Powitaj Puchar (Welcoming The Cup)
On 20 April 2012, the Henry Delauney Trophy reached Warsaw. A press conference was held in Palac Kultury i Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science) which is one of the main landmarks in Warsaw. The trophy was presented there.
Before I continue, here’s a little bit of history. The idea for a pan-European football tournament was first proposed by the French Football Federation’s Henri Delaunay in 1927, but it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started – three years after Delaunay’s death. In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. [More info..]
To welcome the Euro trophy in Warsaw, a ceremonial parade was held (also on 20 April 2012) whereby the trophy was escorted by three cars and two buses along with the two championship mascots, Sławek and Słavko.
Sławek and Sławko
The route of the parade was: plac Defilad – Aleje Jerozolimskie – Nowy Świat – Krakowskie Przedmieście – Królewska – Marszałkowska – plac Defilad.
According to sources, at about 1pm, the VIPs presented the trophy to the children in Warsaw Children’s hospital (Warszawskim Szpitalu dla Dzieci ul. Kopernika 43). The children had the chance to take photos with the trophy and they also received some gifts.
After that, at 2.30pm, the Deputy Mayor of Warsaw placed the trophy in a place of honour in front of Palac Kultury i Nauki where the trophy will stay until 22 April 2012. And today, I got the chance to take photo with the trophy! I waited about one hour in the queue, there were so many people but it was definitely worth waiting! While waiting for the queue, I found my face on the big projector screen, so I smiled! 
It was an awesome experience. It was bright, sunny and a little bit windy which is just nice! I’m glad I went to the exhibition.
Oh, and for those of you who didn’t get the chance to go to this exhibition, you will have the opportunity to follow the trophy on tour in other Polish cities and in Ukraine until 26 May 2012. The promotional campaign “UEFA EURO 2012 ™ – Welcoming the Trophy” will be held in 14 cities, including the eight City-Hosts.
The Trophy-Tour dates are:
In Poland,
- Warsaw 20-22 April
- Gdańsk 24-26 April
- Poznań 28-30 April
- Wrocław 4-6 May
- Łódź 7 May
- Kraków 9 May
- Katowice 10 May
And in Ukraine,
- Kyiv 11-13 May
- Ivano-Frankivsk 14 May
- Kharkiv 15-17 May
- Donetsk 18-20May
- Dnepropetrovsk 21 May
- Lviv 23-25 May
- Odessa 26 May
- Powitaj Puchar w Warszawie (Poland)
- Euro 2012 (Ukraine)
- Euro 2012 Merchandise – Buy Online
- Euro 2012 volunteers training centre (uefaeurocup2012.blogspot.de)
- Poland – Warsaw place to be in June 2012 (dreamjobdiva.wordpress.com)
