Development tournaments flourish

UEFA's development tournament programme for young male and female footballers has met its planned targets this year.

A significant number of youngsters have gained invaluable international experience at Under-16 level. In addition, the tournaments are providing observers with the chance to view gifted talents who are set to make their mark on the European football landscape in the years to come ... and who, in some cases, are already doing so.

Fourteen tournaments for boys' U16 players and 12 for girls' U6 teams have taken place across Europe during the spring and summer months. All of the 54 UEFA member associations were involved in boys’ tournaments, and 48 took part in girls' events.

The development tournaments were launched in 2012, and the Under-16 age category is considered by UEFA to be a crucial moment in a player's progress to the elite level.

UEFA's head of football development, Jean-François Domergue, explains: "The development tournaments offer promising young players the chance to play against international opposition. The tournaments are organised in a friendly environment, and are specifically designed to promote player development."

In addition, the tournaments reinforce the bridge between the U14/U15 and U17 age groups, when UEFA's national-team men's and women's youth competitions get underway in earnest. "The development tournaments also allow the coaches to provide players with important game time, as these events are organised with the emphasis on development rather than competition," says UEFA football development manager Olivier Doglia.

Essential values are being imparted to the young players. "Development is not only focused on match experience and technical skills," Jean-François Domergue emphasises. "The tournaments promote the education of values and respect, both on and off the pitch." Players from the different countries have also been able to mix and learn about each other's cultures and values along the way.

Staying with education, tailor-made presentations on match-fixing have been introduced for this specific age category, in order to reinforce UEFA's policy on integrity in football. All of the tournaments have featured a short presentation with UEFA integrity officers from each host association.

The journey from a UEFA development tournament to the elite club level was a particularly short and exciting one for Youri Tielemans, who played for Belgium in an U16 tournament in Dublin in the spring of 2013. By that October, Tielemans had become the youngest Belgian player – and the third youngest overall – to play in the UEFA Champions League, making his debut in a group-stage game against Olympiacos FC at the age of 16 years and 148 days.

At this age level, the girl players look up to their own role models, and a tournament in Croatia was graced by the presence of a UEFA women's football ambassador, Spain forward Verónica Boquete. Slovenia captain at the event, Sarah Ljubijankič, spoke for girl players across Europe: "Verónica is a role model for us. We are very impressed that she came all the way to visit us and this gives us more motivation and adrenaline."

Everyone gained something tangible from the U16 tournaments. "The tournaments give the smaller nations the opportunity to play more international matches," says Petur Simonsen, the Faroe Islands Football Association (FSF) technical director, "and thus give the young players some experience they would not otherwise have – for us, [it was] a vital opportunity." Anja Palusevic, UEFA women's football technical observer, gave a similar viewpoint as she watched a girls' tournament in Montenegro: "Especially for the national teams making their debuts, it was the first time that [they] had the opportunity to measure themselves in a international tournament."

Preparations for next year are already underway, with the tournaments kicking off again in February 2016. The same number of 26 tournaments in total are planned for the boys' and girls' teams – fully underlining that the programme, vastly appreciated by national team coaches, is now a fully established and successful fixture within the youth national team calendar.