NYON, November 7, 2017 - UEFA Women's EURO 2017set new standards, and Europe's women's football technicians have met inAmsterdam to analyse tactical and technical developments from the tournament.

With this summer’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 stillfresh in the memory, UEFA returned to the host country, the Netherlands, onMonday to look back at a tournament which set impressive new benchmarks in theprogress of women’s football.

Experts came to Amsterdam to review the finals,in particular from a technical and tactical perspective, as well as to debatethe evolution of women’s football and analyse how the women’s game at thislevel should continue to move forward with purpose in the future.

The UEFA Conference for Women’s National TeamCoaches brought together Europe’s national women’s team coaches, who linked upwith UEFA’s Women’s EURO technical experts, members of the UEFA Women’sFootball Committee and Development and Technical Assistance Committee, anddelegates from FIFA and its other continental confederations. 

For the first time, 16 teams took part in aWomen’s EURO final tournament, and UEFA Women’s Football Committee chairwomanAnne Rei said that the decision to increase the field for this year’s editionhad been justified, as it had given more players than ever before the opportunityto perform on the highest European women’s national team stage.

“The tournament was also fascinating for fansand observers alike,” she added, “because we were able to see the emergence ofnew national teams as a force to be reckoned with, alongside other, moreestablished countries.”

“A number of talented newcomers announced theirarrival as genuine top players, who look certain to leave their mark in thewomen’s game in the coming years.”

One crucial tactical element that marked thetournament was the evolution in defending, with teams highly organiseddefensively.

This, the conference heard, had led to a recordlow goals average per game of 2.19 in 31 matches, in which a total of 68 goals werescored. The challenge for the future would be for teams and coaches to find thekey to unlocking this defensive solidity and set up new attackingstrategies. 

Mental preparation had also grown in importanceat this level of the women’s game, with teams well-prepared mentally for thetournament.

“Playing on home soil means there is pressure,”said Sarina Wiegman, coach of the Dutch title-winners, in the Women’s EURO2017 technical report, issued at the conference. “So we took a mentalcoach on board, If you also prepare [players] for the things that can go onaround the tournament, that already does a lot.”

“The tournament demonstrated that theenvironment can be difficult to handle,” explained UEFA technical observerHesterine de Reus. “I think that mental coaching support becomes reallyimportant in these circumstances.”

Allied to developments in mental strength werethe increased fitness levels that have gone hand in hand with the evolution ofwomen’s football at elite levels.

Teams were sufficiently fit and disciplined tostay fully concentrated throughout matches – 88% of games with goals were wonby the team who scored first and kept their focus until the final whistle.

Technicians expressed concern at thedifficulties that young players often faced in stepping up from Under-19 levelsto the senior teams. Work needed to be done to help players bridge the gap inthis transition period towards professional level at clubs and at national-teamlevel. 

There was agreement in Amsterdam that the driveto increase the number of women coaches in football should continue to gainimpetus. UEFA is spearheading this campaign with its women’s coach developmentproject, launched last year. 

The profile of women’s football had also beenboosted significantly by the EURO, which had attracted record attendances. Thetotal of 240,045 spectators beat the previous record of 216,888 at the 2013finals in Sweden.

Audiences were also higher than before, with aglobal cumulative live audience of 178 million viewers watching the action, andrecord figures recorded in several markets. Some 5.9m minutes of live streamswere watched on UEFA.tv.

The aim to create a festive event had beenachieved, with various activities and initiatives gaining widespread exposureand generating interest in UEFA’s drive to encourage girls to play football –in particular through the UEFA Together #WePlayStrong campaign launched aheadof the finals.

Award to Wiegman
SarinaWiegman was presented with a special award by Anne Rei at the conference forher achievement in bringing the Netherlands their first Women’s EURO titleafter only six months at the helm – a success that promises to have animportant impact on the country’s women’s football. 

"We agreed to show who we are, show what wecan do and show that we can play together as a team,” she said of the team’sobjectives at the EURO. “There was teamwork, there was fighting spirit and wealso wanted to play good football.”

“We tried to take the pressure off throughout,”she said, “saying that we were just going to do our best. That took us all theway.”

“But the important thing is that people startedto love the women’s game, and I hope this adds to the development of women’sfootball.”