FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Technical Study Group Preview - FIFA Training Centre

Members of the team are already on standby in Navi Mumbai, Goa and Bhubaneswar and are keen to observe and analyse the standards produced, particularly having recently returned from the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022™.

The team will attend all 32 matches and will record and report on the trends that emerge. Once this process is complete, the technical, tactical, and physical information will be mapped against the findings of the trends that emerged from August’s U-20 tournament. Then, these analyses will be brought alongside next year's FIFA Women's World Cup analysis to paint a clear, holistic and global picture of the women's game.

The technical team of Ulf Schott, Chris Loxston, Harry Lowe, Elliott Stonell and Lisa Fallon will be supported by specifically recruited technical experts who have coached and managed women’s national teams. Tom Sermanni, Anna Signeul and Mónica Vergara all join the team alongside Pascal Zuberbühler, who specialises in goalkeeping.

Technical Experts
Mónica Vergara – Technical Expert
Anna Signeul – Technical Expert
Tom Sermanni – Technical Expert
Pascal Zuberbühler – Technical Expert (GK)

Performance Analysts
Harry Lowe – Football Performance Analysis Lead
Elliott Stonell – Football Performance Analyst

Football Content
Lisa Fallon – Football Content Tournament Lead

Project Leads
Ulf Schott – Head of High Performance
Chris Loxston – Group Leader Football Performance Analysis & Insights

Tom Sermanni has an impressive repertoire of experience and is currently operating in a technical support role as part of Bev Priestman’s Canada coaching team. Previously Sermanni managed the women’s national teams of Australia, USA and New Zealand, while he has also coached club sides in both Australia and the United States.

The standard of the women’s game has grown significantly in the last five years and Sermanni is intrigued to see how evident this development is in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

“I’m really interested to see, generically, how far the game has progressed at underage level especially in terms of individual talent and players who have the capacity to change a game and also to demonstrate game understanding,” commented Sermanni.

“For many of the players competing, this will be their first time away from home for an extended period so the environment that the coaching teams create for them is very important. It’s so important to manage family time and ensure the right level of support and understanding for the players exists. Adjusting to time differences and jetlag also must be planned for in addition to creating game plans,” he added.

“This will be the first major tournament for so many of them and it will be something they will all remember for the rest of their lives. It’s a very important step in their development,” he concluded.

Former Sweden international, Anna Signeul, managed Scotland’s women’s national team from 2005 to 2017 during which time she led them to an all-time high of 20^th place in the FIFA World Rankings. She then had a five-year spell as manager of Finland, before concluding her role after Euro 2022.

Signeul started her coaching career in Sweden, working with Caroline Seger, Nilla Fischer and Linda Sembrandt at the very start of their underage international careers.

“You learn a lot from seeing players when they were young and then observing their career trajectories. Who makes it to senior level and what was it about them that facilitated their progression? That’s one of the things that excites me most about this tournament, the opportunity to see the best U-17 players in the world and then to follow their progressions,” she explained.

Signuel travelled to Uruguay in 2018 for the last instalment of the U-17 competition and is curious to see how the physicality and speed of the game at this level has developed since then.

“I have been so impressed with the development of the women’s game from a technical, tactical, physical and mental perspective and it is fantastic to see new teams qualifying for world cups. We will see Morocco in this competition for the first time, also Tanzania and hosts India. This tournament will be so important for these national teams and I’m looking forward to seeing how they have developed to make this major milestone,” added Signeul.

“It will also be interesting to see Spain again. They won this tournament in 2018 and several of the players in that team, like Salma Paralluelo and Ana Tejada went on to win the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica recently. Barcelona forward Claudio Pina won the adidas Golden Ball in 2018 and she is already a senior international player. I have no doubt we will see many future stars of the game in India,” concluded Signeul.

Mónica Vergara was part of FIFA’s Technical Study Group in Costa Rica for the U-20 tournament and has managed her native Mexico women’s national teams at every level from U-15 to senior; having managed at both the U-17 and U-20 level makes her insight hugely valuable to the TSG.

“This cohort of players has possibly been the most impacted by the global pandemic in terms of losing training and match opportunity. For me it will be very interesting to see how the football we see in India compares to what we saw in Costa Rica, where the standard was very high. I’m curious to see what gaps exist between the two age groups and where the key areas of development lie for these players,” Vergara explained.

“This tournament will be the first big step in these players’ careers but you really see them develop as players and as people every single day in a competition like this. The experience will live with them forever so it’s important for them to live in the moment and grow in it. These players have a world of opportunity ahead of them now with amazing role models to aspire to. They can have professional careers and for many of the players and coaches, this will be the first time they have played in front of big crowds in big stadiums. The experience they gain, is so much more than just a football experience. It’s a life experience,” she concluded.

The standard of goalkeeping during this tournament will come under the considered eye of FIFA’s senior football expert and former Switzerland international, Pascal Zuberbühler. He also attended the U-20 competition in Costa Rica and was present in Uruguay in 2018 for the last instalment of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

For Zuberbühler, there can be a big difference in the progressions of the goalkeeper in women’s football from U-17 to U-20 to senior level.

“I saw a clear progression in Costa Rica 2022 at U-20 level from the standard of goalkeeping four years previously in France 2018. It will be very interesting to see if the standard at U-17 level has progressed as much from the tournament in Uruguay. My expectations are high,” he commented.

“It is very interesting to me to see how goalkeepers with high balls into the penalty areas, the first step, the timing, the jumping technique. Also, what type of responsibility do they take in their team’s build-up play and do they vary their distributions using both feet and their hands? At the U-17 age level, goalkeepers do not usually generate the same distances from their long kicks and throws that we see at U-20 and senior level so their decision-making and execution of those decisions will be so good to observe,” added Zuberbühler.

“I also like to see how well the goalkeeper is connected to their team, in and out of possession and also their bravery, positioning and relationship with their defenders in 1v1 situations.”

The 16-team tournament begins on Tuesday 11^th October, with Morocco facing Brazil in Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium at 16:30 local time. Shortly after, hosts India clash with USA in Group A for the 20:00 kick-off. Group B starts with the same respective times at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa: Chile face New Zealand in the afternoon kick-off, while Germany take on Nigeria in the evening.

On Wednesday 12^th, the remaining two groups take centre stage as Group C sees Mexico take on China PR, followed by Spain against Colombia in Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium. In Group D, Canada face France and Japan take on Tanzania in Goa.

Updates on the technical observations of the TSG can be found on the FIFA Training Centre throughout the tournament.