Sweden awarded UEFA Women's EURO 2013
Monday, October 4, 2010
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Sweden will be the venue for UEFA Women's EURO 2013 after being selected by the UEFA Executive Committee, who confirmed there will again be 12 teams in the final round.
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Sweden has been selected as host nation for UEFA Women's EURO 2013, with 12 teams again competing in the final tournament.
At today's UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Minsk, Belarus, the bid from the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) was chosen. Also in the running was the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB).
The final tournament will be held in July 2013, and qualifying will begin next year. Depending on the number of entries, a preliminary round will be held from 3 to 8 March 2011, drawn on 3 December 2010. The main qualifying group stage draw will be made on 14 March and matches played between September 2011 and September 2012. The group winners will join hosts Sweden in the final tournament and further berths will be decided by two-legged play-offs in October 2012.
Matches are scheduled to be played at Gamla Ullevi (Gothenburg), Örjans Vall (Halmstad), Öster Arena (Vaxjo), Kalmar Arena (Kalmar), Nya Parken (Norrkoping) and Linköping Arena (Linkoping), with the final at the new national stadium in Solna due to be completed in 2012.
Last year the first 12-team final tournament – expanded from eight – was held in Finland, Germany defeating England to win the title for the fifth time in a row. Sweden, who won the first European tournament in 1984, previously acted as joint hosts with Norway in 1997 for the inaugural eight-team Women's EURO, staging six group matches and a semi-final. Two years earlier, Sweden had hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup finals, and more recently was the venue for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
