Tanya Oxtoby: ‘We want people to look at Northern Ireland and go: wow’

Manager explains her balancing act as a coach and mother as she prepares for Euro 2025 playoff against Croatia

Tanya Oxtoby has a difficult task: finding balance. The balance between managing a Northern Ireland team in transition and winning, the balance between experience and youth in a squad and the balance between being a manager and a mother.

The 42-year-old Australian has been with Northern Ireland since September 2023 but, in international management, where time with players is condensed, a year is not a long time. The team face the first leg of their playoff against Croatia on Friday as they try to qualify for the Euros for the second time. Get past Croatia and the winner of the tie between Albania and Norway awaits, with a place in the finals in Switzerland next summer up for grabs.

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