Belarus seek lift for girl's football

As July's UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship edges ever nearer, Leonid Dmitranitsa, general secretary of the Belarussian Football Federation (BFF), has underlined his hope that the finals will provide fresh impetus for the female game in his country.

'Great catalyst' 
There are six weeks until Belarus's first ever UEFA finals kicks off as eight nations, the debutant hosts among them, vie to claim the 12th edition of the UEFA European Women's U19 Championship. Banners pronouncing that 'Women's football is fashionable' now punctuate any journey through Minsk and the finishing touches are being added to the organisation of the 13-day tournament itself, but Dmitranitsa hopes its impact goes well beyond the 25 July final. "The coming championship could not have come at a better time," he said. "I hope it will be a great catalyst and give rise to the development of women's football in Belarus."

Unfavourable draw
Belarus has never been represented in major European final tournaments, but the nation has pedigree in age-specific competitions: this month the men's U21 team will make their second appearance at the UEFA European U21 Championship in Sweden. The tournament in Belarus will be the first time a female side has graced the latter stages, however, and only then as hosts. Last month's draw in Minsk could therefore have been somewhat kinder than pitting them in Group A with five-time winners Germany among others. "We must set high targets, even if we have a very tough section with Germany, France and Switzerland," said Dmitranitsa. "Nevertheless, it is against such teams that you discover your real level. It will be a valuable experience.

Norway example
"The women's game in Belarus is not as popular as we would like," the BFF general secretary continued. "There are approximately ten million people in Belarus and not many women players, as opposed to somewhere like Norway which has four and a half million and thousands of women and girls playing football. We cannot compare at the moment, but we are striving for it and have giving it a lot of attention over the past four years." Green shoots are appearing. The WU19's heaviest competitive defeats came against Finland (14-0) and Scotland (13-0) in 2006 and 2005, respectively. They met the pair again in qualifying for last year's finals – when they reached the second round for the first time – and though they lost both, margins of 3-0 and 3-1 reflected a marked improvement. Now, Dmitranitsa hopes it is time for another significant stride.