England stages winter Women's U17 finals

Four venues in England will stage the first eight-team UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship from 26 November until 8 December 2013, the dates having been confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Lausanne.

Since the inaugural edition, the tournament has concluded with a four-team knockout event at the Colovray Stadium opposite UEFA's Swiss headquarters in Nyon, but this season's finals – from 25 to 28 June – will be the last under that format as the size of the showpiece doubles in line with the other European youth competitions. England were awarded the 2013/14 edition earlier this year with Iceland and Belarus to stage subsequent tournaments.

That first event will be played at the end of the English Football Association (FA)'s 150th anniversary year. England qualify automatically as hosts and the draw for the first of two qualifying rounds was held on 20 November involving 40 teams.

The matches will be played between 1 and 7 July or from 29 July to 11 August with ten group winners, ten runners-up and the third-place team with the best record against the top two in their section joining top seeds France, Germany and Spain for the elite round between 30 September and 20 October to define the seven teams that join England. It will also act as a qualifier for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.

Following on from staging the women's Olympic tournament this year, the FA's 2013 celebrations will also include the UEFA Women's Champions League final at Stamford Bridge on 23 May. England previously staged UEFA Women's EURO 2005 which opened with the current tournament record crowd of 29,092 to watch the hosts play Finland at the City of Manchester Stadium.