Newsletter No. 5 – May 2009

A milestone on the way to our ambition sive there. Getting the Swedish public to attend football matches on Midsummer’s Eve was never going to be easy, but already 7,000 have made sure to get their tickets for Sweden-Italy on that day. For ’s three Group B matches, the total number of only 4,500 tickets still avail- able testifies to the huge public interest in the tourna- ment. Public interest is fuelled by the Swedish media, who

Photo: Bildbyrån have put more and more focus on the UEFA European Un- der-21 Championship as the year has progressed. News- papers, magazines, websites and broadcasters are making sure that few people in Sweden are unaware of what is taking place in the south-western part of the country in The arrival of the UEFA European Under-21 Champion- late June. ship trophy at TUR 2009, the tourism trade fair in Göte- UEFA have been coming on regular site-visits to the borg in March. four host cities, and together we feel confident that all lready more than a month before first kick-off, venues and facilities connected to the tournament are A100,000 tickets have been sold to the UEFA European in perfect shape to welcome the teams and their fans in Under-21 Championship in Sweden. For us in the Local June. We all hope the Swedish summer will be at its best Organising Committee, reaching such a milestone at such – and those of us who are yellow and blue at heart hope an early stage is cause for tremendous pride and joy. It for positive results for the Swedish team! is also proof that we and the four host cities have been doing our job when it comes to promoting the biggest football tournament in Europe this year. However, we all realise that a lot of work remains if we want to fulfil our ambition of staging 15 well-attended matches. The fastest selling encounters so far have been Swe- den’s opening match against Belarus in Malmö and Björn Ahlberg Karl-Erik Nilsson versus England in Göteborg. and Halmstad Chairman, Org. Committee Tournament director have smaller grounds but ticket sales are equally impres- Swedish FA Swedish FA

attendance of 10,000 spectators 100,000 tickets sold by early May per match. That means selling a total of 150,000 tickets, which wo months after ticket sales were is our next target now”, adds Tlaunched, and more than a month be- Nilsson. fore the UEFA European Under-21 Cham- Some examples of the pionship actually begins, 100,000 tickets number of tickets sold or re- have already been sold. served (as per 10 May): ”It’s a fantastic joy. This means that a little more than half the tickets remain to be * Spain– 15 June 9,500 sold, and we’re counting on having the main rush for * Sweden–Belarus 16 June 13,000 tickets closer to the start of the tournament”, says Tournament * Spain–England 18 June 13,000 Director Karl-Erik Nilsson. * Semi-final 2 26 June 9,000 An ambition from everyone involved with the tournament is * Final 29 June 9,500 to turn the two weeks in Sweden into a celebration of football, “We still have a lot of work ahead, but now we are only a of course by making sure that the arenas are filled with fans. little more than a month away and can look forward to a suc- “We had the target from the beginning to reach an average cessful tournament”, says Karl-Erik Nilsson. Finland’s captain : im Sparv is the captain who doesn’t speak the Tsame language as his team-mates. “I actually speak English sometimes instead of Finnish”, says Sparv, who grew up in Oravais, a small town in the ”I’m sure we’ll have Swedish-speaking part of Finland. The fact that Sparv is captain despite his problems with the Finnish language, shows how important the strong support is for Finland. Coach builds his team around the Halmstads BK player. Finland is the surprise package of the tournament. They in June” won their qualifying group ahead of traditionally stronger footballing nations like Denmark and Scotland, and de-

