When England won a place in the 2023 Women’s World Cup final, the team’s Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman became the first-ever coach to reach the last match of the tournament with two different nations. After losing in the final with the Netherlands in 2019, a win for the Lionesses against Spain will see Wiegman claim a trophy that many see as richly deserved.
Wiegman is no stranger to big football finals. As manager, she has already won the European Cup with the Netherlands in 2017 and again with England in 2022. She also led the Netherlands to the World Cup final in 2019, but not to victory, a blemish on an otherwise impressive career.
And one she now has the chance to rectify, as her England team face Spain on Sunday in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney.
The prolific football manager, and former PE teacher, took over the head job for the Lionesses at a crucial moment, when England was two years away from hosting the 2022 women’s European Cup tournament.
It was just enough time for Wiegman to turn a team that seemed down on its luck into an almost unbeatable machine. Under her tenure, the Lionesses have won 30 out of 38 games, and lost just one.
Among the wins are the Euro 2022 final, played on home turf at London’s Wembley Stadium against Germany, and the Finalissima which pitted the European champions against Brazil, winners of the 2022 Copa América Femenina.
In the 2023 Women's World Cup there have been moments, against Haiti and Nigeria notably, where the English side have been challenged, even shaken, but they have still won every game.
A confident semi-final victory against host-nation Australia ensured Wiegman’s place in the history books as the first coach of any men’s or women’s team to lead two different nations to consecutive finals.
Read moreEngland dash Australian hopes to set up Women's World Cup final against Spain
An almost-English stiff upper lip
“The chance as a coach and as a player to make it to finals is really special,” Wiegman said in a press conference after the semi-final match. “I never take anything for granted but am I hearing a little fairytale or something?"
Her words were uncharacteristically emotional. Wiegman is known for her calm, collected presence – even on the sidelines – a style that makes her a natural fit for the phlegmatic English team. Her players have jokingly defended her against claims that she’s a “robot”.
Her methods and her tactical genius often speak for themselves. She has built a steel-like England defence that still has flexibility. In Australia, she switched from the team’s usual 4-3-3 formation to 3-5-2 to accommodate injuries that threatened to undermine the team.
Missing forwards Fran Kirby and Beth Mead left a hole in the team that Wiegman simply adapted to – as she did when forward Lauren James was suspended in the quarter-final against Columbia.
Under pressure she has kept a cool confidence in the players she has at her disposal.
“At this World Cup, with injuries and now James' suspension, [Wiegman] is probably on Plan F or G already,” retired England player Ellen White wrote for the BBC. “It feels like every game has thrown up something different but, so far, Wiegman and England have handled it. The team are still united and they will believe in her ability to figure things out.”
A pioneer
“When I started playing football as a 6-year-old girl we weren't allowed to play, so I played illegally,” Wiegman told the BBC in 2021.
Since then, she has earned 100 caps as an international defender for the Netherlands, and as a manager, she continues to lead the way: Wiegman is the last of 12 female coaches (out of 32 overall) in the 2023 Women's World Cup, and the only one who guided her team to (and through) the quarter-finals.
“What we hope is to get more female coaches at the top level and for it to get better than it is now,” she said after England’s quarter-final match with Colombia. “If the balance is better that will inspire other women to also start coaching and hopefully more and more will get involved.”
Her pioneering successes have made Wiegman one of a handful of coaches who symbolise what women can achieve in the field, among them former US coach Jill Ellis, who won the World Cup twice, and Sweden’s Pia Sundhage, who won two Olympic golds with the US team and now coaches Brazil.
A victory for England on Sunday would add a crowning success to Wiegman’s already well-respected career.
Unsurprisingly, the cool-headed coach has said she is not getting swept up in fervour – she is too busy preparing for the match against Spain.
This article was adapted from the original in French.
