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UEFA holds women's football week

Women's football takes centre stage at UEFA this week with the draws held for the UEFA Women's Champions League and youth competitions and a workshop on women's football development.

Lyon set the standard with last season's UEFA Women's Champions League victory
Lyon set the standard with last season's UEFA Women's Champions League victory ©Sportsfile

Women's football takes centre stage at UEFA this week with the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draws, a workshop on women's football development, as well as draws for the UEFA European Women's Under-17 and Under-19 Championships.

Representatives from ten UEFA member associations – Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland – will gather at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon on Thursday to find ways to support women's football development in Europe.

The aim is to help clubs professionalise their domestic leagues with the use of a number of support tools, such as licensing and financing. The working group will also be determining a set of key criteria that member associations will need to fulfil in different areas, eg governance and marketing. These will then be agreed as minimum requirements for three development stages.

Theodore Theodoridis, UEFA deputy general secretary and director of national associations, said: "With club football being the basis for women's football development, UEFA regards support to them as vital. This workshop is the first of its kind and will provide a roadmap for women's football development in Europe."

The UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draws will be conducted at 12.30CET UEFA headquarters by UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino and Karen Espelund, UEFA Executive Committee member by invitation. At this stage of the competition, no teams are seeded.

The clubs qualified for the quarter-finals are holders Olympique Lyonnais (France), Arsenal LFC (England), 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (Germany), 1. FFC Frankfurt (Germany), FC Rossiyanka (Russia), Brøndby IF (Denmark), WFC Malmö (Sweden) and Göteborg FC (Sweden).

On Tuesday four draws will be made for the two women's youth competitions starting at 08.30CET, with the draws for the respective 2012/13 Women's U17 and Women's U19 first qualifying rounds following by the draws for this season's Women's U19 and Women's U17 second qualifying rounds. The Women's U19 finals will be held in Turkey during July, with the U17 competition concluding in Nyon the previous month. Forty-four UEFA member associations will be present at the draw at UEFA headquarters.

UEFA President Michel Platini will also hand out trophies to the teams that came top in last season's Fair Play rankings at 10.15 CET on the same day. Ramona Petzelberger, the captain of Germany's winning Women's U19 team, will accept the prize for her team, and the vice-captain of last season's France Women's U17 team, Clarisse Le Bihan, will collect the Fair Play trophy on behalf of the beaten finalists behind Spain. Karen Espelund will conduct the draws.

The women's football week is followed by a meeting of the UEFA Women's Football Committee on 21 November.

All the draws will be streamed live on UEFA.com. Media representatives wishing to attend the draws are requested to apply for accreditation by email to media@uefa.ch.

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