Sarina Wiegman

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Championship-winning national-team coach and a leading figure in women's football.

Sarina Petronella Wiegman (Dutch pronunciation: [saːˈrinaː peːtroːˈnɛlaː ˈʋixmɑn]; born 26 October 1969), also known as Sarina Wiegman-Glotzbach, is a Dutch football manager and former player who has been the manager of the England women's national team since September 2021. She is the first-ever men's or women's manager to reach five consecutive major international tournament finals. In her playing career, Wiegman started out as a central midfielder before moving to defence. In 1989, she attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States, where she played for the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer team. Returning to the Netherlands, she joined the women's team of Ter Leede in addition to her job as a physical education teacher. With Ter Leede, she won the Dutch championship and the KNVB Cup once. Wiegman represented the Netherlands from 1987 to 2001. Although she was capped 104 times for her country (which was initially recognised by the KNVB), caps won against non-FIFA-affiliated opponents resulted in her official cap total standing of 99. After retiring in 2003, Wiegman began her coaching career with the women's teams of Ter Leede and ADO Den Haag. In 2014, she became the assistant national coach of the Dutch women's team. After being appointed as the head coach of the Dutch national team, Wiegman led them to victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. Two years later, the team became runners-up of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. In August 2020, it was announced that Wiegman would manage the England women's national team from September 2021 following the end of Phil Neville's contract. She remained manager of the Netherlands for the Olympics, hoping to bring home a medal at the 2020 Olympics, but the Netherlands were eliminated at the q…

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