There are very few people in women’s football who have a CV more impressive than Sarina Wiegman’s. As a player, she became the first woman to reach 100 appearances for the Netherlands, before working her way up to become the team’s head coach and leading them to victory in the 2017 Euros and seeing them to the World Cup final in 2019. Then, in 2021, she took on the role of England head coach, going on to lead the Lionesses to Euros victory and the World Cup final, too.

As the first coach to win back-to-back Euros tournaments, Wiegman has successfully cemented her place in the history books. But as the squad prepares to compete in another Euros this summer, she’s hungry for more. “Germany has won it eight times and Norway has won it twice, so we want to push for more success,” she tells Strong Women. “It’s going to be an incredible tournament where we know the level of football will continue to increase – we see it every week in the WSL.” 

With several months left until the big tournament in the summer, the Lionesses are officially in preparation mode. This Friday (21 February), they’ll kick off their 2025 Nations League campaign with a game against Portugal, before heading to Wembley next week for a match against the reigning world champions, Spain. And amid all the action, Wiegman is also working with Chase as part of its football coaching programme, designed to remove the financial barrier for people who want to become coaches but can’t afford to do so. Here, she talks more about how the Lionesses are preparing for this summer, as well as the importance of getting more women into coaching. 

How does it feel to go into your second Euros as manager of the reigning champions?

It’s really exciting. I cherish those moments: being European champions with the Netherlands, being European champions with England and then reaching the final at the World Cup with both the Netherlands and England. I feel very privileged to have been a part of it. But you can’t stand still for too long, as the women’s game has changed so quickly. Right now, we’ve got some Nations League games ahead of us, which is exciting. We’re in a very challenging world at the moment, so we’re just going to do everything to be at our best and win as many games as possible.

What will you be working on with the Lionesses over the next couple of months?

Qualifying for the Euros last July gave us the opportunity to play four friendlies in October, November and December, which allowed us to try out things in our style of play against a variety of different top opponents and play many different players to see how they connect on the pitch and manage the load. Now, we’re going into the Nations League period, where we have to win games – success here is not only good preparation for the Euros but puts us in the best possible position to qualify for the World Cup in 2027 too. Of course, we’ll make sure to leave no stone unturned before we play our first Euros group game on 5 July against France. It’s going to be a tough tournament. We’ll be looking at individual development; we have some very experienced players in the squad, but we also have players who have never been to a major tournament, so we want to make sure everyone knows what to expect. Developing our style of play and helping individuals to progress on the pitch is important, so we can be ready for the six games we have in the upcoming months before the Euros. Ultimately, my focus is on bringing the team together; I believe that building connections on and off the pitch and helping the team bond will make a difference. 

Your job comes with a lot of pressure – how do you handle it?

The expectations are high, but we have high expectations of ourselves because we want to perform at the highest level. I try to see the bigger picture all the time and ask questions constantly: what game did we play? How did we prepare? What was the outcome? Then we review and go again. I want to do better every game, and that starts with the next training session. That’s the formal part on the pitch, but off the pitch, I just try to focus on my role, which involves bringing people together and asking myself what I can do better all the time. Sometimes, I also have to do breathing exercises to stay calm – working on those things as an individual is also important to me.

What would you say are your main strengths as a coach?

I think that’s for other people to say, but there are a few things that have helped me to become the coach I am now. Playing at the highest level and having international experience as a player definitely helped, but I’ve also learned from having so many great coaches and people around me and taken on some of the lessons I learned during my time as a PE teacher around teamwork and team dynamics.

What did your transition from player to coach look like?

I knew that I wanted to be involved in sports from a very young age; I loved all kinds of sports, but football always stayed my number one. When I was young, female coaches weren’t really a thing, so I decided to become a PE teacher. But as my career progressed and I saw more opportunities to get into coaching, I started taking courses right away. I started coaching girls’ teams while I was still playing, and very quickly knew that was what I wanted to do. I’d never seen it as an option before, but once the chance to become professional was there, I took it. 

Why did you want to get involved with the Chase football coaching programme?

It’s exactly what you want a partnership to be. It’s about giving opportunities to people who want to coach, providing education and inspiring kids and adults to get involved.

What needs to change to get more women into coaching?

A lot of things have changed and we’re moving in a positive direction, but we still have a long way to go. What we’re doing with Chase and the FA marks a huge step forward, and there are loads of different programmes now for women who are interested. What we really need now is representation. That means we need more female coaches, but also more female coaches of different backgrounds and those at elite levels. We’ve got members of the Lionesses currently doing their Uefa A coaching licences, and hopefully, that will lead to more visible female coaches in the game. We always say ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ when it comes to the players, but that’s true for coaches too. You’ve already got the likes of Sonia Bompastor, Emma Hayes, Reneé Slegers and myself in these elite positions, and I think that helps a lot.  

For more information on the Chase football coaching programme, visit the Chase football coaching programme website.

Images: Getty