IT HAS JUST been announced that Giovanni Trapattoni has decided on Gdynia as the Ireland team’s training base ahead of Euro 2012.

So where is exactly is Gdynia? What attracted the Irish team to this location? What kind of tourist spots (if any) can be seen there? Find out all below…

• Gdynia was chosen ahead of 15 other potential locations across Poland and Ukraine, which the FAI have researched over the past three months.
• Gdynia is a city located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship (a province) of Oksywie and is an important seaport of Gdansk Bay.
• The city is home to the football team Arka Gdynia, who play in the Polish 1 liga. Winning the Polish Cup in 1979 was arguably their most famous achievement.
• Thanks to a strong internet vote from fans in 2008, Gdynia was voted as one of the cities to feature in the Monopoly world edition and was the smallest city in the board game.
• The city has relatively modern architecture for the most part, however it contains the odd ancient building, such as St. Michael the Archangel’s Church in Oksywie, which was built as far back as the 13th century.
• Gdynia was occupied by German troops during World War II and its harbour was turned into a German naval base – events which led to the expulsion of over 50,000 Polish citizens from the city.
• The area’s population has grown rapidly over the past century. Its most recent population was listed as 248,889, compared with only 1,200 inhabitants in 1870.

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