Dutch plan festival of football
Friday, January 19, 2007
Article summary
Tournament director Harry Been says volunteers will be key to making this summer's U21 finals a success, as uefa.com examines the preparations for the eight-team event.
Article body
Volunteer tribute
"In the Netherlands, we have a good deal of experience in this area and there are a large number of UEFA EURO 2000™ veterans we can call upon," said Been, whose country also co-hosted the senior UEFA European Championship seven years ago. "But a tournament like this cannot be held without the help of volunteers." Accordingly, the Dutch organisers are working alongside recruitment and human resources specialists In Person and HRM Services to deliver approximately 800 volunteers and 40 fully-paid staff. Hundreds of applicants have already signed up to www.inperson.nl but there is still room for more volunteers to help out at the four host cities of Heerenveen, Groningen, Nijmegen and Arnhem.
Broadcasting agreements
Meanwhile, with the eight-team competition only five months away, Talpa has been appointed as the host broadcaster with its channel Tien transmitting the live matches. Tien successfully broadcast the Netherlands' triumphant U21 campaign in Portugal last summer, with the Jong Oranje's final victory against Ukraine attracting an audience of 4.6 million.
High definition
Talpa will provide a 12-camera production in high definition of all 15 games while UEFA also has an option to add further cameras for the purpose of testing new technologies in advance of UEFA EURO 2008™. "With 12 cameras at every match, we guarantee superb coverage of everything," said general director of radio station Radio 538, Jan Willem Brüggenwirth. "With the high definition quality, it means that never before has UEFA been able to broadcast events of this importance in such high quality."
Football marathons
Radio 538, meanwhile, has agreed a deal to provide national coverage of the finals and will be at the heart of numerous fan activities surrounding the games. "We will start 21-hour football marathons in the host cities on the evening before matches," explained Been. "The marathons will embrace football in all its forms, and as kick-off for the games approaches, Radio 538 will hop in and organise a huge fan festival with stages and artists to entertain the fans."