Sarina Wiegman has said more needs to be done to address the lack of diversity in women’s football, before England friendlies against Japan and Norway in Spain.
“I would love to see more black players in the team,” said the manager, whose side face Japan on Friday and Norway on Tuesday. “For me, with the senior squad, the process is done already, so I pick the best players – whoever that is, I’ll pick the best players to perform. But I do think we need to do more and the FA is doing more, to give access to everyone that wants to play football.”
After the Lionesses triumphed at the Euros this summer, the team sent a letter to the Tory leadership hopefuls Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak calling for equal access to football in schools. Wiegman said that was part of the process.
“The team has shared the letter calling for every girl to have access to football. That also counts for every boy, every girl, whatever skin colour you have. [Everyone] needs to have access to football, in England, in Europe, in the world, and yes, we really have to work on that and the FA is working on that.”
The team are in talks with the government about this issue too, with the next conversations scheduled for this month.
“That is really powerful, said Wiegman. “We [the team] talk all the time. Now the players have a voice. In our environment it starts with performing, and we have to maintain performances because if you keep performing you will be visible and you will have a voice. We have so many powerful players and personalities in our team and they are using their voices to address these things and that’s really good.”
Wiegman will be without Lucy Bronze, who has tested positive for Covid, and Alex Greenwood, who has a minor injury, for the Japan game, adding to a growing absentee list. Wiegman said it was important they “don’t take risks”.
“We knew that off the back of the Euros, starting straight away with competition, lots playing in the Champions League too, that we probably would have injuries and people wouldn’t be available but you just adapt to the situation,” she said. “It also gives other players the opportunity to play and be part of the team and, for us, an opportunity to see where they’re at and how they compete with the players that have been in the team for a long time. It’s not the World Cup yet – we’re still in preparation.”
Preserving players’ fitness and keeping them injury-free is difficult with a calendar that has meant senior players will be competing in back-to-back tournaments for five years (the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Euros in 2022, World Cup in 2023, Paris Olympics in 2024 and Euros in 2025).
“We know that there’s tournament, tournament, tournament and it’s good to have tournaments and to have your best players available,” said Wiegman. “But they also need some rest – they’re not robots – and there hasn’t been that much rest for players. We, with clubs too, are managing players. We have this programme and we do individual adjustments to keep players fit.”
