FIFA Women's World Cup: What we can all learn from Sarina Wiegman

Although there has been talk about the USA being keen to 'poach' Sarina Wiegman told Sky News that "I want to stay with England."

‘The job is not done yet’ These are the words that Sarina Wiegman said after the lionesses stormed to victory in the England vs Australia semi-final. Although inwardly Sarina was undoubtedly feeling elated after the result, she knows in order to win competitions, she has to remain focused until the very end. 

Sarina of course has not only proved herself as a winner through the lionesses winning the Euros 2022 (they beat Germany 2-1 in the final) but also managed the Netherlands national team when they won the Euros in 2017. The FA’s website reveals that Sarina “became the first Dutch female centurion, when she reached 100 caps for the Netherlands with an appearance against Denmark in 2001. 

The FA also explains that it wasn’t easy for Sarina to play football in her hometown of The Hague as girls were banned from playing football on the same team as boys. It explains that “with no girls’ teams around, a young Sarina would cut her hair short to join her sibling;s team, ESDO.”

Sarina was only 16 years olf age when she received her first call-up to the Netherlands senior squad and then played in the USA, which she described as ‘life changing.’ In her coaching career, Sarina has received many coaching honours and according to Forbes, “became the first coach of either gender, to win The Best FIFA Award on three separate occasions, a record she previously shared with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, the winner in successive years in 2019 and 2020.”

In August 2023, The Athletic looked at Sarina Wiegman’s management style and Arvid Smit, who was Wiegman’s assistant with the Netherlands told them: “She has the fire in her. If you are close to her, you can see it. You can feel it. On the sidelines, she will be calm but on the inside I know she will be thinning about every scenario in her head and it goes pretty fast.”

It is clear that the combination of having ‘the fire in her’ but also possessing (to the outside world) a calm demeanour has got Sarina to the position that she is in today. I am sure she can achieve even more. Although England lost the final, Sarina will continue to inspire not only the lionesses, the whole nation, but most importantly, the next generation of future female footballers.