Julie Harrington says she is "thrilled" that St. George’s Park will play host to the UEFA European U17s Championship Finals in 2018.
It was announced on Monday evening that England will hold the 16-team competition in the Midlands, with St. George’s Park being the main base.
And the national football centre’s Managing Director believes the facility will be the perfect environment for Europe’s elite young players to perform.
Harrington welcomed UEFA President Michel Platini to SGP in November
"We're just thrilled to have got the tournament that we wanted," said Harrington.
"The bidding process became exciting in November when Michel Platini came to visit St. George's Park.
"His view was that with the facilities that we have here, we could give those young players a fantastic development tournament and base a lot of the games here, as well as using local stadiums for the semi-finals and Final.
"We spent November and December finalising that bid and we found out on Monday that we were successful!"
Despite the Euros being more than three years off, planning for the tournament is already well under way.
SGP will play host to teams at the U17s Euros in 2018
But, given the fact that St. George’s has already hosted a number of high-profile events and visits over the last two years and will be holding an international tournament this summer, Harrington is looking forward to the challenge.
"We have a bit of a dry run for it, because this summer is incredibly exciting for us," she added.
"We've been selected to host the World Championship for Cerebral Palsy teams in June, with teams from around the globe here for that.
"We've already begun updating our spectator facilities for the CP World Cup, so that should stand us in good stead for the U17s Championship in 2018.
"We've put additional seating in for spectators and I’m sure 2018 will roll around quickly.
"We've already got a tournament planning team in place working on the delivery of the tournament - we're really excited about it."
