Meet the experts: Pascal Zuberbühler

During his club career, he played for seven years at Swiss club Grasshoppers followed by another seven at FC Basel. Zuberbühler then left Switzerland for spells with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany and West Bromwich Albion and Fulham in England.    

Having observed the men’s and women’s Olympic Football Tournaments in Tokyo (2021), the standard of goalkeeping will be a key area of focus for Zuberbühler in addition to any new emerging trends.

Men’s competition

“I was in Tokyo for the Olympic Football Tournament in 2021 and it was a very unusual competition, with a different experience because we had no spectators in the stadiums.  However, the games were very interesting, particularly how attack-minded the teams were. Brazil were hugely impressive, they had Dani Alves (as an over-age player), Richarlison, Antony and Matheus Cunha in their squad but they have not qualified this time.

“In fact, from the top five ranked teams in 2021 – only two have qualified for this competition (Spain and Japan), showing just how difficult it is to qualify and how competitive it is now. It is always interesting to see the three overage players that nations select and to see how their experience blends with the younger players. There are strong emerging nations at this level too, like Mali, who have a very good squad. The importance of this tournament has really grown and teams competing really want to win,” he added. 

Women’s competition

“This competition is going to be very exciting to follow because the standard of the teams is just so high. As host nation, France under head coach Hervé Renard, will have high expectations while World Champions, Spain, will also feel they can win the gold medal. There will be many different styles also, Canada were very organised and efficient in their journey to winning the tournament in 2021, while the USA have a new head coach. Japan will also be in contention with their very technical passing game. 

“What is also fascinating is how tough the groups are. The stakes will be very high from the first game onwards so its difficult to predict which eight teams will make it to the quarter-finals. The pressure is on straight away,” he explained.

Zuberbühler is based in Marseilles where he will attend games in both the men’s and women’s competitions, before travelling to Paris for the gold medal matches.