How to run a UEFA European Championship saw- Ben Lucey Senior Operations Events Manager, Wales FA

How to run a UEFA European Championship saw- Ben Lucey Senior Operations Events Manager, Wales FA

From The Business of Football by David Chimbaza

July 10, 2026 · 8 min · Episode 98

About this episode

David Chimbaza interviews Ben Lucey about the operational challenges and community impact of hosting the UEFA Under-19 European Championships in Wales.

In this special interview episode of The Business of Football Network, David Chimbaza sits down with Ben Lucey, Senior Event Operations Manager at the Football Association of Wales, who served as the project lead for the UEFA Under-19 European Championships hosted across North Wales. With the tournament final between Germany and Spain unfolding as this episode is released, David and Ben reflect on what it took to deliver a world-class international event in venues and communities that were not traditionally used to this level of football. Ben shares how the vision behind the tournament was to celebrate 150 years of the FAW by bringing the best of Europe to North Wales, the home where the association was founded, and how that decision created both meaningful opportunities and real operational challenges. He outlines the conversations with local clubs, the infrastructure improvements at grounds like Carnarvon, Denbigh and Bangor, and the journey of working alongside UEFA’s highly structured delivery model to meet their standards while adapting to the landscape of smaller communities and multi-venue logistics. The discussion also covers the scale of the operation, the mix of staff…

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