Noemi Ivelj 2023/24: Why the 17 y/o Swiss international is one to watch – scout report

Noemi Ivelj is an exciting seventeen-year-old deep midfielder who was listed on UEFA’s ten women’s players to watch in 2024, alongside players such as Chelsea’s Aggie Beaver-Jones and Barcelona’s Giulia Dragoni.

Having made her full Swiss national team debut at just sixteen years of age, coming off the bench to replace Noelle Maritz from Arsenal in a Nations League game against Spain. She generally plies her trade for Swiss side Grasshoppers, who currently sit in sixth position in the Swiss Women’s Super League.

In this tactical analysis, we will outline some key tactics and statistics that make Ivelj such an exciting young prospect. Throughout this scout report, we go into detail on her role with her side alongside her ability to read the game, cover, defend and progress the ball with the ball at her feet.

Position/Role

Ivelj has primarily played in midfield for Grasshoppers this season. Having played 13 out of her 16 Swiss league appearances in the centre of midfield. Additionally, she has played two games as a centre-back; this is also where she came on to make her Swiss senior team debut.

As the heat map above demonstrates, she spends a significant proportion, 82.7%, of her first team minutes in deep positions, particularly towards the right. This would rightly suggest that her primary role is as a holding midfielder just in front of the backline, where she offers defensive support in front of the backline with the additional ability to play penetrating passes to control the Grasshopper side in attack, with her completing an average of 40.4 passes per 90 at a success rate of 79.7%.

In addition to being a deep midfielder within the side, she also demonstrated the ability to play as a centre-back in this role, where she has played 17.3% of her first team minutes this season. She demonstrates the speed to help the side operate a high defensive line and make consistently effective covering runs. In addition to this, she demonstrates the strength to consistently make effective tackles with a defensive duel success rate of 59.8%, averaging 9.14 successful defensive duels won per 90.

As a side, Grasshoppers have primarily operated a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 system, with 46% of the game time split between these two formations this season, with Ivelj playing as one of the double pivots. However, this may be subject to change following the recent appointment of former Hoffenheim manager Gabor Gallai, who may be able to take the promising youngster to new heights.

Anticipation, intercepting and reading of the game

One of Ivelj’s most important attributes is her ability to read the game, be in the correct position and make critical defensive interventions to prevent attacks from developing before they are allowed to do so.

The first thing to look at is her defensive territory from the season so far. As you can see by the image above, Ivelj has made a significant number of defensive actions throughout the field so far this season, with the majority of these coming in from the edge of her own box to the middle third of the field. So far, this Ivelj has been averaging 3.68 interceptions per 90 and 8.36 recoveries per 90. This puts her in the top half of all players in the league; particularly impressive, her Grasshopper side is generally one of the more ball-dominant sides in the division, averaging 54.9% possession per game, which puts them third behind Servette Chênois and Basel.

Now, having looked at some of the underlying numbers that make Ivelj an influential defender on her side, let’s take a look at some examples of her being used in several different tactical situations.

Here, what you can see is Ivelj tracking the Aarau midfielder out wide, then she just eases her opponent off the ball, using her strength and wins the ball back for her side. Then, having won the ball back, she is able to drive forward and use her body to draw a foul from the opponent, enabling the Grasshopper side to get out of danger.

This here is an excellent example of Ivelj’s game understanding, with her checking over her shoulders to see where danger is coming from. What she is able to identify is the Basel forward coming across her back. As such, she changes her course of direction to try and block this passing lane, which she does effectively, making the interception and preventing a further attack from developing.

Here Ivelj is playing against current world champions Spain, coming off the bench to make her debut as a central defender. What you see here is she has lost her opponent Amaiur Sarriegi and left her in space she then has the intelligence to adjust and when the ball is out wide she is now in front of her opponent and eventually intercepts the cross and clears her lines. This just goes to show that she is still learning her craft and, as a result, will make mistakes, but her ability to adapt and adjust to what’s in front of her makes her such an exciting prospect.

Despite several impressive defensive attributes as something that she would need to develop, particularly should she make a more permanent move to playing as a central defender would be her aerial ability, with her currently completing at a success rate of 25% and averaging 0.54 successful aerial duels per 90 — a significant drop off from her ground defensive duels were she is averaging 9.23 per 90 at 66.9%.

Cover Defending

Another significant aspect of Ivelj’s game we are going to highlight is her ability to be an essential cover defender for the Grasshopper side. Several factors make her well-suited to this side of the game. Her high-end speed enables her to make ground and recover against most players in the Swiss League; this allows her and the team to operate a high defensive line should the situation dictate.

A second aspect that makes her so impressive in this area of the game is her defensive positioning and body orientation, which gives her time to react to the opponents and make effective decisions to slow down attacks.

