Under-21s set for thrilling finale

The first half of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in the Netherlands has fully met organisers' expectations, although their promise is that the best is yet to come.

Boosting appeal
UEFA and Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) officials said today that worldwide TV coverage and excellent match attendances were helping to boost the tournament's appeal - a crucial aspect in the wake of the decision to move the finals to odd-numbered years, and out of the shadow of FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships in even-numbered years, to enhance its image and standing.

Gamble pays off
KNVB general secretary Harry Been, the tournament director, said the association's gamble on ticket prices of €10-20 had paid off so far. "We have had average attendances of a little bit more than 12,000, with the biggest more than 24,000 for the Belgium-Netherlands match," he said. "These figures will go up, as we still have semi-finals in Arnhem and Heerenveen, and an excellent match to go to in Nijmegen - the Olympic play-off between Portugal and Italy, which could have been a final.

200,000 target
"So we are very happy with the tournament all the stadiums have been filled. We hope that we will reach the 200,000 mark for attendances," added Been, before expressing satisfaction with the entertainment provided for fans in the host cities, in line with the KNVB's view that "a tournament should be more than 15 or 16 matches".

Come to the final stages
Been urged the public to attend the remaining games - Wednesday's semi-finals (15,000 tickets are already sold for the Netherlands-England in Heerenveen, kick-off 18.15CET), Thursday's Olympic play-off and Saturday's finale in Groningen. "People who go to the semi-final between Belgium and Serbia in Arnhem [kick-off 20.45] can arrive earlier and will be able to see big-screen coverage of the first semi-final," he explained. "First impressions are that there is also a lot of interest in the play-off. I hope that the attendance will be the same as for the England-Serbia game [around 9,000], because you need a good atmosphere in the stadiums."

Justified decision
UEFA tournament event manager Marcello Alleca underlined that the governing body's decision to move the championship to odd years had been justified so far. "The respective TV and media figures have been very impressive," he said, adding that the event is being covered in more than 150 countries and territories worldwide, including the eight participating countries. uefa.com has also stepped up its coverage to include live streaming, while TV audience figures in the Netherlands included 1.8m viewers for the Netherlands-Portugal game (a 30 per cent market share), as well as a 48 per cent share in Portugal - comparing favourably with audience figures from UEFA EURO 2004™ in the country.