Sarina Wiegman: Is England's Euros-winning manager the best coach at the Women's World Cup?

After a playing career that brought her 99 international caps, Wiegman took up her first coaching role at the age of 37 with Ter Leede, her first full season with the club ending with a league and cup double. Her time with ADO Den Haag in the newly-formed Eredivisie brought her three more major titles, before the Dutch Football Association came calling.

Wiegman would assist the senior national team, coordinate the Under-19s side and be interim head coach across three years, before finally landing the top job in January 2017 - six months before her country were set to host the European Championship.

The Oranje were not in a good place. Recent results had been poor and morale was low, but Wiegman quickly set about her work and it paid off in the most remarkable fashion. The Netherlands had only played at three major tournaments in the history of the women’s team, but at Euro 2017, they won every single game to be crowned European champions on home soil.

It was an achievement that thrust Wiegman into the limelight and one she has backed up massively in the last few years. In 2019, she led the Netherlands to a World Cup final on their second-ever appearance at the tournament.

Then, in 2021, she took charge of England and would be unbeaten in her first 30 matches with the Lionesses, winning the Euros and the Finalissima in that time. After so many semi-final defeats, the nation is now fully established on the world stage.

So, what makes Wiegman so great? So many players cite her as being able to get the best out of her players. But how does she do it?

“She's always pushing us, whether that's on the pitch, off the pitch, in meetings and things like that,” explained winger Lauren Hemp. “I feel like for me personally, I'm always learning. There's always something that I don't know that she's bringing to the table, that she's explaining to me. I never go into a training session where I don't feel like I'm getting something out of it.

“She knows exactly what she wants and she's always pushing us to be that bit better. Like, 'Yeah, that's the level now but now you need to get higher than that'. We're always pushing on and wanting to do better and Sarina is the driver of that.”

“I think it’s her directness,” said Chelsea defender Jess Carter. “[She and her staff] have a way they want to play and we all get on board with that. It makes it easier going out onto the pitch.

“When we are trying to get different players from different squads to gel together, she’s like, ‘This is how we want to play, these are our values’. It’s that directness. She knows what she wants and she lets us know that really well.”

“What you see is what you get,” added Ella Toone. “Direct but just a leader and someone who is very caring and wants the best for each of us. She really pushes us to be the best. I think the main thing Sarina always says is to make sure we enjoy ourselves.”

Another thing that defender Lucy Bronze highlighted when talking about Wiegman, though, was how the players also have an input on what she wants. She might be concise and to the point – but those points can change.

“They are both very open to being challenged, whether that’s from each other or us,” Bronze said, talking about the head coach and her assistant, Arjan Veurink. “They’re always open to hearing what you have to say.

“Sarina is very head-strong and she knows what she wants and she knows what she likes to do, but at the same time she’s very open to hearing opinions and other experiences. For me personally, that’s what I’ve got out of working with the pair of them.”

Given the experience within this England squad – featuring a four-time Champions League winner like Bronze, four players who just did a league and cup double with Chelsea, and Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway, who both just won titles abroad this past season – that’s a real positive.

Why would you not want players like that contributing to the way the team is set up?

It’s not just about Wiegman herself, though. It’s also about the people that she has surrounded herself with.

The main man alongside the Dutchwoman is Veurink, who used to stand in the opposition dugout for Twente and battle Wiegman for titles. The pair have since struck up a formidable partnership on the international stage, winning the Euros in 2017 and reaching the 2019 World Cup final before moving to England together.

“He’s a great guy – very reserved,” said defender Alex Greenwood. “I really get on with him. He loves football as much as I do and his knowledge of the game is incredible. The way he sees the game is similar to the way I see it, so most of our conversation is just about tactics and football and disagreements and agreements on what we think the game should be played like. He’s so important to this team.”

“He thinks he’s quite funny,” Carter added. “He thinks he’s a jokester. I think he’s great. He and Sarina work really well together – but I think all of our staff do.”

And that’s the next point to make. Wiegman has a fantastic team of staff around her, all of whom complement the other. “They bounce really well off each other,” Carter said. “They are able to provide us with everything we need.”

Geraint Twose is another of Wiegman's assistants, a man who spent 17 years with Cardiff City before joining England's senior women's team back in 2017. He experienced the Euros that year, the World Cup in 2019, the Olympics the year after and the Euros last summer, too.

“He brings the energy in training,” Manchester City’s Ellie Roebuck said. “He does a lot of technical work with players, a lot of one-to-one individual development plans. He's a great guy and, again, just good energy to have around.”

