Women's EURO 2025: Norway coach Gemma Grainger out to feed fans' passion

An assistant coach with England at UEFA Women's EURO 2017, Gemma Grainger will be in command of Norway in Switzerland, having taken the job in January 2024 following a spell in charge of Wales.

Born in Middlesbrough, Grainger has already been coaching for over 20 years, having initially specialised in youth development with England. Norway failed to make it through the group stage at the last Women's EURO, and one of Grainger's targets is forging a team that fans can be proud of.

On her time as Norway coach

It's been a great journey for me. My job is to get the best out of these players. We have world-class players in the team and as an international manager, the time I get with them is the most important time. So, for me to have an impact, I focus mostly on how do we get the best out of our best players and that's been the focus over the last 12 months, and building up to the EURO this summer.

We hope to peak at that point, as every team does. But we've done a lot of work on the pitch in terms of that identity and style of play and really creating who we want to be. And then off the pitch, we've done a lot of work around the culture and the team and what we represent and the honour that it is to represent your country and what that means to every staff member, every player. We've built those two parts both on and off pitch together.

On installing Ada Hegerberg as captain

The leadership within the team and how that's represented from a player perspective is the most important thing for me – that every player feels like they can lead. So, I took my time with that decision. [Previous captain Maren Mjelde] is coming towards the later stages of her career and it was really important for me that she was still with the team when we transitioned [to] the next captain.

If anyone has met Ada, the leadership qualities stand out both on and off the pitch. For me, she is a leader in everything that she does. She walks the walk, she can also talk as well, which is a big part of who she is. The passion and the drive that she has for representing her country is really impressive. And for me, she will lead this team and I've no doubt she'll lead this team to be successful.

Norway captain Ada Hegerberg: 'I've no doubt she'll lead this team to be successful'Getty Images

On expectations for Women's EURO 2025

Every fan wants us to win every game and we know that. And for us, we want to make sure that we go to the European Championships this summer and be as successful as we can be. And what does that mean? It first of all means getting out of the group – every team's aim. You can never look too far.

From a fan's perspective, the team's got a huge responsibility to behave how they want to be seen. And that's my expectation of them – that when our team is playing, that the fans can look and be proud. So, if the team win, if the team lose, if the team draw, people see a team that they can be proud [of] and they can get behind.

On opening their campaign against finals hosts Switzerland

To be in the opening game against the host nation is really exciting from my perspective. It's a real honour to play in the stadium where the final will be held. Both teams will naturally feel the pressure of an opening game. Historically, the home nation does do well at the European Championships, so they'll be aware of that and they'll want to do well. And then our pressure will be being at our best in a stadium where we know that it will be heavily dominated by the fans of Switzerland, which is a challenge.