how Wiegman changed English society with ‘Lionesses’

• Bart van Dooijeweert

  editor NOS Sport

In the last week of 2022, we look back on the past year of sports with six Dutch women who experienced great successes. Today in the first episode: trainer Sarina Wiegman, who won the European Football Championship with the English football women.

The press officer of the English federation actually wants to finish the press conference after the European Championship final if Sarina Wiegman takes the floor once more. The Dutch national coach, who just led England to the European title, thanks everyone who contributed to the success.

“And most of all, we’ve changed society“, says Wiegman, while she looks around the room with a satisfied look.

It was a historic night of football for England. Not only because the inventors of the world’s most popular sport have won a senior prize for the first time since 1966, but also because the iconic Wembley stadium was packed with more than 87,000 spectators. Never before have there been so many spectators at a European final. Not for women and not for men.

Wembley, 14 december 2022

The press officer of the English federation has received so many interview requests for Wiegman that he decided to organize a real press day. Today is the ‘Sarina Wiegman Event’ at Wembley, although the main character herself feels a bit uncomfortable about that name. More than forty journalists – some even from Australia – came to London to look back on the special year with the English national coach.

Wiegman, who does not like to be the center of attention, walks from one table of journalists to the next during lunch at Wembley. A hand and a chat for everyone, sometimes even a hug.

“I’m glad this was all possible in one day, otherwise you’re busy giving interviews every day,” the England coach laughs. “And in the end it all goes so smoothly that such a day is also fun.”

In all interviews she is naturally asked to look back at that European Championship final in this stadium. “Of course every time I return to Wembley I think of the European Championship. And of the long road to get here. Gosh, from a girl who wasn’t allowed to play football to a woman who saw Wembley as home stadium has.”

She has been national coach of England for a year and a half now and sometimes can’t come up with a Dutch word. Then she says stands instead of stands. Or style of play, rather than style of play. And every time Wiegman apologizes nicely for that.

The 53-year-old coach, who had her hair cut short as a child so that she could secretly play soccer with the boys, now has two European titles to her name and was in the World Cup final. Yet the Hague remains quite sober when she talks about that European Championship final.

“I hardly heard that enormous noise from those 87,000 people. Because your attention is like that narrowYou’re just playing the game. It wasn’t until after the final whistle that I thought, ‘Oooh, we just did it!'”

But has the European title of the Lionesses, as the English women’s football team is affectionately called, has society in England actually changed, as Wiegman immediately announced? “Absolutely, even more than I thought six months ago,” she says now.

After Wiegman led the Dutch women to the European title in 2017, women’s football in our country took off enormously. But the impact is many times greater in England, she notes.

That started three days after the final won, when the players wrote an open letter to the British government. In it they asked for all girls to have access to gym classes and football training. “Discussions with the government are still ongoing,” says Wiegman.

“The European title has given women’s football a huge boost here in all kinds of areas. There are many more commercial parties interested in women’s football. And more and more matches in the English Super League are played in the large stadiums. They then attract 30,000 to 45,000 spectators.”

It fills Wiegman with pride when she sees how socially involved her group of players is. “They have used the achievement of the European championship to change society. I find that so powerful. Young girls in England and also in the Netherlands who want to play sports now get many more opportunities. But there is still a world to be won. Because half of the English girls could not play sports this year.”

Wiegman herself will not easily “scream so high from the rooftops” in the social debate, as she calls it herself. “That’s not who I am. I don’t always have to be in the foreground, I prefer to stay in the background. That’s also how I lead.”

“But I have always told those girls: if you want to change the world, you will first have to perform yourself. Only then will you become a topic of conversation and you will be listened to. That is why I kept my focus on performing and getting better every day turn into.”

Besides English society, Wiegman’s life also changed after her second European title. “I’m very down to earth myself and just always do my stinking best, but the world around me has of course changed.”

“I just get a different response. When I visit a game here now, sometimes I need help to get from the stands to come to a restaurant because there are so many people who want something from you. I find that quite difficult at times.”

In the week after the European Championship, her mailbox filled up with about 450 requests. “You have to say ‘no’ to 95 percent, but often people don’t understand that. You actually want to give everyone a normal answer, but that’s just impossible.”

She chose carefully the few requests that Wiegman did respond to. An event organized by the Cruyff Foundation, for example. “Seeing you bring so much joy to those kids is worth a lot to me.” Or a KPN leadership meeting, where she was inspired by other managers.

But Wiegman almost always says ‘no’. Because she wants to keep the focus on football. “I don’t have to watch TV every week with my giggles. I’ve done one or two commercial things because it’s a nice extra, but I’ve never made my choices based on money. If I had wanted to make a lot of money in the past, it would have been Of course I never became a football coach. That only cost money in the beginning. But it was my passion. “

Wiegman is still undefeated in 26 matches as England coach. The team will be a big favorite for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next summer. Laughing a bit awkwardly: “I’m a bit popular here, yes.”

“But I also realize that things can turn very quickly if the results are disappointing. Then the English press may be critical, or it may become personal.”

Wiegman had a first unpleasant encounter with the dreaded tabloids shortly before the European Championship, around the death of her sister Diana. “They approached my family and people from my old football club. They were of course not waiting for that at the time,” she says. “The FA then took action and then thankfully it stopped.”

Wiegman felt a lot of support from the English Football Association in the period surrounding the death of her sister. The national coach was allowed to stay away from a training camp. “It was extremely important that I was given the space to close it well, so that I could then fully focus on football again.”

“On Saturday was the cremation and on Monday I gave another training. You just switch on. But the sadness will come again later. My sister was also my buddy, my best friend. I still think about her every day. She would be very proud have been on the European Championship win.”

“It’s just intensely sad, I would have wanted to do fun things with her for years to come. Because of the hustle and bustle in the football world you just keep going. Now at Christmas you finally have time to process the sadness, and also to reflect on the good things, because I still don’t fully realize that I managed to become European champion again.”