With coach Inka Grings on the sidelines, Switzerland is going into the finals of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But the German influence in Swiss women’s football is not only evident in the national team.
Inka Grings wears a thick down jacket as she is interviewed by Swiss television on the beach in Dunedin. It’s cold in southern New Zealand – at noon it’s just nine degrees Celsius on the other side of the world. The women’s world championship takes place in the winter of the southern hemisphere.
Cold temperatures, but warm thoughts: Inka Grings is looking forward to her first major tournament as national coach. She only took over as coach at the Swiss Football Association last January. Previously, she had a successful time as a coach at FC Zurich.
Lots of experience, lots of anticipation
The team should also benefit from their own experiences (including 96 international matches for Germany). “You take a lot of experiences from the time as a player with you. I experienced a lot of positive but also negative things with coaches that definitely shaped me.”
On Friday (July 21, 2023, 7 a.m.) things will get serious for Switzerland in Dunedin for the first time. Then there is the first World Cup group game against the Philippines (Live stream at sportschau.de) on the program. Grings is satisfied with the preparations in New Zealand so far: “We all needed a few days to acclimatize. Now we’re really focusing on the games as a team. The anticipation is there, you can tell that it’s getting closer and closer.”
“Learn from the mistakes”
Against the Philippines, nothing more than a mandatory win is expected from Switzerland. Grings assesses the whole thing as follows: “For me, Norway is the top favorite in our group.” You have to learn from the mistakes of the European Championship in England last year, when Switzerland had to give up without a win after the preliminary round, said Grings in an interview with “Kicker”.
“It was important that the three European Championship games were analyzed correctly. The statistics were disastrous. Tackling behavior, duels won and running distances – all of that was in the very bad range. And that has to change,” the trainer looked ahead.
Lots of German influence in Swiss women’s football
It is interesting when looking at Swiss women’s football as a whole that it is heavily influenced by Germany. In addition to Grings, who worked at FC Zurich last year, there are currently four other German women who are head coaches at Swiss first division clubs: Kim Kulig (FC Basel), Anne Pochert (Grasshoppers Zurich), Jacqueline Dünkert (FC Zurich) and Imke Wübbenhorst (Young Boys Bern).
Anne Pochert trains the Swiss first division club Grasshoppers Zurich.
Pochert, who once worked at Carl Zeiss Jena, does not say it directly, but it is clear that she did not see herself and her expertise appreciated enough in her home country. In 2022/23, a total of two head coaching posts were occupied by women at the twelve women’s Bundesliga clubs in Germany.
Switzerland has “recognized the signs of the times”
In Switzerland, five of the ten top division teams have women in charge on the bench. “That’s nice for Swiss women’s football”said Pochert in an interview with the Association of German Football Teachers (BDFL).
But she also thinks that this discrepancy does not necessarily speak for German women’s football. “I think that in Switzerland, unlike in Germany, the signs of the times have already been recognized. It is an important step to have the courage to give a woman a chance in this position.”
“Good overall package”
The Swiss national coach, Grings, definitely wants to seize her chance at the World Cup – and is optimistic before the tournament begins: “We have a really good overall package. The quality is right.”
The only negative news before the start of the tournament was the serious injury to Iman Beney (Young Boys Bern) in the Swiss team. The 16-year-old offensive player tore a cruciate ligament in training the day after her World Cup nomination was announced and will therefore miss the tournament Down Under.
Facts about the game
– Play against each other: first duel
– FIFA ranking: Switzerland 17th place / Philippines 46th place
– Best World Cup placement: Switzerland – Round of 16 2015 / Philippines – first participation
– Fun fact: In their only participation in the World Cup in 2015, the Swiss made it out of the group stage. A 10-1 thrashing of Ecuador was the decisive success on their way to the round of 16, which they lost 1-0 to hosts Canada.