History
Thursday 1 February 2007
e-mail
Print
Digg
Save
Germany took the first title (©UEFA)
The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship was launched for the 2007/08 season, having been approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 22 May 2006.
New event
The decision to begin the annual competition followed the inauguration of the biennial FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup for 2008 – the European tournament acts as a qualifier when it is in the same year as the global finals – and also allowed UEFA to underline further its commitment to women's football and recognise the continual increase of activities in this sector. UEFA also hoped that this new championship would encourage and motivate those member associations who do not currently take part in a women's European competition to do so.
Impressive entry
UEFA's expectations were exceeded when 40 nations put in for the first edition, with the first qualifying round draw given the date of 19 February 2007. For the first season it was decided that four teams would progress to the finals, and UEFA itself acted as the hosts in its Swiss base of Nyon. Germany were to emerge champions ahead of France, Denmark and England, who all qualified for the World Cup.
Other competitions
The tournament's launch coincided with the tenth anniversary of the first UEFA European Women's U18 Championship (an U19 competition since 2001/02), Denmark having won the inaugural edition in 1997/98. In that time the number of entrants rose from 26 in the first year to 45 for the 2007/08 season. Also in UEFA's portfolio of female competitions is the UEFA European Women's Championship, which gained full status in 1989/91 having begun as a tournament in 1982/84, and the annual club tournament, the UEFA Women's Cup, which has run since 2001/02.
©uefa.com 1998-2008. All rights reserved.
