Lois Fidler spoke of her pride at the European Women’s U17 Championship Finals being held in England.
It is the first time UEFA have staged the tournament outside Switzerland and the Young Lions will kick things off against Italy at AFC Telford United’s New Bucks Head Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
The top two teams in each group will progress to the semi-finals, with the two finalists and the winner of the third/fourth-place play-off qualifying for next year’s U17 World Cup in Costa Rica.
England v Italy
UEFA Euro Women's U17 Finals
12.30pm, Tuesday 26 November 2013
New Bucks Head, AFC Telford United
Tickets priced £3 and £1.50
For The FA, this European Championship is a fitting culmination of our 150th anniversary celebrations, with all eight nations staying and training at St. George’s Park, the new national football centre.
Fidler said: "We haven’t had an England team in these finals since 2008 so it’s such a privilege to be staging this tournament at a time when The FA is celebrating such a landmark year.
"We are hugely proud to be hosting the other seven teams at St. George’s Park and we are really keen to continue to raise the profile of women’s football in this country."
England qualified automatically as hosts but Fidler was keen for her players to experience competitive action in a tournament environment and so took them to Spain in April and Iceland in July.
As well as the host nations, they also faced France, Turkey, Denmark, Norway and Sweden in two round-robin style competitions.
Although England’s penultimate warm-up match was a heavy defeat by a strong USA side, they bounced back well to beat Wales 5-0 last month.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us.”
Lois Fidler England Women's U17 Head Coach
Fidler added: "Having not had to go through the qualifying process, we had to replace that missed opportunity with various competitive matches. And during those meet-ups we, as a group, discussed our aims for the Euros.
"First and foremost we want to get out of the group and then ideally get a podium finish to make it to next year’s World Cup.
"We’ll have to take it one step at a time and we can’t look beyond any of our group opponents, but the girls have set their stall out and that is what they are working towards."
She continued: "I hope the players enjoy it and they learn and appreciate how to approach a major tournament and they understand the demands of international football, because, after all, that is what these development tournaments are all about."
Meanwhile, Austria coach Dominik Thalhammer said of St. George’s Park: "We are very impressed.
"We have outstanding training possibilities. I think it is one of the leading sports centres in Europe."
