Bulgarian PM to Attend Opening of UEFA European U-17 Championship

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will attend the official opening of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship on Wednesday.

This was announced by Zhivko Todorov, the mayor of Stara Zagora, one of the four host cities of the tournament along with Burgas, Sliven and Sozopol.

This will be the first time that Bulgaria hosts the tournament as well as the first time since 1991 for the country's junior team to compete at the finals.

The opening ceremony will take place at the Beroe stadium in Stara Zagora before the first game of the Bulgarian team against Croatia.

The format of the tournament was expanded to include sixteen teams for the first time since 2002, which will play 33 games between them.

The sixteen teams will compete in four groups with four participants each, with the top two teams from each group proceeding to the quarterfinals, which will be played on May 15 and 16.

This will be followed by the semifinals on May 19 and the final, which will take place on May 22 at the Lazur stadium in Burgas.

The President of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFS) Borislav Mihaylov described the tournament as “one of the biggest events ever to be hosted” in Bulgaria.

The opening ceremony will begin at 18:00 Bulgarian time and will be attended by Ambassador for the tournament Stiliyan Petrov, Bulgarian Sports Minister Krasen Kralev and the mayor of Stara Zagora.

The draw pitted Bulgaria against Austria, Croatia and Spain in Group A, while the teams of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovenia will compete in Group B.

Group C is composed of France, Greece, Russia and Scotland, while the reigning champions England will face Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland in Group D.

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