UEFA Under-16 Development Tournament is the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

tournament organised by the

Union of European Football Associations The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan ...

(UEFA) to enable young men and women footballers to experience international football.

History

The tournament was established in 2012, and since then, 217 such tournaments have been organised, with four national teams competing at each tournament. The tournament especially focuses on developing young players, with a special set of rules applied for that purpose. For example, a player has a minimum playing time in case of a draw and a penalty shootout. The tournament helps young referees to gain experience in international football as well. The tournament also enables the participation of non-UEFA members, with 23 non-UEFA national boys' and girls' national teams competing at the tournament so far. A similar tournament was organised for the under-15 national football teams in 2019, and 21 such tournaments were played. The same under-15 tournament was organised for girls in 2022, with eight tournaments since then. In 2020,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

was scheduled to host the UEFA Development Tournament at the

Subcarpathian Football Center The Subcarpathian Football Center (', PCPN) is a football training complex in Stalowa Wola, Poland, comprising a main pitch, two pitches with artificial turf, two full-size pitches, and one full-size pitch with natural grass. The main pitch serves ...

Stalowa Wola Stalowa Wola () is the largest city and capital of Stalowa Wola County with a population of 58,545 inhabitants, as at 31 December 2021. It is located in southeastern Poland in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The city lies in historic Lesser Poland ...

and Tarnobrzeg Stadium,

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') since ...

. The tournament was to feature the Poland U-16, Venezuela U-16, Iceland U-16 and Iran U-16. However, the event, planned for March and April, was canceled on 18 March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the associated epidemiological threat in Poland.

Results

Footnotes

References

* {{Refend Recurring sporting events established in 2012 2012 establishments in Europe UEFA competitions for national teams Under-16 association football competitions European youth sports competitions Annual sporting events