Tournament review UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 tournament review tournament 2013 EURO Women’s UEFA UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2013 TOurNAMENT REVIew Contents UEFA President’s message 2 SvFF President’s message 3 Respect 4 Technical report Event report Introduction 8 Sweden 2013: football fever 56 Technical team 9 Venues 58 Route to the final 10 Commercial programme 62 The final 16 Media rights 68 The winning coach: Silvia Neid 19 TV production 70 Technical topics 20 Communications 72 Goalscoring analysis 28 Ticketing and hospitality 74 Talking points 34 Event promotion 76 Roll of honour 36 Licensing and official merchandise 78 Results and standings 38 Legacy 79 Team profiles 42 1 UEFA PreSIDENT’S MESSAGE SVFF preSIDENT’S MESSAGE ‘A resounding success’ When describing any competition it is customary Their victory is all the more praiseworthy given afforded to the supporters and teams from all to wax lyrical with superlatives and extravagant the strength of the opposition, with numerous over Europe. The enthusiasm of the numerous adjectives. There is no denying, however, that the sides boasting the quality required to stake local spectators bears witness to Sweden’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 set the bar extremely a claim for the title. Indeed, the significant passion for women’s football. high and that European women’s football is now improvement in the standard of play over the This message would be incomplete if I omitted a major sport on more than one account: the years has created a more level playing field, to extend my sincerest congratulations to number of registered players, technical quality, with every match closely fought in a very open Karen Espelund, eloquent advocate of women’s public interest and media coverage. tournament. The quality of the 2013 vintage football and chair of the UEFA Women’s Football demonstrates the wisdom of UEFA’s decision The supporters of the various national teams Committee. Women’s football in general and the to expand the final round to 16 teams in 2017. competing in Sweden were able to enjoy high- UEFA Women’s EURO in particular passed an quality football played in front of big crowds. Standards were very high at this three-week important milestone in Sweden, giving us every The final, which went right to the wire, involved tournament in Sweden, both on and off the reason to believe the future of the women’s two teams familiar with this kind of occasion, pitch. We are deeply grateful to the Swedish game will be bright. Germany and Norway, and our heartfelt Football Association (SvFF) and its dynamic Tack så mycket Sverige! congratulations go to Silvia Neid and her team, president, Karl-Erik Nilsson, for ensuring the who added another piece of silverware to an resounding success of the event, and to the Michel Platini already well-stocked trophy cabinet. seven host cities for the warm welcome they UEFA President “ The quality of the 2013 vintage demonstrates the wisdom of expanding the final round to 16 teams in 2017” ‘Happy memories’ What a wonderful summer we had in Sweden All this attention has left a number of legacies Our vision for the tournament was Winning — sunshine, world-class football and a party for the female game, and we have already noticed Ground. I really hope that we all — and here I called UEFA Women’s EURO 2013, which we increased participation levels in girls’ football. mean all UEFA member associations — now realise will always remember. It is also very important that young players, the potential there is in women’s football from both girls and boys, have new female role models. so many perspectives, not least commercially There were so many positive aspects to this Moreover, I am convinced that our Swedish and on the media side. If we work hard together, tournament. I think UEFA and the Swedish Football national team coach Pia Sundhage has encouraged we will certainly win ground in the future. Association (SvFF) helped to take women’s football and inspired many women to become leaders and to a new level both on and off the pitch. We saw Karl-Erik Nilsson coaches in the future. some fantastic matches and great individual Swedish Football Association President performances in packed stadiums. The event was I have so many happy memories of the championship, embraced not just by people in the host cities, but as a Swede I must mention one in particular: but by the Swedish public at large. If you count the reception given to the Sweden side as they “ We helped take women’s both stadium and fan zone attendances, then were congratulated on their bronze medal at football to a new level about 480,000 visitors came to the host cities half-time of the final in front of 41,000 spectators. because of the UEFA Women’s EURO. That moment still gives me goose bumps. both on and off the pitch” 2 SWEDEN 2013 TOURNAMENT REVIEW 3 RESPECT In good heart The tussle for European glory may have captured Sweden forward Lotta Schelin played a key part in the promotion of the ‘Make the lion’s share of attention during UEFA Women’s a healthy heart your goal’ campaign EURO 2013, but UEFA’s Respect campaign was another central pillar of the tournament activity in Sweden. Originally launched in 2008, the social responsibility initiative was a core feature of the competition, with a spirit of fair play dominating from start to finish and not a single red card shown in 25 games. Off the pitch, UEFA gave prominent exposure to the ‘Make a healthy heart your goal’ campaign, the official community health education programme of UEFA Women’s EURO 2013, which encouraged women and girls to lead an active lifestyle and take part in sports such as football to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. To coordinate the campaign, UEFA and the Swedish Football Association teamed up with the World Heart Federation and the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, with HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden acting as patron and Sweden forward Lotta Schelin starring in a video aired at every match. A player from each of the 12 competing nations joined in the campaign and shared their own tips on leading a healthy lifestyle. “Football is the number one team sport for girls and women in Europe and it can help combat the number one killer, heart disease,” said UEFA Executive Committee member Karen Espelund. ‘Make a healthy heart your goal’ took centre stage ahead of the semi-finals, with tournament ambassadors Steffi Jones and Patrik Andersson leading fan walks to the stadiums in Gothenburg and Norrkoping from the city’s fan zones, where volunteers had received CPR training from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation. A heart-shaped banner was then unfurled before kick-off at both games. “UEFA would like to see each girl have the opportunity to play football in their neighbourhood and reduce their risk of heart disease at the same time,” said Jones. “ UEFA would like to see each girl have the opportunity to play football in their As part of the ‘Make a healthy heart your goal’ campaign, Steffi Jones (above right) met supporters in the Gothenburg fan zone ahead of Sweden’s semi-final against Germany, while children enjoyed a fan walk to the Norrköpings Idrottsparken before Norway took on Denmark (facing page) neighbourhood and reduce their risk of heart disease at the same time” Steffi Jones, tournament ambassador 4 SWEDEN 2013 TOURNAMENT REVIEW 5 Technical report TechNIcal repOrt TechNIcal TEAM Introduction UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 was the eighth UEFA held FIFA World Cups for both men and women, a football and to the coaches, technical directors European Women’s Championship to be contested as UEFA European Football Championship, the final and youth development coordinators engaged in a final tournament and the second — and last — to round of the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 the establishment or enhancement of the female be disputed by 12 teams. The permanent record of Championship, and a number of final tournaments in game within their own spheres and territories. the preceding final tournament, played in Finland UEFA’s age-limit competitions. UEFA Women’s EURO The blend of facts and observations related to the in 2009, was divided into a number of post-event 2013 carved benchmarks in many organisational technical, commercial and broadcasting aspects of publications. For the first time, the final tournament and promotional areas, as this publication will reveal. the tournament is intended to inspire as well as played in Sweden in July 2013 is being reviewed in The technical report on UEFA Women’s EURO inform. The publication aims to provide foundations a single volume. This embraces a technical report on 2013 sets out to present a permanent record of on which the success of future events can be built the 25 matches and full coverage of the commercial, the 25 games played during the finals in Sweden. in terms of promoting and upgrading the competition marketing and broadcasting components which It also offers reflections, statistics and debating and also to supply a range of debating points and added up to the success of a memorable 19-day points which, it is hoped, will be of value to reflections which can be used as valuable tools event staged in seven cities spread widely across those working on the front line of coaching at by all those who are committed to nurturing and the Scandinavian country. Sweden had previously club and national team levels within women’s accelerating the rapid growth of women’s football.