Meet the experts: Sue Ronan

Ronan moved into coaching following her playing days and managed her country’s women’s national teams at U-16, U-18, U-19 and senior level. In addition, she worked as Ireland’s Head of Women’s Football for over a decade.

Women’s Competition

“I’m excited to see how the women’s teams perform following on from their varying exploits at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Some head coaches have changed since that tournament so we may see a different style of play from one or two of those teams.    

“We saw evidence at the World Cup that no match was a foregone conclusion, with the emerging nations and tournament debutants proving to be very well prepared, both tactically and physically. On this basis, I don’t expect we will see any big score lines across this Olympics Football Tournament. Teams now also possess greater squad depth with players capable of changing shape and tactics mid-game, something that was very much to the fore at the World Cup,” commented Ronan.   

“Looking at the three groups, France as the home nation will be expected to top their group with World champions, Spain, also seen as one of the favourites. But aside of that, the three groups will be very competitive and it’s very difficult to predict who will progress to the knockout stages.”

Men’s competition 

“I feel the men’s tournament is quite open with a lot of the top footballing nations present, however the hosts France will be difficult to beat on home-soil.  We also can’t look too far beyond Spain, who are now starting to dominate at every age-level on both the men’s and women’s side,” Ronan added.

Ronan will be based in St. Etienne and will observe games in both competitions.