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  • Developing nations given boost

    uefa.com, Switzerland

    Developing nations given boost

    Friday 21 September 2007

    The 15 teams eliminated in the UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009'
    preliminary round last November are preparing for a
    series of friendly mini-tournaments, held as part of
    the European football governing body's policy of
    assisting the developing nations in the gap before
    their next competitive games in 2009.

    First fixtures
    Four sets of matches will be played, and the first
    fixtures begin next month, when from 26-31 October
    F.Y.R. Macedonia will welcome Armenia, Georgia and
    Croatia. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg and Malta will
    compete at the Grbavica Stadium in Sarajevo from 29
    October-2 November, and on that latter date in
    Lithuania - the home nation - will begin their
    competition with Estonia, the Faroe Islands and
    Latvia. In the other event, hosts Turkey, Azerbaijan,
    Bulgaria and Kazakhstan play from 4-9 November.

    Summer games
    Another four mini-tournaments will be held in the
    spring or summer of next year, with Lithuania, Malta
    and Croatia in Estonia, Luxembourg welcoming the Faroe
    Islands, Latvia and F.Y.R. Macedonia, Bulgaria at home
    to Armenia, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina and
    Azerbaijan hosting Kazakhstan and Georgia. The last
    two mini-tournament rounds will take place in the
    autumn and spring of the 2008/09 season. These games
    are a development tool and results will not count
    towards coefficients for future draws, the next of
    which will be for 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
    qualifying.

    'Valuable experience'
    UEFA Competition Manager Women's Football, Anne
    Vonnez-King, told uefa.com: "UEFA is pleased to put in
    place this support programme in order to ensure the
    continued development of these 15 associations. The
    programme has been developed in close cooperation
    between the Professional Football and Football
    Development divisions and we hope that these teams
    will gain valuable experience to stand them in good
    stead for future UEFA A-team competitions, the next of
    which will kick off in 2009."

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