Photo: Bildbyrån feated in a dramatic play-off. Finland’s place at the finals in Sweden was secured after a penalty shoot-out, where Tim Sparv scored the first one. Never before has Fin- land qualified for a final tournament at senior or Under-21 level. “It means a lot for football in Finland”, says Sparv. “I’m sure we’ll have strong support from Finns living in Sweden and from tourists coming for the tournament.” Finland could hardly have imagined a tougher draw – their opponents in Group B are England, Germany and Spain. Tim Sparv, who will be playing the first two matches at his home ground, Örjans vall in Halmstad, is not scared of the other teams’ reputations: “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I know several of the English players we’ll be facing.” The one he knows best is also England’s biggest star, of Arsenal. The two players lived in the same house and trained together for three years at Southamp- ton FC. “He’s a fantastic player”, says Sparv of the English- Tim Sparv man. “But we know we can beat all teams. Of course we’re Born: 20 February 1987 in Oravais, Finland. aiming to reach the semi-final.” Height: 194 cm. Weight: 84 kg. Clubs: Norvalla (1993–2003), Southamp- Tim Sparv in action against AIK in the Swedish first ton (2003–2006), Halmstads BK (2007–). division. Favourite team: Manchester United.

Under-21 stars in Champions League final

he biggest prize in club football is within reach of several poten- goal against Villarreal in October 2007. Made his senior debut for Ttial Under-21 stars when Manchester United take on FC Barcelona Spain at the age of 18 in September 2008. in on 27 June. The two squads include the following players who could also show their skills in Sweden in June. MANCHESTER UNITED • Zoran Tosic, Serbia. Midfielder, born 1987 FC BARCELONA Signed for Manchester United in January 2009. A key player for • Gerard Piqué, Spain. Defender, born 1987 Serbia and part of the team that reached the final at the 2007 UEFA Played at opponents Manchester United between 2004 and 2008, European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands, where they before returning home to Barcelona. Piqué has played twice for the fell to the hosts. Spain senior team, scoring the winning goal against Turkey in a FIFA • Danny Welbeck, England. Striker, born 1990 World Cup qualifier in March. Made his debut two days before his 18th birthday, • Sergi Busquets, Spain. Midfielder, born 1988 and celebrated by scoring in the 5-1 win against Stoke City. Played Scored an important goal on his Under-21 debut in the play-off his first match for the England Under-21s in February against Ecua- against Switzerland in October 2008. Made his senior debut for dor. Spain against Turkey in April. • Federico Macheda, Italy. Striker, born 1991 • Bojan Krkic, Spain. Striker, born 1990 Manchester United snapped up “Kiko” from Lazio when he was 16. Bojan scored 961 goals for the club’s youth teams and became the Has been a huge success this year. Scored on his Premier League youngest player ever to score for Barcelona in the league with his debut in April against Aston Villa. NETHERLANDS The reigning champions miss the party in Sweden

utch coaching legend Foppe de Haan Why do you think you were picked for the Un- Dis set to retire this summer. He tells der-21 coaching job? us of his memories of winning the The Dutch FA was looking for an older last two Under-21 Championships coach with experience. Normally Un- for the Netherlands, and also der-21 teams have young coaches, of the disappointment at not who only stay for a year or two qualifying for Sweden. before moving on to a club team. I was finished with club football Sir of Man- after many years at . chester United is not the only So I could devote myself entirely football coach to receive a to building an Under-21 team. knighthood. In the Nether- I think the Swedish team will lands, Foppe de Haan shares benefit a lot from having Tommy that distinction. He was given Söderberg as one of the coach- the title Knight in the Order of es. He’s been in football for a Orange-Nassau in May 2004 long time and he has experience after his last match as coach from several big championships, of . In twenty so he can help keep a relaxed at- years at the club, de Haan helped mosphere within the group. Plus it’s transform the small-town club into good for young players to have older a title contender and UEFA Cham- persons to talk to in general. pions League team. After his Heeren- veen days, de Haan took charge of the After two successive Under-21 titles, the Dutch Under-21 team, leading them to their Netherlands failed to qualify for this sum- most successful years ever. mer’s tournament in Sweden. What’s your Dutch coach Foppe de Haan. explanation? Before you took the job as Under-21 coach, The reason we failed this time had a lot to the Netherlands had never won the Euro- do with the Olympics. Playing the Olympics pean title. Was that a goal from your first disturbed our development and prepara- day? tions for the Under-21 qualifiers. Many players had re- When I started in 2004 the Dutch FA and I had the same cently moved to new clubs and weren’t yet established ambition, and that was to qualify for the tournament in there. Instead of taking part in pre-season training with Portugal in 2006. It was important because even though their new teams, they went to China. When they got back the senior team was doing well, it was difficult for new to their clubs, they hadn’t had time to impress their new players to take the step up from the youth teams. coaches and started the season on the bench – which meant that they had lost match fitness when we played What did the experience from Portugal mean? our last Under-21 qualifiers. It was a big disappointment The tournament was good for Dutch football. Naturally be- for the team and for the Dutch public that we won’t be cause we won, but also because we learned how to handle in Sweden to defend the title. The people had come to media and to be so much in focus. The team had a lot of expect that we would reach all final tournaments and that very good young players – Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Ryan we would do well once we got there. Babel for example. They’ve gone on to big clubs (Hunte- laar to Real Madrid and Babel to Liverpool), and the Under- Many Swedish players play in the Dutch league – what is 21 experience was useful for their club careers too. At their your impression of them? clubs they play big matches regularly, and they get a lot I had several Swedes when I was coaching Heerenveen, of media attention which they have to know how to deal Marcus Allbäck for example. Of the players who are now with. One more important experience from Portugal was in the league I particularly like Ola Toivonen of PSV Eind- that we learned how to play tournament matches. It’s im- hoven. He hasn’t been at the club for a long time, but has portant to learn to win each game. already showed impressive qualities. Photo: Bildbyrån

