مدير عام كرة القدم
- Lionesses reach Euro 2025 final
- FA CEO heaps praise on Wiegman
- She’s "not for sale at any price"
After the Lionesses secured another dramatic comeback win, this time over Italy in extra time earlier this week, to reach the final of this year’s Euros in Switzerland, Bullingham has made it clear he wants Wiegman to stay put for a while yet. He added it would “not be hard” to persuade her to stay in the post.
He said, via BBC Sport: “I want to pay tribute to Sarina. I think her record individually is phenomenal. When I spoke to [the media] before the tournament I said we were lucky to have her and I still feel that way. I think she has been incredible. Her record of managing in five tournaments and reaching five finals is phenomenal. I don’t believe anyone has been anywhere near that in the past and it will be really hard to do that in the future. She’s a really special coach and we’re delighted to have her with us.”
When asked if it would be difficult to convince her to stay on in her current role, Bullingham replied: “Not hard at all. We are committed to her until 2027 and she is committed to us. We have a new [coaching] team coming in for her. We haven’t quite started working on the plans for [the 2027 كأس العالم] but I know her focus, hopefully after success on Sunday, will shift quite quickly to that.”
Wiegman has been a huge success since becoming Lionesses boss in September 2021. She has a win percentage of 69.57, led England to Euro 2022 title glory and guided them to the 2023 World Cup final. The Dutchwoman has done a remarkable job and is likely to be attracting interest from a host of teams – but the FA won’t let her go easily.
Wiegman, who is the only manager in the men’s or women’s game to have reached the final at all five major tournaments she has coached in (Euro 2017 winners and 2019 World Cup finalists with the Netherlands), will hope England can upset the odds and beat World Cup holders Spain in the Euros final on Sunday.
