Women's national coaches to meet

This summer's UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ finals showed the tremendous development of the women's game and the tournament provides the focal point of discussions at the inaugural UEFA Women's National Team Coaches Conference in Nyon between Monday and Wednesday this week.

Conference
Women's national coaches and technical directors from UEFA's 53 member associations are attending the conference, entitled UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ and Beyond. The aim of the event is to assess and analyse the finals in Finland – in which Germany claimed a fifth straight European title – discuss current trends, and exchange information and ideas on issues affecting the technical development of women's international football.

Improvement
"The women's game is continuing to improve and the increase in the number of teams participating in the final round gave more teams the experience of top-class tournament football," says UEFA President Michel Platini in his message to the conference. "The quality of the games was high and most games were close, creating moments of high excitement.

Experience
"The development of the women's game is, to a large extent, also the result of an increasing wealth of coaching competence across Europe," he adds. "This was highlighted when Hope Powell [England] and Silvia Neid [Germany], two very experienced coaches, disputed the final in Helsinki."

Topics
Among the topics on the agenda are the role of the national-team coach, an examination of the mindset needed to enjoy success at the highest women's level, refereeing issues at the EURO final round, and a report on UEFA's injury study at the tournament. The UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ technical report will also be presented, and delegates will be invited to consider the current and future development of UEFA's top women's competitions.