“Naturally I’m disappointed… but we have to bear the defeat with dignity,” he told news website index.hu. “We did everything we could and we don’t know what went on in the background of the decision.” The Hungarian government had pledged hundreds of millions of euros to renovate three stadiums and build one new one as well as upgrade infrastructure if its joint bid with Croatia was successful. While this money will now not be spent in the near future, Gyurcsány said that another attempt at winning a major championship was not out of the question.
“We have to bid. We have to go forward,” he said. The Hungarian team, which believed its joint bid with Croatia had a strong chance of victory, reacted with shock at losing out. Ferenc Dénes, one of the members of the Hungarian delegation, said that the overriding opinion had been that the winner would come from either the Hungary-Croatia or Italy camp. “Nobody here is happy,” he said on InfóRadió. The Hungarian media was equally surprised to see Poland and Ukraine win and painted a picture of a depressed Hungarian delegation. “I would not want to wish this on anyone… the Hungarian delegation was quiet, with tears in their eyes and sad faces,” said Csaba Schulek, the head of sport portal Telesport.hu.
“After our perfect presentation, it isn’t possible to explain why we did not win,” he continued. The Hungarian presentation included a message from Charles Simonyi, the Hungarian-born US billionaire currently orbiting the earth as a space tourist, and boasted the backing of the widow of football great Ferenc Puskás, who died last November. Some commentators suggested that the fact that Poland and Ukraine represented a larger market might have had something to do with the decision. The only people who were not disappointed by the news were financial analysts. Hungary is struggling with a huge budget deficit and several commented it was largely positive that the government would now not be lashing out hundreds of millions of euros on a football championships. (earthtimes.org)
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