It looks like Markian Lubkivsky, Ukraine's Euro 2012 director, was right when he said that visiting fans “will have no time for sex.”

Kyiv prostitutes and experts of nongovernmental organizations say they haven’t seen any increase in demand for sex services since Euro 2012 kicked off.

“After the championship started I spoke to girls in Kyiv and other host cities, and none of them said about crowds of clients,” said Olena Zuckerman, head of Legalife, a sex workers protection group. “So, people, who invested in the sex business [for Euro 2012] will be disappointed.”

Some had predicted that prostitution would boom during Euro 2012, as Ukraine has been flooded by tens of thousands of foreign fans.

But Zuckerman said the same thing happened in other countries that hosted football events, for example in South Africa at the World Cup in 2010.

A 23-year-old prostitute who goes by the name Milena said she expects no spike in earnings from the tournament. Another prostitute, who is 44-year-old and spoke on condition of anonymity, said she hadn’t had any foreign clients and that this was a “dead season.”

The girls say some sex workers paid to appear on special lists compiled by taxi drivers and owners of apartments that are rented out for the tournament. Many also took jobs at Kyiv’s numerous strip bars.

Meanwhile, Milena, who has an additional official job, says she has two or three clients per week, as usual. “I don’t expect any crowds of sex tourists,” she said.

Despite all the expectations there was no growth in either demand or supply of sex services, said Yevhenia Kuvshynova, coordinator of the Convictus-Ukraine charity project, which supports people affected by HIV/AIDS.

“Men have no interest in anything apart from beer and football during Euro 2012,” she added.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko