Jehle's thumbs up for finals

Liechtenstein goalkeeper Peter Jehle was given a springboard to international football by playing in a UEFA youth final tournament and he is delighted that the UEFA European Under-17 Championship is being held in the principality from Tuesday, having helped make the draw.

"It's an honour for Liechtenstein to be the hosts of this tournament," Jehle told UEFA.com. "I think that they chose us shows that our small country is able to host a tournament and we are all looking forward to it, to see good football at youth level."

Jehle is now approaching 80 caps and his senior debut came in Liechtenstein's memorable 2-1 defeat of Azerbaijan in October 1998, six months after he had appeared in the finals of the UEFA European U16 Championship, the forerunner to the U17 event. Having beaten – coincidentally – Azerbaijan and then Bulgaria to qualify, Liechtenstein lost their three finals matches but Jehle remembers his nation's debut in such an event fondly.

"It was the first time we had qualified for a tournament," Jehle said. "It was hosted by Scotland and it was a fantastic experience for all of us that were in the team. These tournaments are very, very important for youth players.

"First of all you can meet some other excellent players, you can check how far you have to go to be at the top European class. You see the standard of the players and it is very interesting to make friends with other players. We had a very hard group with Italy, Portugal and Norway but you can see that for the Liechtenstein players it was a big advantage for the future, this tournament."

Jehle was then at local club FC Schaan but his career then took him to Grasshopper-Club, Boavista FC and Tours FC before returning to Liechtenstein last year with FC Vaduz. The 28-year-old believes playing at the U16 finals was his passport to a professional career abroad.

"For me it was important because there is also an interest at club level in this tournament," he said. "A lot of scouts from clubs come to see the games as they know they will see excellent players, the best in their age in their countries, and after this tournament my career started to be followed by several clubs. It was a big help personally for my career."

Unsurprisingly, then, Jehle will himself be following the U17 fixtures, even in the absence of his own nation's team. "I will attend the games because we will see the future of these great football nations," he said. "Of course we are also interested in our neighbours, Switzerland, how they are doing. They are world champions at U17 level so they have a big name at youth level."