After starting out coaching with girls’ grassroots teams in the Hague region, her club coaching career began with a season-long spell with her former club Ter Leede. She won a league title and KNVB Cup in 2007 before taking over at ADO Den Haag in the newly formed Women’s Eredivisie.
Fast forward a decade and Wiegman had become the first woman to hold a coaching role at a Dutch men’s club (a season-long spell as an assistant with Sparta Rotterdam). She also completed her Uefa Pro coaching licence in 2016, becoming the first woman to do so.
Since that Michels-inspired triumph, of course, the Netherlands had failed to lift another major senior trophy – until along came Wiegman. Installed as permanent boss just months before the 2017 Euros, she immediately turned around both form and playing style as her team swept aside every rival to win all three group games and knock out Sweden, then England, then finally dispatch Denmark in the final.
For the Netherlands’ footballing history, now swap in England’s.
The 52-year-old has been in charge for only 18 matches, up to and including the remarkable comeback quarter-final victory over Spain, yet already her team have hit 100 goals – aided by some absolute thumpings in qualifiers, most notably a record-breaking 20-0 win over Latvia. That result led to calls and questions about possible format reform, but Wiegman had done her job.
Prior to these championships getting underway, Wiegman’s past and present collided as the Lionesses beat Netherlands 5-1 in a warm-up game. If it was exciting to see the reigning champions beaten in such fashion, the manager wasn’t letting anybody get carried away.
“We stick to our strategy and plans, and whether we would lose or win now, we’re not going to all of a sudden sit, we call it, on a pink cloud. We stay grounded,” she insisted after that victory.
“Even if we had lost today, then still we know what we can improve, what we do well, and we want to take the next step in our style of play. Of course, the expectation will go higher, but now it’s a moment. I think we’re in a good place, but we still need to improve a couple of things, and we know that.”
It’s indicative of her time with England, but also her wider career: there’s a lot to achieve, a lot of work needed to ensure those lofty objectives are met and continual development is the most important ingredient to ensure success over the longer term.
Wiegman talks to England players following the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Quarter Final match between England and Spain at Brighton & Hove Community Stadium
Wiegman did not, for example, stroll into the Dutch job. Twice she was employed as interim manager, the first occasion ending as she stepped back to being assistant (having become an assistant coach with the national team in 2014). Time to learn, time to prove her worth; a setback wasn’t the end point, and nor would it have been in England’s search for success in a pre-tournament friendly.
Recognition and the deserved top job eventually came her way and the Euro 2017 triumph was almost replicated on the global stage – the Netherlands were beaten in the 2019 World Cup final. Such has been the exhibition of what Wiegman is capable of with her teambuilding skills and tactical insight.
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At Euro 2022, England have already been massive beneficiaries of both. Hard decisions were made in the squad selection, but the chosen group have been incredibly resilient and very much together. On the pitch, the switch of style and forceful turning of the tide against Spain was instrumental in England’s progress to the last four.
Two more matches stand between this group and national footballing immortality, and Wiegman stands ready at the head of the team with the know-how and track record of achieving exactly that.
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