Then there are others like Darren Ward, the goalkeeper coach who is raved about by those he works with. Previously described by Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson as "the best goalkeeping coach I've ever worked with", Ward joined the England set-up from Sheffield United last year and has made quite an impression.

“He's incredible,” Roebuck added. “I loved working with him at the Euros and I was really excited to get into camp this time around and know that I've got six weeks of working hard, improving my game and really utilising his strengths. He's an excellent goalkeeping coach.

“We're really fortunate [because] the staff group is amazing. Everyone is like family. It's really chilled. If you're around the hotel, it's not like players and staff. It's all integrated.”

It’s one thing to be a good coach, but it’s important to surround yourself with people who improve you and your team, too. Wiegman certainly does that.

There have been criticisms of Wiegman too, though. For one, it’s often been questioned if England have a ‘plan B’. The formation rarely changes, the line-up is very consistent and everyone knows all about the way that the Lionesses play.

Often those changes come from the bench – making subs is almost that ‘plan B’. Last year at the Euros, it was Toone, Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly who proved to be those that could change the game if it wasn’t going England’s way. This time around, though, all three look like they could be starters at the World Cup. So who will be the super subs?

It was a real talking point in April as the bench failed to sway the game in the Lionesses’ favour in Wiegman’s first defeat as England boss, against Australia. There’s a real need for those bench players to step up this summer and make sure they are capable of making an impact.

Another concern comes from Wiegman not changing her team much. With Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby all absent for this tournament, this has become a little bit of a hindrance because some of those roles do not have obvious replacements.

The biggest issue is in the No.10 role, with Toone having not set the world alight as a starter for her country, but few others having been trialled there. It’s apparent, too, at centre-back, with Alex Greenwood likely to be pulled in from left-back to fill the role. She’s the best player for the position, there’s no doubt, but she has few experienced players battling with her to take the place, either.

On the flip side, by keeping the same squad together for large parts, Wiegman has helped to cultivate a real feeling of togetherness within her group. Despite so many of these players battling hard against each other at club level, they are incredibly close when they step into England camps.

“For us, it’s really important to have good team togetherness,” Carter said. “That can make or break a tournament - in my one experience of tournament football. I think that’s really important and it’s important to me. It’s a respect thing, trusting everyone’s individual actions, that everyone will do what they need to do in order to help the team.”

“If anyone didn't feel comfortable, I think [Sarina] would probably look at herself,” forward Rachel Daly added. “It's a great environment and it is a pleasant place to be when everyone can be themselves. No one wants to be someone they’re not, so it’s a nice environment for sure.”

That consistency in the team has also built some really strong relationships on the pitch. Despite only playing together every few months, it’s clear that there is real understanding and, at times, telepathy between players. It’s hard to build that at international level, but it is one of the big positives of not rotating much.

Above it all, one of Wiegman’s biggest strengths and a key reason why she’s been able to lift so many big titles is her composure. The Dutchwoman is the epitome of unflappable. She conveys calmness to her players in huge moments, and while being tactically astute and a good player-manager are important qualities, so is the ability to handle pressure.

Part of that is the way she protects her players from external noise and keeps them in a bubble, too. “She mentioned internal belief,” Roebuck said, talking about Wiegman’s messaging going into the World Cup. “There's a lot of noise on the outside and a lot of hype off the back of the summer and a lot of expectation. But internally, if we have that belief in this group, which I believe everybody does, then we can go far and really push each other and do the very best we can.”

So, is Wiegman the best coach at the tournament? Well, it’s competitive. She’s not the only one with big titles on her resumé, after all.

Shui Qingxia led China to a first Asian Cup triumph in 16 years last January while Desiree Ellis led South Africa to a first ever Africa Women’s Cup of Nations win a few months later. On the world stage, there is Bev Priestman, who guided Canada to an historic Olympic gold medal in 2021 despite being in charge for less than a year. Australia's Tony Gustavsson won two World Cup titles as the assistant coach of the U.S. women's national team, while Brazil's Pia Sundhage guided the U.S. to the final in 2011, too, a feat which remains the best performance by a team with a foreign coach.

Then there are the likes of Peter Gerhardsson and Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, coaches who have come close to glory with Sweden and Germany, respectively, plus the names who have led eight nations to their World Cup debuts this summer.

It means that picking the best coach at this tournament is tricky. After all, each is dealing with different levels of support, leading nations that have made varying degrees of progress in the women’s game and some have more responsibilities within their federations rather than just coaching a team.

But after threatening to become an elite nation in women’s football for several years, Wiegman is the coach that took England through that glass ceiling and finally helped to establish them as a champion. She’s right up there as one of the best brains in the business.