Stange salutes merits of Danish finishing school

Belarus senior team coach Bernd Stange told UEFA.com the UEFA European Under-21 Championship is the perfect breeding ground for the stars of tomorrow.

FIFA World Cup winners Fabio Cannavaro, Laurent Blanc and Rudi Völler are among the players to have shone at the U21 tournament before reaching the top of the game at a global level. As he strives to maintain Belarus football's upward trajectory, Stange said he believed the tournament was an important step for young players of all countries on the learning curve towards greatness.

"It's a good test for young players for coming tournaments. We have seen the best players in it," said the German. "I will not forget that players like [Mesut] Özil and [Sami] Khedira, who played in this tournament [in 2009], are playing at Real Madrid. They're international superstars, and maybe in two or three years' time we'll have players like that from this tournament. It's a great tournament, and the experience is unbelievable."

Stange hopes he will personally reap the benefits as he charts the progress of the Belarus U21 side with an eye to integrating young players into his own squad. "That's the main job we have, because that's how we're going to renew the national team," said Stange, who has already given forward Andrei Voronkov his debut in a senior side built around players who featured in the tournament in 2009.

"You can see how important this EURO is when you look at the recent qualifier with France. Seven players from the last EURO Under-21 Championship and this one played in that match. It means that our national team is based on these players."

Attending the tournament with his assistant coach, Stange has a close eye on all teams, and picked out England and Spain as the sides that had impressed him while he described Swiss pair Innocent Emeghara and Xherdan Shaqiri as "absolute top class". The well-travelled tactician also pinpointed Stanislav Dragun and Aleksandr Gutor as "shining stars" of the Belarus squad.

While the pair look to have bright individual futures, Stange is hoping to ensure the outlook for Belarusian football is equally healthy, bringing luminaries such as Guus Hiddink and Gérard Houllier to the country to help further the federation's work.

"We are one team at the federation. We try to follow a concept. We made a concept for the federation, and so many conscientious coaches are following this concept," said Stange, who works hand-in-hand with U21 coach Georgi Kondratyev in an attempt to ensure Belarusian teams at both club and international level employ an attacking approach to the game.

"You always have a handful of people in each country who go their own way. That's how it is in football. We respect that. But the majority of our coaches are following this path, and it's working. I deeply respect my young colleagues who are trying to go down the road of playing good football as they are working in difficult circumstances. I'm so grateful for the support that I get from Kondratyev. I think that's why we have enough power in this country to make the next step."

Qualification for the semi-finals in Denmark would be a move towards that goal. Thanks to the 2-0 defeat of Iceland in their opening game, Belarus have already amassed more points in this tournament than they did in 2009. Stange said the team's mere presence at the event is already a major achievement.

"We are very proud to be here. We're very proud to have qualified last time round, and this time too," said the 63-year-old, who took the Belarus job in 2007. "The second step is more important – that is to win something or qualify for the Olympics, and that is very difficult. Everything is still possible. We beat Iceland, and didn't play all that badly against the hosts. Now it's a final with Switzerland. The winner goes through, the loser goes home. We're full of hope. We're optimistic, and we'll try to achieve something."