WOMEN’S

Editorial: Unending Growth and Development!

Interview:

The Lady Gunners

UEFA Coaches Circle

NEWSLETTER FOR COACHES SUPPLEMENT NO .2 JULY 2006 UNENDING GROWTH

IMPRESSUM

EDITORIAL GROUP Andy Roxburgh Graham Turner Robin Russell Frits Ahlstrøm PRODUCTION André Vieli Dominique Maurer Atema Communication SA Printed by Cavin SA COVER German women’s football reigns supreme in Europe: FFC Frankfurt won this year’s UEFA Women’s Cup, beating rival German club FFC Turbine Potsdam in the final. Sandy Maendly (PHOTO: HEIMANN/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES) (Switzerland, in red) and Sonja Suosalo (Finland) in action during the 2005 European Women’s Under-19 Championship final round. UEFA/THALY

2 GIRLS’ AND WOMEN’S FOOTBALL AND DEVELOPMENT!

EDITORIAL tools for building a stronger pyramid. support in the form of instructors – Of course, football is as much fun for experienced men and women who BY KAREN ESPELUND girls as for boys – and where a girl has are part of the grassroots team. CHAIRWOMAN, UEFA WOMEN’S no opportunity to play football in her FOOTBALL COMMITTEE neighbourhood, it is our shared task to Developing club football is also encourage the clubs to include them. essential in order to develop the game at both grassroots and elite levels – But the way they are included is also because most activity takes place in important. UEFA strongly recommends the clubs. Setting up action plans I’m writing these lines just a day after that clubs establish their own girls’ for girls’ and women’s football must attending a thrilling UEFA Women’s teams. Of course, girls also can play also include the development of club Cup final between 1. FFC Frankfurt and with boys, but experience tells us that football. To obtain funding, we either Turbine Potsdam, when more than only the toughest girls will join in. By speak internally within the national 13,000 enthusiastic spectators filled establishing teams for girls, the greatest association, or externally with the the stadium to see the home team, possible number will participate. For government or other authorities. This Frankfurt, receive the trophy for the the national associations, it is also requires clearly defined aims and second time in the five-year history of recommended that they focus on the planning. UEFA’s role is to support its the competition. They proved to be local and regional levels – in order to members with further development. the best of the 45 participating clubs. create local playing opportunities. A The tools include the Top Executive In writing this, I also want to underline league can easily start with four teams Programme, HatTrick funding, the the fact that 44 out of the 52 UEFA playing each other three or four times Grassroots Charter, conferences, member associations participated in simply in order to kick off a competition. development courses – and tourna- this club competition. This indicates ments. All of these tools are available that women’s football – when com- UEFA is currently staging a series of and it would be a great pity if we pared with almost all other sports – six regional grassroots workshops with failed to make the most of them as is among Europe’s biggest when it the aim of focusing on how to develop we work to raise the profile and comes to the number of participants. the grass roots and how to educate quality of girls’ and women’s football. more coaches, administrators and UEFA has developed women’s compe- referees. At the same time, all national titions in the strong belief that this will associations are not only being encour- encourage the national associations aged to organise grassroots activities not only to establish national teams but also to structure them in such a but also to develop girls’ and women’s way that UEFA can endorse the work football in a wider sense. Shortly, all that is being done. This represents an national associations will receive an excellent opportunity to focus on girls’ invitation to enter the first European football, where the potential for growth Women’s Under-17 Championship. is enormous yet only small efforts may This competition will also serve as qual- be required. The challenge is there for ification for the FIFA U-17 Women’s all of us! World Cup in 2008. The addition of the European Women’s Under-17 Cham- Although developing girls’ and women’s pionship is a positive supplement to football need not be the responsibility the already well-established European of women alone, football needs more Women’s Under-19 Championship. female coaches, administrators and referees at all levels. In many countries, Our common challenges in the next specific courses for women have been few years are to focus on grassroots organised – and the feedback indicates development for girls. UEFA’s Grass- that they have been successful. Asso- roots Charter, which focuses strongly ciations are also being reminded that,

on recruiting more girls, is one of the where appropriate, UEFA can provide UEFA

3 SOLVEIG GULBRANDSEN PLAYING FOR NORWAY AT THE EUROPEAN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND IN ENGLAND LAST YEAR. NORWAY A CASE

