Wilmots welcomes U17s

Marc Wilmots is a legend of Belgian football so is an ideal choice as UEFA European Under-17 Championship tournament ambassador in his home nation for the finals which begin tomorrow. And the former international intends to take in as much of the eight-team event as he can.

'Strong tournament'
"I aim to see as many games as possible," Wilmots told uefa.com. "Certainly one match for every country. It is an incredibly strong tournament; Spain, France and Germany in the same group as Ukraine, who knocked out Italy." As for Belgium's group, he added: "The Netherlands are there, Iceland are still very good, it is difficult to say it is a good draw but it could have been worse. Belgium have many talented young players so I think we can get good results."

Belgian honour
Wilmots played in four FIFA World Cup and also UEFA EURO 2000™ on home soil, finals jointly staged with the Netherlands, and he is delighted to see another European tournament in his homeland. "We staged EURO 2000™, it was a really great success," Wilmots said. "So UEFA has confidence in Belgium to organise such a tournament, and it is important for Belgium, as we are really interested in youth football. It is an honour to stage this event."

Young fans
Of course, Wilmots is optimistic that the Belgian public will make the most of this opportunity. "We hope to attract a lot of spectators," he said. "There are a lot of schemes with schools, there will be a lot of young supporters. There will be nine games on Eurosport, which will be good promotion."