Who Is Sarina Wiegman? England's Preferred Choice to Replace Phil Neville
Netherlands Women coach Sarina Wiegman has emerged as the FA’s ‘preferred choice’ to replace Phil Neville in charge of England’s Lionesses next year.
Having been appointed as England boss in 2018, his first job in women’s football, Neville is stepping down from his role in 2021 when his contract expires.
BBC Sport now reports that Wiegman is the leading candidate to take over as the Lionesses ultimately aim to win the delayed European Championship on home soil in 2022.
Talks with the 50-year-old have already started and it is said that one of the key points of discussion is whether she would be appointed before or after the rescheduled Olympics in Tokyo next summer.
Whoever the England manager is at that time will be in charge of the Great Britain team at the tournament, and it has not yet been ruled out that it could still be Neville.
Wiegman’s career both as a player and coach has been full of historic firsts.
Her playing career started in the best possible place in the late 1980s when she was enrolled at the University of North Carolina after impressing legendary USWNT and UNC coach Anson Dorrance. Upon joining the college’s iconic Tar Heels team, Wiegman played alongside the likes of Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Carla Overbeck, all of whom won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999.
That spell was crucial for her development in the game and has clearly left a lasting influence.
“In America I had found something I was looking for,” she told The Coaches’ Voice. “I still use some things I learned that year in terms of how to get the best out of others, and myself. But the biggest thing I took away was the determination that what I experienced in the US, I wanted in the Netherlands too.”
Wiegman, a defensive midfielder, had already been a Netherland international for several years at that time and would go on to become the first Dutch player to be capped 100 times.
Balancing her job as a P.E. teacher, Wiegman spent her entire club career with Dutch side Ter Leede upon returning to Europe from North America. Following retirement in 2003, she moved into coaching and was handed control of Ter Leede soon afterwards in 2006.
Wiegman moved on to ADO Den Haag’s women’s team in 2007 and spent seven years there. That was followed by a spell as assistant coach in the Dutch women’s national setup, which she also combined with a KNVB professional coaching course and an internship at men’s club Sparta Rotterdam. She was only the third woman to study on that KNVB course.
In late 2016, Wiegman became the first female to coach at a professional Dutch club when Sparta installed her as temporary assistant coach for its reserve squad. That spell in a professional environment inspired her to push for the same in women’s football.
Wiegman’s most famous achievements as a coach have come since she was appointed head coach of the Netherlands women’s national team in early 2017 – she had already twice served as interim.
The Dutch were the hosts at Euro 2017 but had only qualified for their first World Cup in 2015 and only reached their first European Championship in 2009. Getting the best out of a squad that had developed together over several years, Wiegman’s team won all six games and lifted the trophy.
Norway, Sweden and England were among their scalps along the way.
In 2019, the Dutch proved their European success was no fluke and went all the way to the World Cup final in what was only their second participation in the tournament. Only a United States team inspired by Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle stopped them conquering the world.
Wiegman had already been named Best FIFA Women’s Coach in 2017 and was accordingly nominated for the prize again in 2019.
If hiring Neville was a step designed to promote a winning mentality among the England players, Wiegman would be a significant step up as the FA target international silverware. She has vast experience of the women’s game at various levels and has a proven record.
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