On 18 April a  year passed since Poland and Ukraine were granted the right to host the European Championship for national football teams in 2012.

Sports festivities were organized in Poznań on the occasion of granting to Poland and Ukraine the right to host Euro 2012. On plac Wolności, in the centre of the city, a couple of thousand students from schools in Poznań gathered and took part in many different sports games, competitions, demonstrations and presentations.
A special exhibition was prepared showing the progress of preparations to Euro 2012 in Poznań, there were: a multimedia model and a visualization of the municipal stadium as well as films about the preparations, one could also see how a Euro-themed graffiti is being prepared.
Lech Poznań players were particularly besieged, they signed autographs and had pictures taken with their young fans.
The culmination of the festivities was the formation of a “live” inscription EURO 2012 by 2012 students wearing colourful T-shirts.
After one year since Euro 2012 was granted to Poland Poznań is the leader among the Polish cities that are preparing for the event. In the last UEFA report Poznań was singled out for its progress in the construction of the stadium and for the plan of modernization of the main roads and the airport. Poznań doesn’t come out that well when it comes to tourist accommodation, though.
The municipal stadium renovation works are the most advanced in Poznań. A couple of weeks ago the construction of another floor on one of the stands began. Another two stands are to be rebuilt in the summer. All the construction works should end in mid 2010 and will cost over 430 million PLN. The stadium will hold around 45 thousand spectators.
Also the construction works of stadium access roads and streets are ongoing. Poznań will spend a couple of hundred zloty on renovation of roads in the next couple of years. All the stadium access roads will be completely reconstructed. Also, a redevelopment of a passenger terminal of “Ławica” airport is planned to make it more accessible for thousands of fans who will come to Poland to see Euro 2012.
Within the next couple of months the modernization of the railway station is about to begin. Specialists claim that it is road and railway links that are most often used by fans during big sports event. The plan also involves reconstruction of railway line from Poznań to Wrocław (where some of the matches of Euro 2012 will take place) and from Poznań to Warsaw. Thanks to these works fans, for example from Berlin, will be able to get from the capital city of Germany to Warsaw or Wrocław within a couple of hours.