EURO 2012 hosts: Poland

About the country
Poland, or Polska as it is called by the native Polish, is one of the Euro 2012 co-hosts. With a population of around 40 million it is the sixth most populated country in Europe and 34th in the whole world. The surface area of Poland is over three hundred thousand square kilometres (over one hundred and twenty thousand square miles) which puts them in Europe's top ten biggest countries. The language spoken by the locals is Polish and takes its roots from the Slavic language. However most young Polish are been taught English and their neighbouring Deutch at School so the majority of the Euro 2012 visitors will be able to spark a conversation with the majority of the people.

Draw history
The draw for the European Championships 2012 took place in 2007 and the final stage included bids from Italy (who was the favourite to host the championship), a joint bid from Hungary and Croatia and the winning bid from Poland and Ukraine. Neither of the countries have organised a event of this magnitude in the past and the whole world awaits to see what they can deliver. Michel Platini, the then newly appointed UEFA president, praised both countries for their successful nomination and declared the worthy winners. The favourite, Italy, was back then facing problems with match fixing scandals and behind the scenes it thought that it is due to this that they were not awarded the championships themselves.
 
Football in Poland
Football in Poland is the most watched sport and their national team has concord the third position on the 1974 World Cup which was held in West Germany as well as the 1982 FIFA World Cup which took place in Spain. Before or after these tournaments they haven't managed to achieve much more. It worth mentioning that their first appearance in a European Championship was in Euro 2008 that took place in Austria and Switzerland. The main Polish league is called Ekstraklasa and some of the most popular names in club football history are Legia Warsaw and Visla Krakow. The polish football also has 2 major cup competitions that run every year, the Polish Cup and the Polish Supercup.
 
Host cities
The Polish cities that will be hosting some of the Euro 2012 games are: Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wrochlaw