The Grand Duchy's grand job

Luxembourg are the smallest nation to have staged the UEFA European Under-17 Championship - and ahead of tonight's final, UEFA Youth and Amateur Committee chairman Jim Boyce is full of praise for the Grand Duchy.

'Super job'
"The Luxembourg FA and Local Organising Committee have done a super job," he told uefa.com. "The stadiums have been clean and tidy and the pitches have been first class, and they must be very pleased with the number of spectators at the games. It was a big worry for everybody beforehand, but before the final day there have been about 15,000 spectators in total. The press have been magnificent, lots of people have come out. The number of people I've seen with football shirts, they know it is a big thing for Luxembourg. The senior side have struggled recently, this will give them the impetus to build it up."

Fine football
Boyce has also been impressed with what he has seen on the pitch over the last two weeks, as Russia and the Czech Republic pipped Germany and Spain to the final against some expectations. "The football's been very good," he said. "I think the Russian coach deserves credit because Germany's Manuel Fischer and Toni Kroos are super players, but they weren't really in the picture. Russia had done their homework. The Czechs did not surprise me - I saw them in Turkey in the Elite round, so their result against Spain did not surprise me. I tipped the Czechs to get to the final right from the start."

Youth development
Although the hosts lost their three games, just as his own Northern Ireland did when staging the 2005 U19 Championship, Boyce believes that Luxembourg will take footballing benefits from their participation, pointing to the experience of the Irish Football Association over which he presides. "It's been a wonderful experience for them, otherwise they probably wouldn't be playing in the finals," he said. "The Luxembourg FA like other small associations are spending a lot of money on youth football. And two of the Northern Ireland U19s last year could be called up the senior side for a tour of America. Without proper youth development these things wouldn't happen."

Next year in Belgium
While 2005 winners Turkey and Germany are preparing to stage future U17 events, next year's finals will be across the Luxembourg border in Belgium. "I'm sure the Belgian FA will do very well," Boyce said. "They organised [UEFA] EURO 2000™ superbly with the Dutch and I'm looking forward to it."