After an exciting game the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University won the golden medal and the title of Champion of the Studenteuro – Polish-Ukrainian football tournament of academic teams concluded last weekend in Kiev, Ukraine.

In two years, Poland and Ukraine will organize EURO 2012. This big football event inspired organizers of the Studenteuro (University Sport Association of Poland, Education Foundation Perspektywy – from Polish side, Ministry of Science and Education and Polish-Ukrainian Center of the University of Technology from Kiev – from Ukrainian side) to carry out the football contest on the university level.

 

The main idea of the Studenteuro was not only to check if Ukraine can manage with organization such big event as European championships, but also to consolidate Polish and Ukrainian relationships. As a neighbors Poland and Ukraine join many businesses, contacts, also on academic level. Young people from Ukraine are the biggest group of foreign students in Polish universities. Polish students are also very keen to cooperate with their eastern neighbors. Studenteuro brought students from these countries together and showed them that sport is a good way to integrate and to make friendly relations between the countries.

Eight Polish and twelve Ukrainian teams took part in the tournament. Matches were played in four cities, hosts of EURO 2012: Lviv, Kiev, Donetsk and Kharkiv. Four out of twenty four matches were won by Polish teams during the competition, others by their Ukrainian friends. The best Polish team was representatives of Cracow – Jagiellonian University. They won all of elimination matches but lost the most important – final match with the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University in Kiev 0:3.

 

Another Polish team had a chance to stand on a podium – footballers from Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin. Unfortunately they made a lot of mistakes and let Ukrainian team to take a control over the game. Finally they lost 0:3 and finished the tournament on the fourth place. In 2011 football teams will contest in Polish cities Warsaw, Poznan, Gdansk and Wroclaw.