Ukraine to get $16m bonus for Euro 2012 triumph

Ukraine's players could earn a maximum of 13 million euros ($16.20 million) in bonuses if the co-hosts win Euro 2012, the head of the country's soccer federation was quoted as saying on Wednesday. 

 "We have better financial incentives in comparison with the premiums of other teams," Ukraine Football Association president Hryhory Surkis was quoted as saying on the Ukrainian Euro 2012 committee website (www.ukraine2012.gov.ua). 

Surkis said the Ukraine squad, among the outsiders in the 16-team tournament which gets underway on Friday, will receive 500,000 euros for each group stage victory, with 250,000 for a draw. 

Qualifying for the quarter-finals will earn a further 2 million, as will reaching the semi-finals. Reaching the final carries a bonus of 3 million and another 4.5 million will be paid if Ukraine win the tournament.  

Ukraine open their Group D campaign against Sweden in Kiev on June 11, before facing France in Donetsk on June 15, then England in the same city on June 19.