Third of all, she has the game understanding and humility to identify gaps in her own side’s shape and fill them in herself. Particularly noticeable in transitions where Grasshopper defenders are more spread out, you will often see her dropping deeper to pick up vital central positions to temper and slow down opposition attacks.

In this situation above, it’s late on in the game, with Basel leading by a goal, and they are going into the corner to waste time. However, what is interesting here is Ivelj’s attitude. First of all, she checks her right shoulder to see whether there’s an opponent in the middle and whether she has help from her defensive partner, which she does. Then again, a second later she does a quick second check with the picture having not changed much and the threat inside not being significant. This is her cue to engage out wide, and she shifts out wide where she can then make a strong, clean tackle and drive forward into the space in front of her.

Here, in this circumstance, the defender has been pulled out wide while following the opposition forward. As such, the other defender has shifted across to the left in an attempt to cover the space. While tracking back, what you will notice is Ivelj looking to her left, where she identifies the two free players. As such, she works to get back into a central position in order to prevent a significant opportunity from developing if her teammates were to allow a cross into the box.

What we see above is an example of the speed we were talking about. With a ball being played over the top of the defence by Thun. The Thun forward initially has the jump on Ivelj, with her gaining an advantage of about a metre. However, roll the clip on four seconds and Ivelj has won the ball back, having made up two metres to get to the ball before her opponent and recover the ball. As you can see, this enables her side to operate a high defensive line, as she can be trusted to make up the ground with relative ease.

Ball Progressions

The third aspect of Ivelj’s game that makes her an important prospect is her ability to combine her ability to defend with comfort on the ball, which enables her to be an essential member of the side in build-up play. An aspect of her game that makes her particularly valuable in this area is ambidexterity, which enables her to find different passing angles to other players.

Above what you can see is a pass map for Ivelj this season. The first thing you will notice is the significant number of passes deep in her own half. This indicates the role that Ivelj offers, dropping deep as one of the pivot options in build-up play. However, this is not just empty side-to-side possession as 34% of her 37.9 passes per 90 are played forwards, and only 15% are played back, so as you can see, on the whole, Ivelj’s impact in possession is overarchingly positive. Now, having provided some context as to Ivelj’s role in the side, let’s take a look at some tactical scenarios with her in action.

Here, you can see Ivelj looking over her shoulder and identifying that she is in space to receive the ball from her teammate. Having received the ball, you see her making a quick and effective first-time pass to a teammate, with an opponent rushing to put pressure on her. However, potentially, in this situation, you would like to see her try to turn and attack the space behind her and try to get the ball forward.

In this situation, however, she does choose to turn. With her receiving the ball with her back to the goal and several defenders surrounding, she transfers the ball to her left foot, away from the opponents. This gives her time to turn and look forwards, where she then plays a penetrating left-footed pass into her left winger while taking five Luzern players out of the game.

Here is another example of the value Ivelj can provide in build-up, with Luzern having effectively compressed the left side of the field. Ivelj is able to create an angle to receive the ball from a teammate and then have the vision and understanding to turn and switch the ball to the other side of the field, changing the point of attack.

We have already mentioned that Ivelj has an ambidexterity that gives her a range of different angles to her passing, but not only does this help with retaining the position in the build-up. It also gives her a different dynamic in ball progression.

The diagram above is a map of the progressive passes that Ivelj has played this season. So far, she has averaged 6.58 progressive passes per 90 at a success rate of 62.21%. In addition to this, she has played 0.33 key passes per 90. However, these may not be earth-shattering numbers. This just adds another weapon to Ivelj’s arsenal.

Here, you can see Ivelj picking up the ball in her own half; she takes one touch to get the ball out of her feet and then plays an outstanding right-footed curling ball behind the back of the Luzern defence, which puts her teammate through on one with the goalkeeper.

In this scenario, Ivelj picks up the ball in the transition on the left side of the field; again, she only needs one touch to get the ball out of her feet before launching a dangerous left-footed ball to her teammate in space down on the right flank, eliminating the last five Luzern defenders by playing the ball over them falling where only her teammate can get the ball.

Conclusion

As you can see from our analysis, Noemi Ivelj is an exciting prospect, with her maturity and game understanding at only 17 being particularly impressive. Then, combining that with her speed and power, which allow her to match up with anybody in the division and even hold her own at the limited minutes she has had at the international level, it additionally enables her to adapt to whatever situation you throw at her.

Then comes her ability on the ball to progress attacks and play her side out of danger, playing with composure and feeling for space you’d expect of an experienced player. Add her ambidexterity, which creates angles that may not be available to others. She is a real asset on both sides of the ball and has an exciting future ahead of her.