England has been awarded the right to host the 2014 UEFA Women’s U17 Championship following an announcement at the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday.
It will see a continental tournament on these shores for the first time since 2005, when the UEFA European Women’s Championship was held in the north-west of England.
A total of 117,384 spectators attended the 15 matches in Manchester, Blackpool, Warrington, Preston and Blackburn with the opening game – England's thrilling 3-2 victory against Finland at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday 5 June – attracting 29,092 fans.
Prior to that, the UEFA European U16 Championship was staged in the north-east in 2001. The Young Lions lost to France in the semi-finals at Newcastle United before Fernando Torres scored the only goal in the Final as Spain beat Les Bleus 1-0 in front of nearly 30,000 supporters at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
The men’s U18 finals have been held three times in England – 1963 (winners), 1983 (semi-finalists) and 1993 (winners) – although the competition only came under UEFA’s auspices in 1981.
The most high-profile European tournament staged in this country was the 1996 UEFA European Championship, when England lost 6-5 to Germany on penalties in a dramatic semi-final at Wembley after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time.
Also on Tuesday, UEFA confirmed that Lisbon's Estádio da Luz will stage the 2014 Champions League Final, while the new Juventus Stadium will the be venue for that season’s Europa League Final.
The UEFA Executive Committee also awarded the organisation of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship to the Czech Republic, the 2016 UEFA European Futsal Championship final tournament will take place in Belgrade, Serbia,
The following youth competition hosts were also approved:
- UEFA European Under-19 Championship: Hungary (2014), Greece (2015) and Germany (2016)
- UEFA European Under-17 Championship: Malta (2014), Bulgaria (2015) and Azerbaijan (2016)
- UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship: Norway (2014), Israel (2015) and Slovakia (2016)
- UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship: England (2014), Iceland (2015) and Belarus (2016)