EMPICS IN POINT WITH SO MANY OF UEFA’S MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS MOVING THROUGH THE GEARS TO GET WOMEN’S FOOTBALL UP TO SPEED, THERE IS PROBABLY A GREATER DESIRE THAN IN THE MEN’S GAME TO LOOK FOR ROLE MODELS.

Germany is an obvious focal point on account of results at club and national team levels but, in terms of social impact and the firm establishment of women’s football in society, Norway has a story to tell. And, while the Norwegian FA’s general secretary Karen Espelund and national team coach Bjarne Berntsen were helping us to compile a case study to post on the UEFA Coaches Circle extranet, some thought-provoking issues came to light.

The remarkable fact about Norwegian football is that 104,000 female players and 270,000 male footballers give the country of 4.5 million inhabitants the highest percentage of registered players per population in the world, according to FIFA’s ‘Big Count’. At the same time, attendance figures in the premier league have doubled in the last five years, with a 45 percent female presence among the spectators; TV viewing figures have trebled in the last five years; and, during the same period, the national association’s income from sponsors has doubled. EMPICS

The figures, in themselves, are impres- Lise Klaveness (Norway) squeezes through two German players during the final sive. But the knock-on effects are even of the European Women’s Championship in 2005.

4 STILL ABLE TO MANAGE A SMILE DESPITE COMING SECOND. SVEN SIMON

more so. For example, the deep roots of women’s football in Norwegian society mean that former players are increasingly working as football journal- ists, TV presenters, administrators or match officials. More and more politi- cians and people in decision-making public posts have first-hand experience of playing the game. More and more ex-players are bringing their daughters to football clubs and staying in the game as leaders, coaches or officials. Norwegian sporting law stipulates the presence of at least two women on executive boards. There is no discrimi- nation in Norwegian football, in that girls and women are allowed to play against boys and men, irrespective of age. But research has established that girls remain active in football for longer if they are nurtured in girls-only teams rather than mixed football.

You might well ask what all that has got to do with the technician. The obvi- ous answer is that more sympathetic ears are listening to requests for grants IMAGES GETTY and funding – and that readily trans- Bjarne Berntsen, head coach of Norway’s women’s team. lates into more and better training and playing facilities throughout the erate a slower tempo than the men’s vidual and that any athletic weak- country. And the structures in Norwe- game and one of the facets he has nesses are detected and corrected. gian football – and Norwegian society tried to focus on has been the quality In terms of workload, there are – promote regular movement of of play in the last third of the pitch, also evident differences. The players coaches between the women’s and where creativity has to be synchro- in Norwegian national squads are men’s games in a period when the nised with technique and pace and required to dedicate half their time coaching fraternity is struggling to keep where the ability to see and to deliver to football and, as there is no profes- pace with the explosive growth of the decisive pass has increased rele- sional league for women, this usually the number of players. Per-Mathias vance. It is one area, he feels, where has to be achieved via a system Høgmø, for example, left the women’s the virtue of selflessness is potentially of scholarships and work assistance. national team to coach Rosenborg BK a drawback. Whereas the women’s Players are expected to complete six in the men’s premier league, while the team ethic tends to be equal to or training sessions per week (nine in current head coach, Bjarne Berntsen, greater than in the men’s game, a the close season) in addition to club left Viking FK to take over the women’s degree of selfishness is sometimes a fixtures. The other observation Bjarne team in January 2005, enthusiastically crucial ingredient in the recipe for Berntsen made after switching from grasping the opportunity to make his goalscoring. the men’s game to the women’s debut in the women’s game and to national team was about communi- gather experience at international level. Another difference is that studies of cation in the dressing-room and As Gero Bisanz says elsewhere in this injury incidence among top-level on the training ground. Although the issue, Bjarne made no ‘concessions’ female players persuaded the Norwe- messages are basically the same to the women, in that he has adopted gian association to devise personalised as in the men’s game, the Norwe- the same training routines, tactics and training programmes in conjunction gian women often prefer them to strategy as he did in the men’s pre- with the national Olympic association be delivered in a different manner. mier league. He acknowledges that the to make sure that physical preparation But that’s an interesting talking point differences in athletic power can gen- is the most appropriate for each indi- for a future issue…

