SLOVENIA WELCOMES ROONEY'S AND FABREGAS' SUCCESSORS

I am quite sure the round-ball enthusiasts know pretty much all about Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Nuri Sahin, Toni Kroos, Bojan Krkić. And Connor Wickham and Kyle Ebecilio even. Some of them are already established superstars, some of them are still the diamonds in the rough. But all of above mentioned have something more in common. They were all once picked as the best players in UEFA Euro U17.

This year's tournament of the future football stars is hosted by Slovenia (4th - 16th May). My lovely country, squeezed between Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic sea, decorated with various types of forests, picturesque mountains (although I'm not much of a mountaineer), a couple of lovely lakes, good food and even better booze, is worth a visit. Yes, like in every other country the self-centered politicians spoil the could-be paradise, but let me ignore them. As I often do. The country is still beautiful. As is football. The most beautiful game in the world.

The tournament, which will surely uncover some of the future stars, will be played in four towns. Lendava and Maribor in the eastern part of the country will host the matches of the Group B, which consists of Slovenia, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands, champions of Europe in 2011. In central part of Slovenia, in Domžale and Ljubljana, there will be matches of Group A (France, Iceland, Georgia, Germany). The semifinals and final will be played in Stožice (part of Ljubljana) at the newest and biggest Slovenian stadium with a capacity of near 16,000.

The experts say the successors of Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten... will be the team to beat. "I think they are the main favourites of the tournament. Even other experts that follow these kind of championships say, that the Netherlands possess the most talent, have the best quality of play etc.," said former Slovenian international Marko Simeunović, also one of the two ambassadors of the UEFA under 17 championship. The other is a former Slovenia striker Sašo Udović.

The Dutch coach Albert Stuivenberg hasn't been surprised by sticking them the favourites' role. "I think the media will say 'the Netherlands are the favourites in that group'. But we have a whole new group; every year we have a new team so it's always a very exciting period for the players, because they experience for the first time what playing at a European Championship means. It's a great challenge for us as staff to prepare well, and hopefully it will be enough," he told UEFA.com.

Their first opponent at the coming Euro will be the hosts, who count on a massive support in Maribor. The Ljudski vrt stadium (capacity cca. 12,000) has a reputation of being the 'hottest' venue in Slovenian football, which could not be bad at all for the ambitious Slovenians, who'd like to progress at least to the semifinals.

"It's just what I wanted. The first game of the tournament versus the strongest team out there. In these kind of situtations you have the biggest chance for the upset. They don't know us, we know something about them. I've seen them play, they are a very good side, very organized, but I believe we can make a good result there," were the first words of the Slovenian coach Miloš Kostić after the draw. Which took place on April 4th in one of Ljubljana hotels.

Although Kostić refused to name the players for which he believes can succeed in the world of football, he's convinced that this Euro will surely offer a lot of joy. "You'll see some of the future stars. That's for sure. I've been to quite a few matches of the teams, which qualified for the final stage. And all of them have some outstanding players. Yes, there are many factors influencing your path to the football greatness, but there are already some footballers, resembling some of the world's greatest with some moves. It will be a lot of joy watching them," concluded Kostić.

* Schedule (hours in CET): * Group A: Friday, May 4th: 1830 Ljubljana: Georgia - Germany, 2030 Domžale: France - Iceland, Monday, May 7th: 1730 Domžale: France - Georgia, 1830 Ljubljana: Iceland - Germany, Thursday, may 10th: 1930 Ljubljana: Germany - France, 1930 Domžale: Iceland - Georgia.

* Group B: Friday, May 4th: 1400 Lendava: Poland - Belgium, 2015 Maribor: Slovenia - Netherlands, Monday, May 7th: 1700 Maribor: Netherlands - Belgium, 2015 Lendava: Slovenia - Poland, Thursday, may 10th: 1730 Lendava: Netherlands - Poland, 1730 Maribor: Belgium - Slovenia.

Sunday, May 13th: 1730/2030 Ljubljana: semifinals

Wednesday, May 16th: 18.00 Ljubljana: final