Northern Ireland senior women’s team manager Tanya Oxtoby is currently attending UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland as a UEFA technical observer.
Oxtoby is one of eight observers who are monitoring matches at the tournament in depth from a coaching perspective, with stats and video assistance enabling them to deliver detailed reports on the latest developments in coaching.
She explained: “The crux of the role is attending the games and observing the tactical trends that occur during each game, and then feeding that back into the performance analysis team at UEFA.”
All content collected by the technical observers is stored in an educational database and enhanced with advanced video telestration (visual annotations to match footage) to emphasise key technical and tactical aspects.
The reports are shared on UEFA.com and among the footballing community to give a dynamic account of the state of the game and to highlight trends which will help to develop the women’s game.
The technical observers at Women's Euro 2025 have been additionally charged with selecting the player of the match for each game. They will also come together to decide the team, the player, the young player and the best goals of the tournament.
The technical reports produced by UEFA are used internally, particularly within its coach education department, and by national associations to develop the women’s game.
The Northern Ireland boss continued: “It's a really elaborate operation that's going on behind the scenes, and it's great to see that investment in the women's game in terms of the expertise that's been brought in to work as technical observers as well.
“From a development point of view, it allows me to see a number of different teams and nations that we could possibly be drawn against in the Nations League and qualifying and get a real good understanding of their trends and the way in which they like to play.”
The other UEFA observers in Switzerland include former Germany midfielder and ex-Germany assistant manager Britta Carlson, former Barcelona Femeni boss and current Saudi Arabia Women boss Lluis Cortes, former Austria player and Austria Women head coach Irene Fuhrmann and ex-Arsenal player and ex-Wales manager Jayne Ludlow.
Completing the line-up are former Romania and Bayer Leverkusen star Ioan Lupescu, ex-Scotland Women and ex-Finland Women boss Anna Signeul and Martin Sjogren, former boss of Norway’s senior women’s team.
Oxtoby travelled to Switzerland after observing the VBet NIFL Women's League Cup final between Cliftonville Ladies and Glentoran Women.
Cliftonville hit back from two goals down at the break to defeat the Glens 4-2 at Seaview and claim the trophy for a record-breaking third successive season.
Oxtoby said: “It was a great advert for our women’s domestic game. There was some exceptional talent on show and it really was a game of two halves.
“It was great to see such a competitive fixture in the final and, with some of the talent coming through, the future really is bright.”
