© EuroFootball.com
In Lithuania, the final stage of the European Youth Football Championship may be held for the first time. The Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) submitted an application for the 2013 UEFA U-19 Boys' Football Championship, and on Monday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, they will find out the verdict of the UEFA Executive Committee.
Almost 30 countries responded to the traditional UEFA invitation for the organization of the final stages of the U-19 and U-17 championships this year. Most of them wanted to host the final stage of the U-19 Boys' Championship in the 2012/13 season - a total of eight football associations, including Lithuania.
"After evaluating the submitted materials, four countries were selected from the eight - Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, and Germany. Later, the UEFA administration presented its conclusions to the UEFA Youth and Amateur Football Committee, which recommended to the UEFA Executive Committee at the beginning of this month to hold the championships in Lithuania," explained LFF President Liutauras Varanavicius.
On Monday, he will be in Minsk himself, where the UEFA Executive Committee will officially confirm the hosts of the upcoming 2012 and 2013 boys' and girls' championship finals.
According to the LFF president, in recent years, after frequently organizing small qualifying tournaments, the time has come to test our capabilities by organizing a higher-level championship.
"We are not able to strive for the hosting rights of the European Men's or U-21 Youth Championships. However, the infrastructure work carried out in recent years, fueled by the licensing of clubs, gives us the opportunity to strive to host the final match of the U-19 Youth Championship. We hope that this will help draw attention to further infrastructure improvements and be a good test of our organizational capabilities," said L.Varanavicius.
The initial Lithuanian application for hosting the U-19 championship included stadiums in those cities that currently best meet UEFA requirements - Kaunas, Marijampole, and Alytus. Eight teams compete in the UEFA U-19 Championship - the host team and seven teams that have passed the qualifiers.
Alytus Stadium:
