UEFA president visits Luxembourg

Two years after the celebrations that marked the 100th birthday of the Luxembourg Football Federation (FLF), the association now has excellent facilities in which to carry out its administrative and sporting activities.

At the weekend, UEFA president Michel Platini was a guest of honour at the festivities to signal the completion of work on the renovated installations at the FLF headquarters in Mondercange.

On Friday, at the invitation of FLF president Paul Philipp, the UEFA president watched Luxembourg gain the first point of their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group D campaign thanks to a 0-0 draw with Belarus at the Stade Josy Barthel.

The following day, Michel Platini travelled to Mondercange to see the completed renovations that have been made to the sports centre at the FLF football headquarters, with the support of the UEFA HatTrick assistance programme on behalf of the UEFA member national associations.

In his welcome speech, Paul Philipp thanked European football's governing body. "This has emerged as a house of football," he said. "The basic infrastructures of the services for domestic football can now be united in one place." The sporting complex, that was opened in 2002, has been continuously upgraded since then, and in 2005 the headquarters were added to the structure.

"Thanks to the extensive renovations, we have created enough room for all areas of our operations to run smoothly," Mr Phillip added.

Michel Platini reflected on his upbringing as a youngster in the neighbouring French region of Lorraine, and welcomed the opportunity to make the short trip to Luxembourg.

The UEFA president expressed his pleasure at seeing the work that had gone into creating the newly designed FLF headquarters and revamped sports centre, as well as the development work that would be taking place there in the future.

"In terms of UEFA, every single one of the member associations is encouraged to create their own mission for the promotion of development," he explained. "Luxembourg has initiated a spectacular project for working with youngsters."

The Luxembourg sports minister, Romain Schneider, reminded everyone that a new Luxembourg national stadium in Liwingen was the next major project. "The progress being made is becoming increasingly visible," he said. "It could become another highlight for football in Luxembourg in a few years' time." The project in Liwingen is centred on creating a pure football stadium.

Mr Schneider said that he was looking forward to Tuesday's UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying match against France just over the border in Metz. "Because of how close [Metz] is to Luxembourg, it will practically be like a home match for the Luxembourg team," he remarked with a smile – before inviting Mr Platini to return to Luxembourg when the new national stadium is inaugurated.