5 INTERVIEW BY GRAHAM TURNER UEFA

THE ALL-GERMAN FINAL IN THE UEFA WOMEN’S CUP, ON THE HEELS OF LAST YEAR’S EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY FOR -MEYER’S NATIONAL TEAM, UNDERLINED THAT ONE COUNTRY CURRENTLY HOLDS POLE POSITION IN EUROPEAN WOMEN’S FOOTBALL. GERMANY IS THE OBVIOUS ROLE MODEL FOR THE ‘EMERGING NATIONS’ OF THE WOMEN’S GAME TO FOLLOW. AND, IN THIS RESPECT, IT’S NOT SO MUCH ABOUT SEEING WHERE THE GERMANS ARE NOW; THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO FIND OUT HOW THEY GOT THERE. GERO BISANZ HAS THE ANSWERS. HIS REMARKABLE COACHING CAREER BEGAN WHEN HE OBTAINED HIS PRO LICENCE AND BECAME PLAYER-COACH OF 1. FC KÖLN’S AMATEUR TEAM AT THE AGE OF 21. AFTER GRADUATING TO THE PROFESSIONAL TEAM, HE WAS SIGNED BY HENNES WEISWEILER, HEAD COACH OF VICTORIA KÖLN AND, IN 1970, SUCCEEDED HIM AT THE SPORTS UNIVERSITY TO RUN THE FOOTBALL COURSES AND THE GERMAN FA’S (DFB’S) COACHING LICENCE PROGRAMME, COMBINING IT WITH TEN YEARS MORE AS COACH AT 1. FC KÖLN AND . HE RAN THE DFB’S COACHING PROGRAMME FOR 30 YEARS, BOWING OUT IN JUNE 2000 AFTER A FAST-TRACK COURSE FOR PLAYERS LIKE JÜRGEN KLINSMANN, MATTHIAS SAMMER, ANDREAS BREHME, AND . IN THE MEANTIME, HE HAD ALSO WON THREE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS AS HEAD COACH OF THE GERMAN WOMEN’S TEAM AND HAD TAKEN THEM TO FIFA WORLD CUP AND OLYMPIC GAMES FINALS. ALL THAT HAS CONVERTED HIM INTO SOMETHING OF A SPIRITUAL LEADER FOR WOMEN’S FOOTBALL. AND THE INTERESTING THING IS THAT, EVEN THOUGH HE STARTED BUILDING GERMANY INTO A EUROPEAN AND WORLD POWER OVER TWO DECADES AGO, HIS BLUEPRINT IS STILL LEGIBLE AND VALID. ANYONE TRYING TO BUILD UP WOMEN’S FOOTBALL COULD DO A LOT WORSE THAN TO LISTEN TO… THE GURU 1GERO• The first question is obvious: the president I would do the job but travel the country watching women’s How did it all start? asked him to give me a bit of time. games. So I phoned an ex-student of “It was in 1982, when the president That was in March or April 1982.“ mine, Tina Theune-Meyer, and asked her of the DFB asked me if I would build 2 • How quickly can a team to help me to scout for talent. I told her up a women’s national team. I had to be built? that we needed to find girls of 17, 18 think about it carefully because I had “In 1983 we took a big step because or 19 who had been training for at least no experience in women’s football – we were in the European Champi- three or four years. She started looking neither practice nor theory. I was a onship. We played against the Nether- in southern Germany and I focused professor at the German Sports Univer- lands, Belgium and so on, finishing on the areas around Cologne. By 1985, sity and in that role I had discussed 0-0, 1-1…nothing spectacular. I was we had a group of younger players who women’s football with some female obviously watching my players very we could prepare for international foot- students of mine. But that was as far as carefully in these matches and I soon ball – and Tina became the first woman it went. I spoke to our men’s national realised that I didn’t have much of in Germany to get her B licence, her team coach, Jupp Derwall, and he told a chance of helping them to develop A licence and the Pro licence.” me I had to do it. He knew that the further; I had to find other players 3 • Looking back, do you think it president wanted to build up women’s but, because of my other duties was good strategy to give priority to football and he felt that a good national at the DFB – including developing forming a national team? World team was the best way to attract inter- coaches for the national league, you recommend other associations est and help the sport to grow. So I told for example – I didn’t have time to to follow the same path?

