Czech Republic on course for 2008

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Rudolf Řepka, the general secretary of the Football Assocation of the Czech Republic (©Sportsfile)

Spain and Austria may still be celebrating their successes in winning and organising respectively the UEFA European Under-19 Championship but for 2008 finals hosts the Czech Republic, the hard work has already started in earnest for next summer's event.

Observational role
Rudolf Řepka, the new general secretary of the Football Assocation of the Czech Republic (CMFS), was a keen observer during the group stage in Austria and has taken a lot on board with the next finals - which will be staged from 14-26 July 2008 - in mind. "It was great to be in Austria, we really enjoyed it," he told uefa.com. "We observed a lot, we wanted to see the logistical side of things so we had a look at the VIP area, the dressing rooms, camera positions, referees rooms, accreditation procedure, security matters and more. We got to see how everything works, we covered everything - we saw how the ballboys, stewards and UEFA staff worked, for example, so it was very helpful. It's all good experience for next year."

'Foundations there'
There may be almost 12 months to go until next year's finals, but the Czech plans are already in full swing, as Řepka was keen to point out. "Our preparations are going well, the basic organisation is already in place," he explained. "The foundations are there and we'll work closer with UEFA in the months to come. We've just chosen the stadiums, they're all international grounds with good organisation. There will be two centres, and the grounds belong to [FK] Viktoria Žižkov, [FK] Marila Príbram and [FK] Viktoria Žižkov in the Prague centre and, in the second centre in Liberec, to [FC] Slovan Liberec, FK Jablonec 97 and [FK] Mladá Boleslav. They're all top stadiums as we want to make sure the facilities are good."

'Great honour'
The Czech Republic were chosen to host the 2008 event late last year and Řepka recognises the importance of the next 12 months, adding: "It's a great honour for us to be given this chance, we're thankful to UEFA for this opportunity. We have a good record in UEFA youth competitions and this is a chance to improve further youth football in our country. Our youth national teams have done well in Europe so we hope to develop that further, to reach out to the younger footballers and to further strengthen our base of young players.

Out to impress
"This is our chance to show what we can do and we want to make a good impression; we want to do well on and off the pitch," Řepka said. "We're hoping to show good organisation and playing ability. We enjoyed the big crowds in Austria and we hope there will be public support - we're confident they’re will be." The next few months are certain to be busy for Řepka and his CMFS colleagues, as he explained: "When we get home we'll consider our experiences from Austria and see what we need to do next. We have our next UEFA site visit in the autumn and we'll then implement the improvements they suggest. We will do whatever we need to in order to make the most of this opportunity."

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