Fans can check out Euro 2012 stadiums online
Football fans heading to Ukraine and Poland for Euro 2012 can now take a digital stroll through the tournament stadiums and host cities on Google Street View, organisers said Wednesday.
"This is a great chance for fans to really see and practically experience the host cities and the arenas even before they come here," Mikolaj Piotrowski, spokesman for the tournament's Polish logistical arm PL.2012, told AFP.
"We've folded this into our Polish Guide service," he added, referring to a site created to help the hundreds of thousands of fans, both with and without tickets, who are expected to flood in.
Ticket-holders to the 16-nation football showcase, Europe's largest tournament, can use the Google Street View service to scope out all eight stadiums hosting matches, including the 58,000-capacity National Stadium in Warsaw.
The basket-shaped structure in the Polish national colours of white and red will host the opening game of Euro 2012 when Poland kick off against Greece on June 8.
The service makes it possible to preview the stadiums from both outside and in, including from seat level.
Also on view is the PGE Arena in the Baltic port of Gdansk, which on Tuesday night won its Germany-based architects RKW the design prize at the international Stadium Business Awards.
Global tech giant Google has included Poland and Ukraine to its virtual visit system Street View over recent months, just in time to let fans explore the nooks and crannies of the two countries' Euro 2012 host cities.
Euro 2012 marks the first-ever edition of the quadrennial football showcase behind the former Iron Curtain, with hosts Poland and Ukraine holding games in four cities each, culminating with the final on July 1 in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
Besides Warsaw and Gdansk, Poland's host cities are Wroclaw in the southwest and Poznan in the west.
In addition to Kiev, Ukraine's quartet is made up by the western city of Lviv, Donetsk in the east and Kharkiv in the northeast.
(c) 2012 AFP