6 TINA THEUNE-MEYER, THEN COACH OF GERMANY’S WOMEN’S TEAM, WITH ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S BEST KNOWN WOMEN PLAYERS, .

which was really thrilling. We won it and got through to the final in Osna- bruck on the Sunday. Our opponents were Norway, who were very strong at the time. We had a fairly long drive to the sta- dium and the girls couldn’t work out why so many cars on the road were waving flags. They were motivated when they realised the flags were for them – and even more when they saw a crowd of 23,000 in Osnabruck.

I told them we couldn’t have wished SVEN SIMON for better: good weather, a good pitch, and a good crowd behind us. The nice successes were the pivotal point, the thing is that both teams produced a fulcrum. Coaches began to realise that good performance – which was impor- there were incentives to work in the tant because it showed the public just women’s game. In terms of coaching, how good women’s football could be. there are no differences between men’s We were tight in defence; we worked and women’s football. I always had the wings; we played combination the same demands and set the same moves, wall passes and so on. We standards as I had during ten years scored two goals through good combi- of coaching men’s teams. Exactly the nation moves and Norway then pulled same. one back. It wasn’t just the result that 7 • Do you think that Germany was important; we had transmitted a is a valid role model for other asso- very positive message to the public and ciations to follow? to the press. We immediately got to “Yes, because Germany learnt from work on building another team – but other countries who had had national we had already done some important teams for a longer time – the Scandina- BARON/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES BARON/BONGARTS/GETTY work on building foundations.” vians in particular. I think you always has succeeded Tina Theune-Meyer 5 • They say that reaching the top need to look at the established powers at the helm of Germany’s women’s team. is difficult and that staying there and see what you can learn from them. is even more difficult. How did you 8 • How do you see the future? “Yes. Because at the same time, I was manage it? “Germany now has good Under-19 talking to the president of the DFB “Yes, we consolidated our status by and Under-17 teams – and it was a about the need for women’s football winning the title again in 1991 and very good thing for UEFA to introduce to have a national competition instead 1995. And after the Atlanta Olympics the Under-17 competition because of seven regional leagues. At first, the in 1996 I felt that I had achieved my it means that countries can now build Bundesliga was actually divided into target of building up the women’s team. really solid foundations. In Germany two parts because the clubs were So I proposed that my assistant, Tina we are going through a period of steady struggling to cope with travel costs. The Theune-Meyer, should take over with growth with more and more girls of next step was to talk to the coaches the team captain, Silvia Neid, as her six and above making it clear that they at the clubs where my national team assistant. The proposal was accepted, want to play football. Clubs have a lot players were based. I got them all so there was a high degree of continuity of new members. So we need more together and told them about the prob- in coaching methods.” women coaches – and one way to do lems we had in terms of fitness and 6 • How have attitudes changed? this is to educate former national team so on. I asked them to pay attention to In the past, would it have been players and encourage them to do their specific details in training; to do fitness more difficult to persuade good Pro licence. But the foundations have tests, speed tests and endurance tests. male coaches to work in the to be laid on the pitch. Young girls must I could see what they were capable women’s game? be allowed to have fun playing football. of doing technically and tactically but “I think that coaches want to work in We should never reach a situation I really needed to know what their football and, nowadays, there is cer- where youngsters don’t want to go to ceiling was in physical terms.” tainly no shame in working in women’s training because it’s too much like hard 4 • What was the next turning football. On the contrary. But when work. We have to give them a ball and point? I started in the 1980s, I think it was encourage them to play. We have to “The European Championship in true to say that coaches didn’t want to create situations where they are upset 1989. The finals involved Sweden, Italy, work with women’s teams. There was when the coach calls ‘time’. The aim Norway and ourselves, as hosts. We a strong feeling that it was a man’s sport must be to make them want to play drew 1-1 with Italy. The game went to and not at all suited to women. Again, even longer. That is the right atmos- extra time and a penalty shoot-out, I would say that the national team’s phere. That is the best way forward.”

