Poland adds polish to U19 finals

As the curtain falls on the fifth UEFA European Under-19 Championship, organisers, spectators and players alike are all able to look back on a fortnight filled with free-flowing football, a carnival atmosphere, impeccable organisation – and goals galore.

'Great success'
The Polish Football Association (PZPN) has picked up the baton from the previous four final hosts and, although tournament director Miroslaw Ryszka described the event as "a big challenge", he is nevertheless able to look back with satisfaction on a job well done over the four years since Poland was awarded hosting rights. "Initially I had some doubts but luckily we've managed to meet all the challenges and there's no doubt that these finals have been a great success," he told uefa.com.

Problems overcome
All six match venues – in Poznan, Wronki, Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Swarzedz, Szamotuly and Pobiedziska – have been top quality in terms of facilities, with the playing surfaces in particular of a very high standard. Although pleased with the end results, Ryszka confessed to some last-minute problems with the training pitches, explaining: "The training facilities were the most challenging part. We prepared a training ground for each team but unfortunately shortly before the tournament not every pitch was of sufficient quality so a few days before the finals we had to find two new training grounds. We also had a small problem with accommodation but we managed to overcome these minor difficulties."

High turnout
The hard work invested by UEFA and the PZPN has been amply rewarded as fans have turned out in force at the finals, with more than 45,000 spectators attending the 15 matches at the tournament at an average of more than 3,000 per game. Although the home side obviously enjoyed the majority of the support – 15,000 spectators saw Poland lose 1-0 to Austria in the first round of fixtures – large numbers of fans have offered vocal backing to their favourites with Scotland, Turkey and Spain all enjoying sizable support.

Promotional campaign
"We've done a lot of promotion for these finals and that has worked; lots of people have come out to watch the games at all six venues," Ryszka continued. "We've organised additional transport to get young fans to the games and that's helped as well. You can see how much Polish supporters have enjoyed hosting this event; they love their football and we're really happy. Even though Poland did not perform as well as we hoped, the other teams have all have good support and we've still had a really good attendance overall."

Goals galore
While the off-pitch organisation and attendances both play significant roles, what ultimately determines whether a competition is a success is the performances on the field of play – and, in this respect, the U19 finals have been a runaway triumph. The goals average has been remarkably high; the first eight matches brought an astounding 40 goals and, although the average ultimately dropped to 4.20 per game, it still compares favourably to recent events; the average at last year's U19 finals was 3.06, at the recent FIFA World Cup finals it was 2.30 and at UEFA EURO 2004™ 2.48.

'Brilliant football'
"Of course the most important thing has been the football and that has been brilliant," Ryszka added. "The number of goals in the group stage was incredible really, you can compare it favourably with the number of goals scored in Germany and that's a really positive factor. That's made a big difference." In this respect, and in all others, the U19 finals have been an unmitigated success.