Spain and Sweden played 0–0 in a March friendly. Both teams will be aiming to be in Malmö on 29 June for the final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Latest friendly matches

he teams qualified for the 2009 UEFA European Under- 27 March 21 Championship played several friendly matches in LA MANGA: Sweden 0–1 Finland (0–1 Sadik) T JAGODINA: Serbia 0–0 Ukraine late March. For the eight teams coming to Sweden in June, WATERFORD: Republic of Ireland 2–1 Spain (1–0 O’Shea, 2–0 Judge, 2–1 the matches produced mixed results. Hosts Sweden played Bolado) two matches without scoring a goal, Germany fell heavily AHLEN: Germany 0–4 Netherlands (0–1, 0–4 Elia, 0–2 van Wolfswinkel, 0–3 on home soil to the Netherlands before managing a draw Amrabat) SANDEFJORD: Norway 0–5 England (0–1 Campbell, 0–2 Johnson, 0–3 against fellow-finalists Belarus. England recorded an em- Huddlestone, 0–4, 0–5 Derbyshire phatic win over Norway and a home defeat to , while Serbia played out two home draws. The ten matches played 31 March in March reminded football fans of just how tough the ORIHUELA: Spain 0–0 Sweden PADERBORN: Germany 1–1 Belarus (1–0 Wagner, 1–1 Kislyak) competition is in international football. Although of course, LIMBURG: Netherlands 1–1 Italy (1–0 de Jong, 1–1 Giovinco) the finalists will all be looking to peak in June. These are the NOTTINGHAM: England 0–2 France (0–1 Obertan, 0–2 Sissoko) results of all the latest friendly matches involving the teams KRAGUJEVAC: Serbia 1–1 Romania (0–1 Gangioveanu, 1–1 Djordjevic) qualified for Sweden:

Match Schedule –UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2009

GROUP A GROUP B Malmö Helsingborg Göteborg Halmstad Tuesday 16/6 Sweden–Belarus 18.15 Italy–Serbia 20.45 Monday 15/6 Spain–Germany 20.45 England–Finland 18.15 Friday 19/6 Belarus–Serbia 18.15 Sweden–Italy 16.00 Thursday 18/6 Spain–England 20.45 Germany–Finland 18.15 Tuesday 23/6 Serbia–Sweden 20.45 Belarus–Italy 20.45 Monday 22/6 Finland–Spain 20.45 Germany–England 20.45 Friday 26/6 SEMI-FINAL 20.45 Friday 26/6 SEMI-FINAL 18.00 Monday 29/6 FINAL 20.45