7 VIC AKERS, MANAGER OF ARSENAL’S

EMPICS WOMEN’S TEAM. THE LADY GUNNERS ONE OF THE ISSUES FREQUENTLY RAISED AT CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS IS HOW TO PERSUADE THE LEADING MEN’S CLUBS TO INCLUDE WOMEN’S TEAMS IN THEIR SET-UP. LAST SEASON, ENGLAND’S TEN-TEAM WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE CONTAINED SEVEN CLUBS FROM THE TOP DIVISION OF THE MEN’S GAME, WITH ARSENAL LADIES FC CLINCHING A LEAGUE AND CUP DOUBLE.

They are so much part of the scene It was Dein who stood by his ‘women’s Talking of buses, the women are that the ladies were invited to parade man’ when manager George Graham driven to games on the men’s first- their trophies around Highbury when asked Vic to choose between his two team bus whenever it’s available. Arsenal FC said goodbye to their roles. He listened to his heart rather famous stadium in their final league than his head and chose the Ladies. Vic has seen Arsenal Ladies blossom match against Wigan Athletic. A couple Dein responded by making him the first since “the early days when the girls of days later, the men’s team headed full-time manager in English women’s could be seen walking round drinking for the UEFA Champions League final football. When Arsène Wenger arrived pints of beer. I’ve always insisted on at the Stade de France. Among the at Highbury a decade ago, he offered thoroughly professional standards – expedition that travelled to Paris was Vic a return to the post of kit manager, even though the women’s team isn’t Vic Akers, a man who wears two hats saying he understood how much financially-speaking professional – and at the club. He is the kit man- the women’s team meant to him. In we are very conscious that we have to ager for the men’s team and has been May, when the FA Women’s Cup final transmit an image worthy of such a his- manager of Arsenal Ladies since he in Millwall clashed with a re-arranged toric club. Over the years, I’ve recruited founded the women’s team in 1987. league fixture against Sunderland, players by word of mouth and the stan- In many ways, his story is unique. Arsène Wenger had no hesitation dard has risen. When the FA formed But it does show how, with the right about giving Vic a day off so that he a national league we were put in the sort of support, women’s teams can could be with the women’s team. southern section of a three-tier struc- not only be successful but also run cru- ture, so we surprised a few people cial youth development programmes. “Combining the two jobs isn’t that by winning the League Cup in the first difficult,” Vic says, “especially now that year and winning promotion to the Vic, an Arsenal supporter, played league I’ve got my son, Paul, to help, and I Premier League. Winning the league the and non-league football as a left-back have other good staff. In a way it helps following season helped us to attract and arrived at Highbury in the dark days to have a ‘link man’ between the men’s some good young players to the club.” of football hooliganism when the Eng- and women’s teams, because it helps lish authorities assigned a community the boys to keep in touch with the Two years ago, Arsenal Ladies took a liaison officer to each club. That was Ladies. They really appreciated that, different tack by offering players semi- in 1985. Two years later, he founded when we played the FA Cup final, pro contracts, with eight squad mem- the women’s team in response to Thierry Henry and some of the others bers also working full-time within the requests from girls who, quite simply, sent them SMS messages to wish them Arsenal set-up. At the same time, the couldn’t get a game of football. Cru- luck. We have always been made to club has involved current and former cially, he received – and still receives – feel part of the set-up. And when the players in youth development schemes, unconditional support from David Dein, men’s team has done victory parades, with , for example, acting Arsenal FC’s vice-chairman and presi- on three occasions we’ve been in a as assistant director of the club’s youth dent of the Ladies’ club. second bus, right behind theirs.” academy, while other current first-team

