It is not only coach Inka Grings’ fault: there is a power struggle going on in the national women’s team

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At least the world surrounding the women’s national team is still pretty much intact. As always, the good atmosphere is celebrated on the SFV’s social media channels. Something is bubbling in the team.

The dispute between coach Inka Grings (44) and record player Ana Maria Crnogorcevic (32) became clear around the meeting for the Nations League matches against Italy (0-1 in St. Gallen) and Tuesday against Spain.

As always, Crnogorcevic wanted to be there and said so openly. Grings, on the other hand, spoke of amicable talks but became embroiled in explaining how Crnogorcevic’s club search was the reason he was not called up.

But there is more to it than just the annoyance of not offering a fixed size. SonntagsBlick spoke to several people who have insight into the team. No one wants to comment publicly.

The Nati has become a bubble

But the gist is clear: there is a power struggle going on in the national women’s team between Grings and the main players, led by Crnogorcevic and captain Lia Wälti (30), who are also good friends in their private lives. “I would have liked to have her there,” Wälti says quite bluntly.

The old guard around the Bernese duo plus Ramona Bachmann (32) claims – of course rightly – to have made a major contribution to the promotion of the Nati, from the unnoticed international matches of Brügglifeld to the SRF evening program. These merits are undisputed.

But the Nati has become a fairly autonomous bubble. Gring’s predecessor Nils Nielsen cultivated this oasis of well-being. Now Grings came into this bubble from the outside and tightened the reins: the seasoned foreign professionals and the German had not really gotten close since their start in January.

What we hear again and again: Grings irritates the players with her demanding and direct communication. An accusation that was already doing the rounds during her FCZ days. When it comes to tactics, their ideas are often questioned.

The human element, which is extremely central to Nielsen, should play less of a role in Grings. For her, performance comes first. See how giant talent Riola Xhemaili (20) is not nominated for the World Cup, which also caused irritation among the team.

Grings inevitably irritates the old guard

But the power struggle is not one-sided. Grings, for her part, fights to initiate the generational change that is inevitable and completely neglected under Nielsen. Because that inevitably puts her at odds with the old guard. See Crnogorcevic.

The national team has essentially been the same for years and will – or wants – to remain that way at least until the European Championship at home in 2025. For the old guard it is more or less self-evident that they will be in the starting XI at the European Championship at home in 2025, as they have been doing since the 2015 World Cup (!).

This makes it difficult for Grings to replace her blood; she wants competition. The team structure has become unhealthy and the middle age is almost completely absent.

Who will win the power struggle? Probably no one. There is hardly any way to determine a common course. Grings’ record of just one win in eleven games is shocking. On the other hand, Switzerland won the group at the World Cup. And Marion Daube, an FCZ companion for many years, is head of women’s football at the SFV.

In any case, the times when national players forced the dismissal of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s predecessor Bea von Siebenthal (59) with a letter of complaint to the association, as in 2011, without being noticed by the public, are over.

Source : Blick