England manager Sarina Wiegman was crowned Coach of the Year at the 2022 BBC Sports Personality awards.
It helped complete a clean sweep for the Lionesses with the England side claiming the Team of the Year and Beth Mead winning the main prize. The Dutchwoman herself said it was the perfect year for her England team but is still aiming to improve in 2023, a year that involves a Finalissima and a World Cup finals.
England remain unbeaten in 26 games since Wiegman's appointment last year, including beating USA 2-1 at Wembley in October. The Lionesses will now to aim to become the undisputed best side in the world in the new year and win back-to-back major tournaments for the first time.
"I feel very humbled and grateful to receive this prestigious award," said Wiegman after collecting the Coach of the Year at the ceremony in Salford. "But without this incredible team of players and human beings we could never have performed as we did.
"We also have an incredible staff, it has been fantastic to work with them all. People have been working so hard to get us where we are now.
"Now little girls are walking around with the names of our players on the back of their shirts. We played at Wembley of course and we broke records. We've made a change in society.
"Next year we go the World Cup and I hope again we'll do very well. As a team we'll be doing everything in our control to play the best game we can."
Since lifting the European Championship last summer England have lost Ellen White and Jill Scott to retirement. But the win over the four-time world champions USA and finishing 2022 unbeaten has further raised expectations for next summer.
England have reached the semi-final at the last two World Cups before heartbreaking exits to Japan and the United States. Before receiving the award Wiegman accepted that it would tough to beat the last 12 months, but that they can always improve as a team.
"You can't beat (2022) you can only equal that," Wiegman said. "We want to win every game, but we talk about how we can improve the next game... Of course, we want to break all the records, but breaking a record doesn't say what you have to do.
"How do we stick together as a team? I truly believe that's where it starts. The players feel very comfortable with that way of approach. At the moment it works really well and they feel really comfortable.
"You can tell because we are enjoying ourselves and winning helps.
"But we absolutely have to get better. We have to take our game to the next stage, to make the chance of being successful as high as possible.
"We want to develop our style of play so we stay unpredictable. Of course we have to dream. We're going to a World Cup just to play, we're going there to win."
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