Youth finals booming says Boyce

The 2006/07 UEFA European Under-17 Championship kicks off in two weeks in Belgium and Jim Boyce, chairman of the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee, is predicting a great tournament right from the opening encounter between the hosts and their Dutch neighbours.

'Media interest'
"It is tremendous for Belgium," Boyce told uefa.com. "They will be playing the Netherlands, and you have also Germany and countries like Spain and England, that get big media interest. And I am delighted once again to see that Eurosport will show nine games live, it promotes youth football. They deserve a lot of credit for the promotion they give along with UEFA."

Growth
Boyce has chaired his committee since 2002, and in that time UEFA have been working hard to further promote these youth finals in conjunction with that year's host nations. "There is no doubt about it, it is much more professionally run now," the Irish Football Association president said. "All the hosts deserve credit, they've all done very well and I'm sure Belgium will be no different."

Coach feedback
Coaches agree with that assessment, Boyce adds. "Every two years we have a youth conference, this November it will be in Cannes, and all the coaches are invited," he said. "We get all the feedback from coaches and administrators - and I have to say UEFA, the President and the staff involved get credit - and most of the suggestions that have come out have been implemented. The coaches are happy with the way UEFA now run the tournaments."

Rest day
Among those changes was the introduction of an extra rest day in the qualifying mini-tournaments, to be extended to the finals in 2008. "The coaches, including my own, thought the extra rest day was very necessary," Boyce explained. "It's asking too much for young players to play three games in five days. The feedback from that has been tremendous."

Iceland feat
Although the Elite round groups that decided the finalists were generally won by traditional powers like France, Germany, Spain and England, there was one shock, which delighted Boyce - despite that nation knocking out his own Northern Ireland. "Iceland were in with last year's winners, Russia, they were in with Portugal," Boyce said. "They drew 2-2 with Northern Ireland and our coach said 'Don't underestimate them, they are a strong, physically good side.' I'm delighted that Iceland have qualified - but they have tough opposition."