A LITTLE DUTCH COURAGE
As the women’s EURO gets started, England’s head coach Sarina Wiegman tells us how her own experience of leading a home nation to glory under pressure can benefit the Lionesses this summer
How excited are you about UEFA Women’s EURO 2022?
It’s really great. Women’s football is developing rapidly, and all the countries will be coming together again after Covid, which is very nice. I think that we all want to make it an amazing event.
Who do you think are the main contenders to win the tournament?
I think that there’s more and more equality between the top teams. The top teams in Europe are developing rapidly, so I think that there are many contenders for the title. I think that it’ll be a very competitive tournament.
What was it about the England job that made you say, ‘I’m ready for this challenge’?
I had seven years with the Dutch national team… I should have gone to three tournaments with the Netherlands, and England asked me at the right moment, also because I wanted to wait until after the Olympic Games.
I’d already been with the Dutch national team for a while, and then England came along. England is such a nice country and a huge footballing nation. So, that stayed in my head, and I see it as a big challenge. I can also combine it with my family life; my daughters are a bit older now, so it works well.
It must have been difficult for you to leave the Netherlands role. Was it the case that you felt that you’d achieved everything you could?
No, you can always achieve more, and at the Olympic Games we definitely wanted to achieve more. So, that was a disappointment but, at the end of the day, I think that if you look at it with a wider perspective, what we did with the Dutch national team – and people who were connected to Dutch women’s football for a long time laid the foundations, and I continued that together with my colleagues and players – that was a great journey with the EURO, the [FIFA Women’s] World Cup final and the Olympic Games.
So, after three tournaments and seven years with the team, I thought that it was the right time to move on and also for the players to have something new.
Do you think that your experience of winning the previous EURO in the host country could be the decisive factor for a team like England, which has come close on a couple of occasions?
We’ve now entered a different phase. England are much further ahead when it comes to women’s football.
It’s more visible in England, and they have a very strong league, so I think that the starting point for the Netherlands was quite different to what is now the case with England, but it’s definitely an opportunity, and I did experience a couple of things with the team that are important to know.
At the time, we had Foppe de Haan as part of our staff, and he had a lot of experience of being the host country at these big tournaments and shared that experience with the team, so that was an advantage.
I think that having experience of these tournaments is important, anyway, and that you need to prepare as well as you can.
You’re very familiar with the pressure that comes with being the manager of
the host nation at a tournament. How do you cope with that on a personal level?
Well, first of all, you always have to do the very best you can and, of course, we’re eager to win. People expect us to
After three tournaments and seven years... I thought that it was the right time to move on On quitting as Dutch coach
win. That was also the case in the Netherlands, and we’re working in an environment where performance is key.
What you can control is coming up with a good plan, responding to situations that may arise and doing the very best you can. That’s all you can do, and you just hope that the end result will be successful, but you’ll always be able to look at yourself in the mirror and think, ‘I did everything I could,’ so it’s okay.
What do you think this tournament can do for the growth of the women’s game?
I think [that there’ll be some] great games. I think that we’ll see some fantastic matches.
I think that it’ll be even bigger than it was in the Netherlands. It’ll be a great opportunity for a lot of countries, and it’ll boost development in England but also in other European countries and worldwide, even, because the EURO is watched all over the world.
So, I’m hoping for some great matches; I expect them, even. That will not only get more girls, but also boys and businesses interested and involved in women’s football.
Personally, I’m really excited about the fact that the tournament is going to be here because, with the Women’s Super League growing in the way it is, it feels like there’s a real appetite for women’s football here.
How exciting is it going to be playing in a summer where there are no other big tournaments and in packed stadiums as well?
It’s incredible. It’s amazing; you get excited just talking about it. It’ll be such a huge summer with lots of attention on women’s football. I can’t wait!
What would it be like if you were to play the Netherlands at some stage of the tournament?
That would be an awesome match and a great fixture. It would be very challenging. It would be a great game between two countries who are very good and who both like to play football.
How much do you think the game has progressed and improved since 2017 in terms of the quality that we’re seeing in women’s football?
It’s becoming more and more professional. The leagues are developing, not just in England but across Europe. More teams have a professional set-up, which gives players the opportunity to develop at national and international level. That development has been spectacular and will be visible at the tournament.
What legacy would you like to see from this tournament for future generations of girls growing up wanting to play football?
That you can be a great footballer and make people proud. Every country taking part can make their people proud of their players. Also, that everyone plays with joy and ambition, that everybody shows that [women’s] football is fun and is played at a very high level.
I hope that it’ll lead to many girls starting to play football, but I also hope that women see role models and want to become a football coach or take on a role related to football. So, I’d like to see more female footballers and also more women within football in other roles.