Tuesday visits to Stadion Miejski in Poznań

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Since the beginning of March at the stadium in Poznań all who are willing are able to take part in trips named 'Tuesdays at the Stadium'. These will be organised until the time at which the operator managing the stadium is chosen. Guides for the trips are well-known journalists who in the course of 45 minutes show the visitors around locations usually inaccessible to fans, such as the football team locker rooms, the media area, the UEFA delegate room and an executive box.

On 5 April I set out on one of these trips. Leading were Artur Adamczak from TVP and Joanna Janowicz Strzyżewska from Euro Poznań 2012. We began the visit at the model of the stadium prepared for blind visitors, to be found at stand IV. The base of the model features a detailed description of the stadium in Polish and Braille. We moved next to the seat of KKS Lech Poznań in stand I, with the guide for this part of the trip Sebastian Karczewski, a representative of Lech Poznań Club. We visited the stand I foyer where we saw the corridor along which the players head to the pitch and a colourful model of the stadium, and following this we came to the History Hall for KKS Lech Poznań, where it is possible to learn a great deal about the club's past. We did not visit a team locker room since preparations were underway for the match between Lech and Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała. The trip then reached the Conference Room, where the teams give interviews following matches, and the final stadium attraction to be seen was the Media Area.

During the trip we learnt from the guides many interesting things about the stadium and the European Football Championship in 2012. For example, probably not everyone knows that for the month before the Championship UEFA assumes the management of the stadiums. Another titbit is the fact that during EURO 2012 the turf at all of the stadiums in Poland and Ukraine will be the same, so as to provide the players with identical match conditions. You will learn more taking part in a Tuesday visit.