Form is temporary, class is permanent for U17 EURO footballers

While their coaches analyse the opposition and work out which formation to use, players at the 2022 UEFA Under-17 EURO are also studying — and many are dealing with more difficult calculations than 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

Though playing at an elite level, nearly all the players at the final tournament are also still at school. That means they spend up to two hours a day in the classroom while also working on the skills and tactics that could see them leave Israel as European champions.

Netherlands team Study Coach Sarah Molenaar helps Ezechiel Banzuzi with his schoolworkUEFA

"We think it's important the boys develop themselves in time-management, or become more disciplined in daily life and work," explains Sarah Molenaar, the Study Coach of the Netherlands team who accompanies Mischa Visser's squad to aid their off-the-pitch education. "We know the boys are here to play football, they don't always want to study. But it's part of the deal. Everyone goes to school."

Carrying laptops, pencil cases and the weary air of school pupils everywhere as they walk between their Ramat Gan hotel and the small building opposite where they have their classes, it is clear boots, not books are their top priority. But once they settle down to work — following programmes laid out by their clubs — they apply themselves just as studiously as in their coach's video analysis sessions.

"It's really important because maybe you won't make it as a pro footballer," says Dutch defender Bram Rovers. "You can have injuries, and then it's over."

"It's very difficult because you're focusing on football all the time, but the school projects we get are not that hard. They know we have to train every day here at the tournament, so they don't give us long subjects," adds teammate Fabiano Rust. "I like English most because when you're going to be a pro footballer, they speak English in a lot of countries. So it's a lot easier to speak to the coaches and the other players."

"As there is no central place where they all go to school, they work here individually, and when they have questions, they can ask me about it," says Molenaar, whose students have one compulsory hour daily with 60 minutes' 'extra time' optional.

"School is part of the deal. It's important to develop yourself," says KNVB Study Coach Sarah Molenaar

"The boys come in and I don't have to say anything because they know what I expect them to do. They can choose what they need. School is part of the deal because it's important you develop yourself not only as a footballer but also as a human being."

It's not all work and no play. School's out on matchdays of course, but even when there is spare time off the pitch, education remains an underlying theme.

The Dutch squad, along with a number of their counterparts, headed to Jerusalem earlier in the tournament — "That's also what we want to tell them when they're abroad, so that you see more than just the hotel and the football pitch," Molenaar explains — while the way the players carry themselves in the team hotel also falls under the educational remit of the entire team staff.

"After a meal, we have a little cart — all the Dutch teams do it — and we ask them to clean their own space after they have eaten. We tell them that you'll have to do it when you're on your own," says on-site Team Manager, Pascal Jannink. "Normal behaviour is one of the things you have to learn here."