8 ARSENAL LADIES EMPICS CELEBRATE WINNING THE FA CUP.

soccer camps organised by the club come a long way and we’re getting during the Easter and summer holidays. quite close to the top teams in UEFA It means that young local talent is being competitions. Obviously we have groomed to join a star-studded squad to compete at top level with the Ger- that includes role models such as club mans, who tend to have a very differ- and England captain Faye White and ent sort of set-up. Their clubs tend a range of international players that to be totally independent and stand includes , the daughter alone. But we have shown that if you of Scotland’s former national women’s integrate women’s football into a team manager and current head of men’s club and combine professional grassroots development, Jim Fleeting. attitudes with a sport that is basically non-professional, you can not only “I have some fantastic memories,” says offer football to a lot of girls but also Vic Akers, “and I hope we can organise be successful. Being the kit manager some sort of reunion to celebrate our has been my job at the club, but the 20th anniversary next year. We have women’s team has been my passion.” EMPICS

Emma Byrne works full time at the youth academy. players Jayne Ludlow and Emma Byrne are also among the full-time staff at the academy, which allows girls to combine their football with a sound education. Last season, Arsenal’s reserve team Julie Fleeting, finished second to Southampton FC in one of Arsenal’s the Centre of Excellence league. internationals. Player development at the club starts in the Under-10 category, while girls from

7 to 14 are invited to take part in the EMPICS

9 A COUPLE OF UEFA’S WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

UEFA PUBLICATIONS. THE UEFA COACHES CIRCLE (THE WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

PERSPECTIVE) The 2005 UEFA Women’s Football Conference in Oslo. UEFA

AS PREVIOUSLY OUTLINED IN ‘THE TECHNICIAN’ (NO. 32, APRIL 2006), UEFA OPERATES TWO MAJOR PROGRAMMES TO SUPPORT COACH EDUCATION IN EUROPE: THE UEFA COACHING CONVENTION (TRAINING COACHES) AND THE UEFA COACHES CIRCLE (SERVING COACHES).

To date, 51 of the 52 member asso- ● The UEFA Women’s Football been established to meet the needs ciations have had their coach educa- Conference of active coaches working with tion certification programmes approved ● The UEFA Women’s Elite Coaches national associations or top clubs. by UEFA, at least at B level, and these Forum programmes include an increasing ● Technical reports and DVDs for This group already includes active number of women who are holders of the European Women’s Cham- national coaches of women’s senior UEFA B, A and Pro coaching licences. pionship and European Women’s international teams such as Silvia Under-19 Championship. Neid (Germany), Hope Powell UEFA also organises a wide range of (England), Monica Jorge (Portugal), specialist events for coaches involved In order to improve the service pro- Justina Lavrenovaite (Lithuania), in women’s football, including: vided, the UEFA Coaches Circle has Anne Noe (Belgium), Bjarne Bernsten (Norway), Elisabeth Loisel (France) and Anna Signeul (Scotland).

Members of the Coaches Circle have access to a password-protected UEFA Coaches Circle extranet, which provides a simple one-stop paperless reference point for the time challenged coach. The extranet service includes a range of benefits including training practices, video action, research reports and case studies. There is also dedicated material on women’s football, including a presentation from the German Foot- ball Association at the 2005 UEFA Women’s Football Conference and a feature on the structural and

UEFA technical development of women’s A practical session during the conference in Oslo. football in Norway.

