Meet the experts: Kirsty Yallop

Kirsty Yallop is a former New Zealand international. She can look back on an illustrious playing career that spanned 13 years and included appearances at three FIFA Women’s World Cups, two Olympic Games and one U20 Women’s World Cup.

Her club career saw her play for teams in Australia, USA, Sweden and Norway, and she has also completed a Master's degree in Sport Science.

Yallop has a particular interest in how female footballers are trained. She is a strong advocate for training females as females and conducting further research to increase knowledge in this area. She made her transition from playing to coaching in Norway where she was a “Top Player Developer” as part of a development programme that included working one-to-one with young players in a technical and mentoring capacity.

Yallop played for New Zealand for 13 years

She can hardly wait to see her homeland co-host the tournament with Australia

Having grown up and developed her love of the game in New Zealand, Yallop is excited to see the Women’s FIFA World Cup 2023™ being played in her home country.

“The excitement of seeing this tournament in my own backyard is very real. The impact this will have on the ground will be hugely significant for football across both Australia and New Zealand. So many young girls (and boys) will be inspired by the games they will see and the atmospheres they will experience. It is a huge moment for football in this part of the world.

“As part of the Technical Study group, I am so interested to see the progression of the game since the last tournament in France in 2019. That was a powerful competition in terms of the competitiveness and speed of the game. It has clearly evolved again since then, and it will be exciting to see by just how much.

“This is the biggest Women’s World Cup [ever], with 32 teams, and there are some very good new teams and players that have not played in a World Cup before. How will they adjust to it and what impact can they have? There are so many different styles of play and different tactical approaches to observe, and it will be fascinating to see how it all develops. The knockout stages will be very competitive, with some big games likely to happen as early as the last 16.

“Whoever wins this World Cup, will have earned it, that is for certain,” she added.

Yallop will be observing matches from her base in Auckland, New Zealand.