Jena bids farewell to Under-17 bandwagon
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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The state of Thuringia has hosted its last U17 games and as Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey and England leave their Jena base they leave behind happy memories, record crowds and a packed week on and off the pich.
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Only two of the four teams from UEFA European Under-17 Championship Group B have been eliminated but everyone is on the move today as the finals bandwagon moves from Jena.
Record crowds
The Steigenberger Esplanade hotel in the centre of the city was the home for the host squad as well as England, the Netherlands and Turkey during the group stage as they played in five venues across the state of Thuringia. Erfurt, Meuselwitz, Gotha and Jena's own Ernst-Abbe Sportfeld, which attracted a total of not far off 15,000 fans for two Germany games, were the host cities and in all more than 30,000 people watched the six matches, the most ever for any U17 group. Around the fixtures there was also a football exhibition in the Goethe Gallery shopping centre and a sport-themed gala concert at the Volkhaus.
Players mix
Now the tournament focus switches solely to Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt as qualifiers Germany and the Netherlands join Switzerland and Italy in Leipzig, which was the base for Group A. But all will take happy memories of Jena, not least off the pitch where players from all four countries mixed together over the computers, dartboard, table football and other games. England's Luke Freeman told uefa.com: "All the countries have mingled with each other, we've all spoken, and just got on with each other, it was good."