Burkhart: Winning inaugural tournament a unique experience
BSC Young Boys Bern are the first ever winners of the women's edition of the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup. After two busy days of matches on 9 and 10 May, the yellow-blacks defeated Valencia 1-0 in the final. FIFA.com caught up with one of their players Alana Burkhart, who was delighted to make history.
FIFA.com: How does it feel to win the first ever women's Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup? Alana Burkhart: It’s unbelievable! After yesterday, the whole team couldn’t believe that we could actually go on and win it. Then we got up this morning and said to ourselves that we were going to win this cup. And that’s exactly what we did! We brought all of our mental strength to the tournament this morning and it worked.
What does the title mean to you? We’re delighted that we were invited here, and then to win the first women’s title is a unique experience!
What was the atmosphere like at the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup? The atmosphere at the tournament was the best! As a women’s team we’ve never played in front of a crowd like that. The fans really got into it right from the warm-up – we’d never experienced anything like that before! I’m delighted that FIFA has now decided to have a tournament for women as well. We’re really grateful to have had the chance to be a part of it here.
Would you come back to the tournament? You bet!
What was the level of play like at the tournament? We had a lot of opponents that we play against in the league already but here it was totally different – you have to win every match. It’s a knock-out situation, making the tournament nothing like what we have in the league. And then you get to play against international teams who are of a high standard as well.