Lublin Arena will become the venue of the opening of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which will be hosted in Poland next year. The Polish Football Association announced the news at the conference "One Year To Go", which was organised with the attendance of mayors of the host cities, including Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of the City of Lublin.
Zbigniew Boniek, President of PZPN (Polish Football Association) and Maciej Sawicki, General Secretary of Association, presented the cities in which the matches of EURO 2017 will be played, including Kraków, Bydgoszcz, Kielce, Tychy, Gdynia and Lublin. Kraków is going to stand out among the above mentioned as the final match will be played at Cracovia stadium and Lublin, as the city will host the opening match played by the Polish team. Polish squad will play their second match also at Lublin Arena.
We are happy that the Polish squad led by Marcin Dorna will play two matches in Lublin. The footballers of the Polish youth team have great memories from the stay in Lublin and they are going to play against Hungary in September. We are ready for EURO 2017, it is going to be a great sports celebration held in Lublin and first and foremost the key event within the 700th anniversary of granting Lublin the city charter. We invite everyone to EURO 2017 – says Krzysztof Żuk, Mayor of the City of Lublin
I would like to offer my thanks to the local authorities and the mayors of the host cities. They have taken up an enormous challenge and they managed to handle it. We have made the right choice of the cities where the matches will be played and I am happy that Lublin will take a leading role among the cities – says Zbigniew Boniek, President of the Polish Football Association.
EURO 2017 is the most important sports event after this year's UEFA EURO 2016 organised in France. It is the beginning of the career for many outstanding footballers. The great footballers, who are stars nowadays, such as Petr Cech, Thiago Alcantara or Harry Kane played during the previous UEFA European Under-21 Championship – says Giorgio Marchetti, Director for Games of the UEFA European Football Association.
The conference "One Year To Go" took place at Wisła stadium in Kraków before the friendly match played between Poland and Lithuania.