UEFA President thanks Ukraine for EURO

In a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, UEFA President Michel Platini met Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych and the president of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) Grigoriy Surkis to express UEFA's gratitude to the country's people, government and national football association for the successful co-hosting of UEFA EURO 2012.

"It is a great pleasure for me to return here two months after the wonderful tournament," said Mr Platini. "I came here to officially thank Viktor Yanukovych, Grigoriy Surkis, UEFA's operations director Martin Kallen and their respective teams who helped to stage the European Football Championship. It was an outstanding tournament. We saw great players, plenty of great goals and great refereeing."

Mr Platini said UEFA was continuing to receive positive feedback about the tournament in Poland and Ukraine from all over the world. He emphasised that UEFA's decision to stage the tournament in Ukraine had been the right one, and also presented Mr Yanukovych with a replica of the Henri Delaunay Cup, the UEFA European Championship trophy.

In return, Mr Yanukovych conveyed his gratitude to the UEFA President for the opportunity to organise such a major event, saying: "We are thankful to the UEFA President personally, and to the entire Union of European Football Associations for the support and trust which accompanied us in preparations for the final stage of EURO 2012.

"We did everything to ensure that the festival could happen," he added. "All the infrastructure built in Ukraine will remain after the tournament, and it will serve many generations of Ukrainians. They will drive on new roads, stay in new hotels, play at wonderful stadiums, and use modern airports."