Wiegman is the first women’s coach ever to win a prize with two different countries | NOW

Sarina Wiegman made history on Sunday with the European title with England. De Haagse is the first women’s coach ever to win a prize with two different countries.

England was too strong for Germany in the European Championship final at a packed Wembley after extra time with 2-1, making them European champion with the Netherlands, just like five years ago.

For the English women, it is the first top prize in history. Wiegman, who switched from the Netherlands to England last year, is the first foreign coach to lead a national women’s team to a title.

It has never happened before in women’s football that a coach wins a main prize with two different countries. Record holders Tina Theune and Silvia Neid took three titles, but both did so exclusively with Germany.

With the men it has sometimes happened that a national coach with two countries won a main prize. Frenchman Roger Lemerre became European champion with France in 2000 and won the Africa Cup with Tunisia four years later.

Wiegman surpasses Michels

Wiegman is also the most successful Dutch national team coach ever. Never before has a compatriot managed to win two prizes with a country at a major tournament. After winning the European title with the Orange Women in 2017, Wiegman was on a par with Rinus Michels, who became European champion with the men in 1988.

For Wiegman it is the seventh prize in her career. In 2007 she took the double with Ter Leede, which she also succeeded five years later with ADO Den Haag. With the club from her hometown, she also won the cup in 2013. So later on, the European titles with the Netherlands and England were added.

Wiegman was named World Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2020. She owed the last election to the final place with the Netherlands at the World Cup in 2019. It is the only one of the three finals that the Hague lost as a coach.