Between 8th June and 1st July 2012, 15 matches of the UEFA EURO 2012 Football Championship will be held in Poland. Not everybody realises, however, that at the same time one more match will be played, a match of the utmost importance for Poland. Poland’s and Poles’ international image will be at stake in this match. The player that will lead us to victory in this match will be top quality organisation of the Tournament in terms of security, medical care, transport, information and public engagement. All Poles will play Euro 2012, because in fact we are all hosts of this Tournament.
Experiences of other major sports events’ hosts clearly show what is the actual key success factor of such events, what is decisive for participants’ and tourists’ good opinion about it, and consequently for the international image of the host country. Substantial portion of benefits gained by the host country after an international sports event is related to the image developed in course of the event. Increased tourist traffic and improved foreign investors’ trust are the elements dependent primarily on the image built by the country during the event.