The next major international tournament coming up is The Women's Euro 2009 in Finland. Held the last week in August and the first ten days of September, the finals will now be competed by 12 nations, an increase of 4 nations compared with previous tournaments. The organizers are hoping this will be the biggest ever Women's Euros with hopefully an average attendance of over 10,000. One thing is certain however; this will be the biggest football event ever held in Finland. Competing nations will be Finland, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. Defending champions are Germany, who won the last Women's Euros in England four years ago.

Winning the Confederations Cup in South Africa helped Brazil leapfrog Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Germany to go top of FIFA's rankings. Spain is now second with the Netherlands in third, Italy remains fourth while Germany drops two places to fifth. All the other teams competing in the Confederations Cup improved their positions except New Zealand, down 18 to 100, and Iraq, down 17 to 94.

The four bidders for the men's 2016 Euros, France, Italy, joint-bidders Sweden/Norway and Turkey are undergoing a series of workshops held by UEFA to refine their bids. The four candidates who expressed their interest before the march 9 deadline will take part in several such workshops before submitting their final bids in February next year. The final decision will be taken on or about May 27 next year.

All the best.