopolitical fortunes that is hard to understate.
On hearing the news last week Roman Shpek, Ukraine's ambassador to the European Union, said: "It is one more step toward Ukraine's integration with the EU."
A golden chance to shine
While this is not quite the same as opening formal accession talks, the international limelight Ukraine will grab in the run-up to and during this globally-followed event is likely to provide fresh impetus for politicians to get their act together.
Ukraine, in many ways, will be under every bit as much scrutiny as any country joining the EU, not just from Brussels, but from millions of European football fans and the media, who were all clearly surprised when UEFA's new president Michel Platini announced the verdict and said he hoped the decision would prove to be a historical turning point leading to more major football events being staged in Eastern Europe.
Infrastructure requirements
The ball, so to speak, is now definitely in Ukraine's court. Over the next five years, it has to build new sporting facilities, motorways and visitor accomodation that could all cost up to USD 5 billion by current estimates. The political pressure from Ukrainian football fans on squabbling politicians will be heavy as they have to come up with the USD 1 billion per annum required to stay on track.
The biggest issue, for the fans at least, will be accommodation. At the moment, Ukraine desperately lacks affordable, western-standard two- and three-star accommodation, with the host cities still having mainly Soviet-era hotels in dire need of serious refurbishment.
Ukraine didn't particularly fancy its chances of its bid winning and therefore not much has been done so far to prepare for the event. Ukraine's five host cities - Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa - now need to kickstart a frenzy of construction activity to be ready on time.
Failure to meet the high standards expected from Western audiences would seriously hurt Ukraine's image - remember how unforgiving the international media was to Greece when various shortcomings in its preparations for the Olympic Games in 2000 became aparent. While Greece came out of the scandal relatively unscathed, Ukraine’s more fragile international standing would be more vulnerable to criticism.
Euro 2012 provides an opportunity of historic magnitude for Ukraine to finally plant itself firmly on the global tourism map. If, as it is currently proposed, the final is held in Kyiv, several billion people will watch the game. The number of visitors attending matches in Ukrainian cities during the tournament could be well over 100,000.
Hopes of a unifying effect
The most immediate task, however, is to end the crippling political feud that risks paralysing preparations. Public pressure will hopefully create the political will to unite this polarised nation and again unleash grassroots support for Ukraine's route towards European integration, especially in the East of the country, which in five years will be at the heart of some of the world’s most pretigious sporting events.
