Boyce hails new youth formats

For Jim Boyce, UEFA's new chairman of the Youth and Amateur Football Committee, conducting today's draws for the 2003/04 UEFA European Under-17 and Under-19 Championships was his first official duty. uefa.com spoke to him after the draws about his views on UEFA's youth tournaments and hopes for the future of youth football.

Boyce excitement
Boyce, who is president of the Irish Football Association, admitted he was excited about the draws, noting that the change of tournament format has added to the competitiveness of youth competitions. "Some exciting draws have been made," he said. "If you look at the draws for both the U17 and U19 you'll see that many of the larger countries have been drawn together. The new format which UEFA have introduced for the youth championships has created a whole new buzz among the countries."

Northern Ireland example
Using his native Northern Ireland as an example, Boyce explained why the smaller countries benefit from the new set-up. "[In the 2002/03 competition] it is the first time in many years that Northern Ireland have qualified for both the U17 and U19 second qualifying rounds," he explained. "Before if a country had lost their first [qualifying] game at home, they were virtually out of the competition. Now that two teams go through to the second round, it has created a real buzz."

Structural changes
From personal experience Boyce has seen that the structural changes have gone down well across Europe - giving 'lesser' football nations more chances to advance, play more games in each competition and thereby improve. "I have been a delegate at a couple of the mini-tournaments and certainly all the teams are very appreciative of the new format introduced by UEFA," Boyce said. "I think the draws today have given many smaller countries an opportunity they didn't have before of keeping their season alive and progressing to the second phase."

Youth is the key
Boyce firmly believes that countries across Europe should concentrate on youth development as a means to countering the economic problems in the football world: "The future of football is in development of the young," he said. "Many countries at the moment are struggling financially, especially at the top level of their game. In my opinion, some of the players are getting too much money. The television situation being as it is - and I think the amount of money which came into the game from television will certainly decrease - all countries will have to look at youth development. They will have to look at the players coming through at U17, U19 and Under-21 levels to become established stars."

Winning also matters
Building a winning team also matters though, as Boyce stressed. "Every team or every country which takes to the pitch will try to win a match," he said. "That's important. But I think that development is equally important. What I honestly think about UEFA, is that of our 52 countries, some of them have had political problems and other difficulties, but football brings all people together. And that is tremendous not only for development of football, but for the development of people. Many of the youth players I know appreciate coming to these tournaments and meeting people from other countries. Without football they would never have had the opportunity of doing so."