UEFA delegation impressed by Estonia's preparations for women's U-17 Euros
Last week a UEFA delegation made its second comprehensive visit to Estonia ahead of the 2023 European U-17 Women's Football Championships, which will be hosted at venues in Tallinn, Tartu and Võru. The week-long visit provided officials with an overview of the venues, facilities and plans in place for the hosting of next year's tournament.
During the visit, which lasted from September 12 to 16, UEFA and the Estonian Football Association (EJL) inspected venues and training facilities in Tallinn, Tartu and Võru, all of which will be used during the tournament. The delegation also visited the hotels that will be hosting the teams, and met with referees as well as other organizers of the tournament.
According to Juss Tamming, director of the 2023 tournament in Estonia, the thorough visit provided the delegation with a good overview of everything related to the organizational side of the event. "It was a very important week for our local organizing team. We were able to share ideas with UEFA about how we want to operate in different areas, and we also gave them an overview of where we are today and what we will focus on in the coming months," said Tamming.
Matches in the 2023 Women's U-17 European Championships will be split between two centers, one in the north of Estonia and the other in the south. Games in the north will take place at Tallinn's A. Le Coq Arena and Kadriorg Stadium, while Tartu's Tamme Stadium and Võru Sports Center will host fixtures in the south. There will also be 11 training pitches available at the two centers for national teams taking part in the tournament to use.
"During a busy week of work, we came to a common understanding about the details that need to be taken into account and (what should be) improved when organizing games at these stadiums. We also looked at the situation regarding the training pitches to see where more focus needs to be placed," said Tamming.
According to Tamming, the UEFA representatives were very satisfied with what they saw during the visit, with much of the groundwork for the upcoming tournament laid during preparations for the 2020 men's U-17 European Championships, which Estonia was due to host, but was ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"In many areas, we have now progressed even further with our work than they could have expected. Certainly, a major part of this is down to the 2020 U-17 European Championships, which we did a lot of work to organize. This, in turn, gives us the advantage of having (already gone through the process of) organizing a high level tournament," Tamming said.
Alongside Estonia, who qualify automatically as hosts, seven other national teams will participate in the finals of the 2023 UEFA Women's Under-17 European Championships, which takes place from May 14-26.
Qualifying matches for the competition will be played in October and November, with the draw for the final tournament due to take place next April.
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Editor: Michael Cole