‘Wilhelmus van Nassouwe ben ik, van Duitsen bloed, den vaderland getrouwe blijf ik tot in den dood. Een Prinse van Oranje ben ik, vrij onverveerd, den Koning van Hispanje heb ik altijd geëerd.’
It’s 1 July 21.45 EET (Eastern Europe Time) and all the fans in the stadium are screaming and yelling after they have heard the national anthem of the Netherlands. Yes, the Netherlands has reached the final of the European Championship but before the start of the tournament there is a lot of negative publicity about the organization countries: Poland & Ukraine.
The UEFA and FIFA decide where the European and World Championship of football will take place but it looks like both organizations are very easy to be influenced. There is a lot incorrect with the organizing countries according to our Western view like: the new stadium in Warschau is not ready yet, racism under Polish football supporters (according to the president of Legia Warschau 15 till 20 percent of his supporters are neo-Nazis) and there are a low amount of facilities for football supporters in the host cities. For example, Charkov (the Netherlands is playing here all of their group matches) as you can see on the pictures, is not a very happy place to stay.
It’s 1 July 21.45 EET (Eastern Europe Time) and all the fans in the stadium are screaming and yelling after they have heard the national anthem of the Netherlands. Yes, the Netherlands has reached the final of the European Championship but before the start of the tournament there is a lot of negative publicity about the organization countries: Poland & Ukraine.
However, we think there is a much bigger problem with the corruption in Eastern-Europe:
“For hundreds of professional footballers in Eastern Europe, their dream of making a career in football has turned into nothing short of a nightmare. They don’t receive their salaries they are physically and mentally abused and have to be on their guard against falling into the hands of criminals.”
This is a conclusion from the FIFPO Black Book Eastern Europe. A shocking result is that by an average football game in East-Europe at least two players are approached to influence the outcome of a game. In addition, more than 10 percent of the football players have to deal with violence and intimidation. Therefore, we wonder how a European Championship can be played in Poland & Ukraine when there is so much corruption.
