Many thousands of fans from across Europe have travelled to the European Championships. Fans from crisis-hit countries, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain have left behind the huge spending cuts, chronic unemployment and widespread disenchantment of their home countries for a few weeks.
Fans are putting their trust in their teams, where they can no longer put it in their banks are politicians. A local government worker from Spain made the journey to Poland to support his country’s team, saying he just had to be there.
The Spanish team, who won four years ago, is amongst the favourites to win the European title. Julio travelled with a budget airline and is staying for five days on a campsite in Gdansk, northern Poland. Julio, from Caceres, like most fans, is pleased that the cost of living is cheaper in the Ukraine and Poland.
In 2007 UEFA voted for the Eastern European countries, who are neighbours, to jointly host the four-yearly tournament. The finals four years ago were held in Austria and Switzerland, which are very expensive, and the 2010 World Cup took place in South Africa, very expensive for Europeans to travel to.
The official areas where the supporters can follow the matches on giant screens are called fan zones. A beer in one of these fan zones will cost about half as much as it would have in a fan zone in Austria at the 2008 tournament.
Spain’s economic situation is absolutely dire, with the resources of the ordinary working Spaniard steadily dwindling. Unemployment is very high and unfortunately so is the cost of living. Many have made huge sacrifices to be able to attend the matches, and save long and hard. For many it is national pride that they are supporting.