Players, coach invite Ukraine leader to match

KIEV, June 30: Coach Oleg Blokhin, striker Andriy Shevchenko and Ukraine's top soccer official want President Viktor Yushchenko to attend today's match with Italy to help boost a joint bid to hold the 2012 European championship.

Yushchenko says he will announce during the day whether he will fly to Hamburg for the quarter-final depending on events in Ukraine's parliament, where the opposition is blocking attempts to win endorsement for a new prime minister.

In a letter published on the presidential web site, the three men said having Yushchenko in the stands would ''inspire and strengthen our belief in our own strength''.

''We believe that your presence would also clearly contribute to our joint bid with Poland to host Euro 2012,'' read the letter, also signed by Ukrainian soccer federation president Hrihory Surkis.

The three praised Yushchenko's public support for Ukraine's campaign in Germany and said the team's success would ''provide a great stimulus for advancing Ukrainian soccer and boosting the country's image''.

Yushchenko has shown considerable public enthusiasm for Ukraine's first participation as an independent state in a major soccer competition. He has given prominent support to a joint bid with Poland to host the 2012 European Championship.

The bid was a surprise inclusion last year in a short list of three proposed sites. Also in the running are Italy and another joint bid by Hungary and Croatia.

Despite shortcomings in the ex-Soviet state's facilities, officials are increasingly optimistic about the bid, saying Italy's match-rigging scandal has hurt that country's chances.

But a local controversy about whether construction of a nearby shopping complex will make Kiev's main stadium unfit for a top-level competition could still act against the Ukrainian-Poland bid.

REUTERS

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