Financial Times: Ukraine’s boycott blues
Andrew Wilson
Sporting boycotts are back in fashion. Azerbaijan hosts theEurovision Song Contest on 26 May, with Armenia predictably absent. Russia is beset byCircassian activists claiming that the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics are desecrating their ancestral homeland. But Ukraine is on the receiving end of thebitterest current campaign, in the run-up to the European Championship football finalsbeginning on 8 June.
In 2007, when the tournament was awarded to Poland and Ukraine as co-hosts, the‘Orange Revolution’was only three years old. There was still hope that Ukraine would change for the better. Poland had joined the EU in 2004, Ukraine had not; but the tournament was supposed to symbolise common heritage and cooperation across the EU border, and an bright future for an ever-expanding Europe. (Though one reason why Ukraine and Poland got the nod was Italy’s match-fixingCalciopoli scandalthe previous season).
Read the story here.
In 2007, when the tournament was awarded to Poland and Ukraine as co-hosts, the‘Orange Revolution’was only three years old. There was still hope that Ukraine would change for the better. Poland had joined the EU in 2004, Ukraine had not; but the tournament was supposed to symbolise common heritage and cooperation across the EU border, and an bright future for an ever-expanding Europe. (Though one reason why Ukraine and Poland got the nod was Italy’s match-fixingCalciopoli scandalthe previous season).
Read the story here.
