Euro Under-17 Championship 2023: Wales inspired by 2016 heroics ahead of U17 Euros

Captain Charlie Crew says Wales’ youngsters will take inspiration from Euro 2016 at the Uefa European Under-17 Championship.

Wales begin the 2023 U17 Euros against Hungary on Wednesday having qualified for the first time in 43 years.

The players met Ashley Williams, who led Wales to the last four of Euro 2016, as part of their preparations.

“He came in and settled our nerves with some of the things he was telling us,” said Leeds United midfielder Crew, 16.

“He obviously played in the 2016 Euros, which we were all watching – the whole of Wales was watching. He was giving us his experiences of tournament football.”

Wales have not qualified for a Uefa men’s intermediate tournament since 1981, when a squad featuring the likes of Mark Hughes, Mark Bowen and Glyn Hodges reached the Under-18 Championship in West Germany.

They have come through two qualification stages to reach the under-17 tournament.

Wales, managed by Craig Knight, won in Croatia and then drew with Sweden and Albania to top their initial qualifying group.

That success put them through to the elite round, hosted in Wales, where they beat Scotland and drew with Iceland and Montenegro to emerge as group winners once more.

Wales are unbeaten in eight games in all as they prepare to face hosts Hungary in Budapest (19:00 BST), before further Group A matches against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, 20 May and Poland three days later.

Ex-Swansea City and Everton centre-back Williams was invited to speak to Knight’s players having captained Wales throughout their extraordinary run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016.

“He was telling us how to deal with different parts of the game and different parts of the tournament, because you don’t always get struggles on the pitches, you get them off the pitch as well and you have to stick together,” added Crew.

“He talked about the media side – there’s going to be a lot more media to deal with – and just gave us his ways of dealing with it. We can take that with us.”

Crew, a defensive midfield player who was at Cardiff City before joining Leeds in 2022, says Wales are confident they can make an impression even though this is a rare tournament appearance for the nation.

“We have the belief, we have the ability and we have the drive and the motivation that you need,” he added.

“It’s down to us now to go out and enjoy ourselves and compete with whoever we’re playing against and get as far as possible.”

During the elite round of qualifying in March, Wales Under-17s shared training facilities with Rob Page’s senior national squad, with Crew and Cardiff youngster Dylan Lawlor spending one session training alongside Aaron Ramsey and Co.

“It’s always nice to be in and around them just to see what they’re doing as that’s what we’re trying to aim for,” Crew said.

Wales Under-17 squad for Uefa European Under-17 Championship: Alfie Cunningham (Exeter City), Alfie Tuck (Queens Park Rangers), Brayden Clarke (Wolves), Charlie Crew (Leeds United), Cody Twose (Cardiff City), Dan Cox (Derby County), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff City), Freddie Issaka (Plymouth Argyle), Gabriele Biancheri (Manchester United), George Morgan (Everton), Iwan Morgan (Swansea City), Jacob Cook (Swansea City), Joe Andrews (Southampton), Joe Hatch (Plymouth Argyle), Josh Beecher (Cardiff City), Kit Margetson (Swansea City), Lewys Benjamin (Cardiff City), Luey Giles (Cardiff City), Luke Armstrong (Cardiff City), Rhys Thomas (Manchester City), Sam Parker (Swansea City), Troy Perrett (Cardiff City).