England squad encouraged to embrace their ‘strong emotions’ after Euro 2024 loss

England’s players will be experiencing feelings akin to grief and loss after their Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain, a sports psychologist has said, but allowing these normal emotions is part of top athletes coming back even stronger.

Gareth Southgate’s team have now reached the final of the last two Euros but the 58-year wait for silverware for the men’s team goes on after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Spain.

England captain Harry Kane admitted the pain of defeat was “as tough as it gets”. Dr Danielle Adams Norenberg, the head of psychology at the UK Sports Institute, has encouraged the players to allow and accept their emotions rather than attempt to block them out.

Dr Adams Norenberg, who is in Paris assisting with Team GB’s preparations for the Olympic Games, told the PA news agency: “Those athletes and coaches and staff will be feeling such strong emotions today, probably similar to those associated with grief or loss – anger, sadness, denial and confusion are all very likely.

“From a thoughts perspective, they will be reliving the past to think about ‘what could I have done differently?’ and they might also fast forward into the future to what’s next.

“What we really want to do is to be able to move forward well and efficiently, and I think the best way to describe this is performance decompression.

“Rather than putting the emotions away, we want to allow them these normal emotions – because they are normal. They will come like waves and they will pass. Allow the emotions, accept they’re normal and be OK with it. It’s really important to embrace it.

“I do think it’s really important though to congratulate them on their achievement. Playing in a European final is a huge achievement and something they absolutely need to be proud of.”

Dr Adams Norenberg said reconnecting with family and friends after the tournament would also be crucial.

“We spend so much time and effort in the build-up to such a great event, we can forget what’s important outside of it,” she said.

“Right now, it is important to connect with friends and family and be curious about life itself, coupled with allowing the emotions to pass.”

Once ready to, athletes should then have a debrief of the performance.

“They want to understand what was delivered well, and what learning is essential to lead to an improved performance next time,” Dr Adams Norenberg said.

“That will include banking the successes, but also what can be done better.

“You’ve got to be able to accept that defeat or loss or disappointment is part of performance. And then you have to find that motivation to learn what could be done better, use that defeat to understand what to do better, to work differently, and deliver better next time.

“It really does come back down to finding out what that small change or next step needs to look like through this aftermath process.

“Understanding what the ‘sweet spot’ strengths of the team truly are, and how that looks in play, is super-important, and to unpack where it was delivered and where it wasn’t.”