The She Kicks Locker Room: Captain’s Chat with Tinja-Riikka Korpela (Tottenham Hotspur/Finland)

The Locker Room’s captaincy Q&A, put to Tottenham’s Finnish goalkeeper before what would be her country’s first major tournament since EURO 2013 – which she also captained. Korpela describes herself as calm and approachable rather than the loudest in the room, talkative on the pitch mainly because a goalkeeper sees the game best from behind everyone. She is generous about learning the job from Maija Saari at FC Honka, a friend her own age whose punctuality and precision taught her that captaincy is a matter of character rather than seniority. Ten years in the role have smoothed her edges, she says, and spells on the bench at club level have taught her how much being valued matters. Asked what she would improve, she answers that she is sometimes too nice: demanding is also caring.