Polish host city logos to increase visibility

The four Polish host cities for UEFA EURO 2012 reached a new milestone in their preparations with the launch of their host city logos and the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between UEFA and the venues related to marketing issues and the official FanZones.

This was announced at today's press conference at the Hotel Sofitel Victoria in Warsaw by the mayors of the four host cities, the president of the Polish Football Federation (PZPN) Grzegorz Lato, UEFA Events SA operations director Martin Kallen, the Polish tournament director Adam Olkowicz, and Poland's minister for sport and tourism Adam Giersz.

Vice-mayor Andrzej Bojanowski (Gdansk) and city mayors Ryszard Grobelny (Poznan), Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (Warsaw) and Rafał Dutkiewicz (Wroclaw) joined other dignitaries from the worlds of football and politics for the official unveiling of the host city logos. Featuring both the UEFA EURO 2012 event logo and a design element unique to the respective venues, the host city logos will be the key visual elements that represent and identify each host city in its promotional activities leading up to, and during, UEFA EURO 2012.

The marketing guidelines that are central to the cooperation agreement, together with their individual brand identity, offer the host cities a broad range of promotional opportunities. The joint approach is to increase awareness of the tournament. "We aim to support the host cities in creating a festive atmosphere and welcoming guests and travelling fans to EURO 2012 in Poland," said tournament director Adam Olkowicz.

The excitement, according to Olkowicz, will start with tournament-related decorations or dressing across the host cities and will culminate in the official FanZones. The idea is to extend the match atmosphere from the stadiums to the heart of the city and invite fans without tickets to experience a memorable football festival – watching every UEFA EURO 2012 game live on giant screens.

"From now on the logos will appear in the streets as a sign that UEFA EURO 2012 is approaching fast," said PZPN president Grzegorz Lato. Gdansk, Poland's Baltic port, has Neptune, god of the sea, as its key visual element. The local theme for Poznan's host city logo is stars in the shape of a ball. Warsaw, as is tradition, is symbolised by a mermaid while Wroclaw's individual brand identity shows the city's famous Grunwaldzki bridge.

Martin Kallen of UEFA Events said: "Today's event is another milestone in UEFA EURO 2012 preparations. This means that fans will be welcomed in the Polish host cities. They will see how the host cities and Poland are beautiful. I am sure this EURO will be a great success."