UEFA Women's Under 17 Championship in Nyon - Tuesday 25 - Belgium v Poland and Spain v Sweden. Final on Friday 28

Footballing stars present at Nyon championship this week.   The UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship semi-finals will take place on Tuesday 25 June, with Belgium v Poland kicking off at 12.00, and Spain v Sweden starting at 14.30 at the Colovray stadium in Nyon.Free entry The third-place play-off kicks off at 12.00 on Friday 28 June, followed by the final itself at 14.30. Friday’s matches will be shown on Eurosport. It's a great opportunity to see Europe’s top young women players in action and to meet football legends such as Patrick Müller, Stéphane Chapuisat and Grégory Coupet.  The achievements of these under 17 women teams who reach the semi-final stage highlights the growing strength of women's football. All the referees at the matches are women.

Photo in header - Fans at the 2012 final. Photo above - Stéphane Chapuisat  tournament ambassador the  UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship.  Chapuisat was capped 103 times by Switzerland and was a UEFA Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund.  All photos courtesy UEFA

The start of a summer of women's football - Women's Euro final in Sweden in July 

The Under-17 tournament signals the start of a summer of women’s football which culminates with  the Women’s EURO 2013 in Sweden in July. Colovray Stadium gives the players the opportunity to compete against other European teams. It is also the last time that the tournament will take place at Colovray, as from next year, it will be hosted by different national associations in turn. To mark the occasion, UEFA is preparing something special! For more details see the UEFA website

Schools taking part

On each of the two match days, UEFA is giving local schools the opportunity to take part in fringe activities such as skills sessions with the stars and visits to UEFA. The public can take part free of charge in quizzes, attend autograph sessions with the tournament ambassadors and enjoy free refreshments. On Tuesday 25 June, a DJ from Rouge FM, an official sponsor of the event, as well as some budding DJs, will mix live from the stadium. Then on Friday 28 June, it will be the turn of youngsters from the Nyon creative arts association (ADAC) to take centre stage.

Photo above - Spain celebrate after a match: Photo courtesy UEFA Tournament ambassador Patrick Müller says “Youth football forms the basis of the development of girls’ and women’s football. We hope that this tournament will attract a lot of people and that it will encourage girls and women to get involved in the game”.

Photo above - Belgium coach Joëlle Piron: Photo courtesy UEFA

Sweden Coach - Yvonne Ekroth:Photo courtesy UEFA Patrick Müller, former defender of class and finesse who made 81 appearances for Switzerland currently works for UEFA in its commercial operations unit. He has the pleasure of coaching  the UEFA’s women’s team. A great supporter and ambassador of the UEFA European Women’s Under17 Championship,

he will be present on both match days to help run the different activities and promote women’s football.

The public will have the opportunity to meet

Grégory Coupet at Colovray on Tuesday 25 June. Grégory Coupet, former France goalkeeper, is also the seven-time winner of the French Ligue 1 championship with Olympique Lyonnais

. He also played for Club Atlético de Madrid and finished his playing career with Paris Saint-Germain FC.