Meet the experts: Gemma Grainger

She has been coaching for 23 years, including 11 years with England’s women’s youth teams, and has coached at seven major tournaments, including the 2014 U20 Women’s World Cup and the 2016 U17 Women’s World Cup. Grainger was also part of England’s senior women’s coaching team for the UEFA European Championships in 2017. She has been a UEFA Pro Licence holder since 2016 and has a coaching degree from Teeside University, England. 

Women’s competition 

“In general, I expect the women’s competition to be really competitive, especially having seen just how tough qualifying was. A lot of big teams, particularly in Europe, did not qualify and were very disappointed and this just demonstrates how tough this level has become. There are so many interesting teams: Canada are reigning gold medallists but had a disappointing FIFA Women’s World Cup last year. Similarly, the USA did not meet their usual expectations in Australia, and it will be fascinating to see how they are developing under new head coach, Emma Hayes.

“The European teams are also very strong, particularly with World Champions, Spain, competing at their first ever Olympics. During the World Cup last year, we also saw the significant strides taken by CAF teams and the development of the game in general so it’s going to be an excellent tournament, where almost every qualified team will fancy their chances. Every player aspires to win that gold medal because it is such a unique tournament.”

Men’s competition

In relation to the men’s competition, Grainger was part of FIFA’s Technical Study Group for the men’s U-17 World Cup 2023 last October. She is looking forward to seeing the standard of players at the U-23 level. 

“Even though many of the players are full-time professionals and already playing regular first-team football, there is also a developmental element to the men’s competition and this will be really interesting to observe,” she added.

Grainger will be based in Nice and will observe games in both the men’s and women’s competitions.