EURO 2012 in East Europe. Remarks to a European Championship on the Semi-Periphery

In 2012, Poland and Ukraine host the final of the European Football Championship. There are serious political and business fights behind. We can enjoy a semiperipheral championship in Europe, where geopolitics and business has priority over the game, where Western stereotypes on the East are shown fully, where the purchasing power of the middle class wins over football fans, where domestic political elites use the event to increase their legitimacy and oppress their opposition.