10 PER RAVN OMDAL, UEFA VICE-PRESIDENT, PRESENTS FFC FRANKFURT’S PLAYERS WITH THEIR MEDALS, WITH GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL LOOKING ON. DZIEMBALLA/ BONGARTS/ IMAGES GETTY

UEFA Women’s Cup sets record THE LAST WORD A record crowd of 13,200 saw 1. FFC Frankfurt beat 1. FFC Potsdam 3-2 Bids for UEFA alternatives, with the aim of upgrading at home to clinch the 2005/06 UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2009 the competition in terms of pan-Euro- Women’s Cup with a 7-2 aggregate Finland and the Netherlands are the pean promotion and strengthening the scoreline, (2), Sandra candidates to host the UEFA WOMEN’S brand image of the UEFA Women’s Cup. Albertz and scoring EURO 2009 finals. Site visits have been The working group will be formed by the goals when Hans-Jürgen Tritschoks’ made to both countries and UEFA’s representatives from the national asso- team recorded their 4-0 first-leg win Executive Committee will take a decision ciations that play major roles in Euro- in Potsdam. scored twice at its meeting in Iceland on 12 July. pean club football, representatives of as Bernd Schröder’s side tried to fight the Women’s Football Committee, and back in the second leg but they were UEFA Women’s Cup members of the UEFA administration. beaten by goals from , Club Manual The working group’s findings will be Renate Lingor (a penalty) and Birgit Clubs participating in the 2006/07 UEFA discussed at the next plenary meeting Prinz. “This was a tremendous advertise- Women’s Cup will, for the first time, of the Women’s Football Committee. ment for women’s football,” Bernd receive a UEFA Women’s Cup Club Man- Schröder said afterwards, admitting that his half-time gamble of throwing on ual. This is a publication designed as a Elite Women’s tool to assist the clubs who are hosting two extra strikers had “distorted our Coaches Forum pattern of play in the second half.” Asked mini-tournaments or matches during the UEFA is to host a second Elite Women’s whether the single-nation final was competition, with the aim of standardising Coaches Forum at its headquarters in proof that Germany is ‘untouchable’, levels of organisation throughout Europe. Nyon to coincide with the draw for the Renate Lingor commented: “It is true In addition to organisational guidelines, qualifying rounds of the 2007-09 Euro- that we have very professional coaches the manual contains suggestions for pean Women’s Championship, which now and that levels of performance promotion and marketing, and offers will be staged on 13 December. The have risen in recent years. But we participating clubs the use of the brand first Elite Women’s Coaches Forum exclu- mustn’t forget that, two years ago, the identity which has been specially sively involved national team coaches. final was between two Swedish teams. designed for the final matches of the But the second will open the door wider, UEFA Women’s Cup. to admit technical directors and club coaches in addition to the national team UEFA Women’s Cup draw coaches. and workshop The idea is to address various issues The draws for the first and second across a broad spectrum of topics qualifying rounds of the 2006/07 related to UEFA competitions, player UEFA Women’s Cup will take place at development, coach education, etc. DZIEMBALLA/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES UEFA headquarters on Thursday, 6 July. A workshop for the hosts of the first qualifying round mini-tournaments will European Women’s take place immediately after the draw. Under-17 Championship The workshop will cover various topics, Associations have been invited to enter including the organisation of mini-tourna- their national teams for the inaugural ments; promotion and marketing; and 2007/08 European Women’s Under-17 the provision of high-quality service to Championship, the deadline for entries domestic and international media. being 30 June 2006. The competition will be staged on an So it’s wrong to say that nobody is Format of UEFA annual basis and the structure of the first capable of matching German clubs.” Women’s Cup finals edition (number of qualifying rounds, Frankfurt’s general manager Siegfried The Women’s Football Committee, number of groups, seeded teams, etc.) Dietrich added: “The record attendance at its meeting in Frankfurt on 26 May, will depend on the number of partici- gives us an incentive for the future discussed the format of the UEFA pants. The competition will also serve and, with all the support we are getting Women’s Cup final, currently played on as Europe’s qualifying competition from UEFA and the German FA, the a home-and-away basis. It was decided for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup future of women’s club football looks to set up a working group to examine to be played in 2008. very good.”

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