Region: Donetsk oblast
Population: 980,000Area: 358 km2
Elevation: 225 m above-sea level
Distance to other EURO 2012 host-cities:
Kharkov – 315 km
Kiev – 700 km
Lviv – 1,175 km
Warsaw – 1,465 km
Poznan – 1,785 km
Wroclaw – 1,750 km
Gdansk – 1,810 km
Donetsk is a large regional center of Eastern Ukraine, the real core of a powerful industrial Donbass region and the heart of the coal industry in the country. UNESCO acknowledged it the best industrial city in the world. Also it is an important administrative, business, cultural and educational center. Nowadays Donetsk is a dynamic metropolis and a home for near one million people.
Even Cossacks tried to settle down here in the XVII century. Nevertheless, the turning point in the history of the region was the XIX century, when on its territory were discovered deposits of coal. In 1869, the Welsh industrialist John Hughes began the construction of steel plant and several coal mines here. Simultaneously with the construction Yuzivka settlement was found, which later became a town. Seversky Donets River that flows in the North, gave the ongoing name to Donetsk city. Meanwhile, the metropolis itself is situated on the banks of river Kalmius.
Donetsk won fame long ago as a major sports center and is proud of his pupils that are prize-winners of many prestigious international competitions in various kinds of sports. Recall only the most famous citizen of Donetsk – six-time world champion in pole vaulting, the president of the National Olympic Committee, Sergey Bubka! However, the main sport of Donetsk is football. Local FC "Shakhtar" is perhaps the main attraction of the region. Through the past ten years, the team six times won the title of champion of Ukraine, became the owner of three Ukrainian Super Cups. But the major triumph came in 2009, when "Shakhtar" became the first Ukrainian club to win the UEFA Cup.
Another sports pride of Donetsk, without any doubt, is five-star stadium "Donbass Arena", the best in Ukraine and one of the most up-to-date in Europe. This is where the EURO 2012 quarterfinal and semifinal will take place. What city worthy to be chose for host the Championship of the Old World, UEFA have not doubt. Donetsk have successful experience in holding top-level tournaments. For example, in 2009 there were organized and hosted UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, and then the city earned the highest ratings of the Union of European Football Associations’ experts.
How to get. Donetsk International Airport serves both domestic, from Kiev and Lviv, and international flights: from Athens, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Vienna, Prague, Munich, Istanbul, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
You can get the Donbass capital by train starting from Warsaw and Berlin. The journey would take 30 and 36 hours respectively.
Donetsk linked by rail with almost all Ukrainian cities, including Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporozhie, as well as other EURO 2012 host-cities. It will take 12 h to get to Kiev, 22 h to Lviv, 6 h to Kharkov. High-speed trains will be launched in order to connect the host-cities in summer, 2012. The road to Kiev on high-speed train would take 5.5 hours, to Kharkov – 1 hour 50 minutes, to Lviv city – 7 hours.
You could also use bus that run daily between host-cities. They depart from the Donetsk central station. Travel time to Kiev is 12 hours, to Kharkov – 5.5 hours to Lviv – 21.5 hours.
