‘My players can say that I’m direct but I am not blunt’

England coach Sarina Wiegman heads into Euro 2025 on the back of huge success but with some questioning her methods

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD IN ZURICH

Four years into the England job, and on the eve of her third major tournament in charge of the Lionesses, Sarina Wiegman reflects on how her role has changed, and how it has changed her. “My approach is the same. I just worry a little bit less,” Wiegman says, appearing relaxed and in a typically open and honest mood at England’s Euro 2025 base camp at the five-star Dolder Grand hotel, perched like a medieval castle above Lake Zurich in Switzerland.

There is some laughter as Wiegman explains how Sunday roasts and chicken tikka masala have become two of her favourites since being appointed England manager in 2021, while the 55-year-old has also enjoyed embracing the appetite for sport in England. “It’s such a massive sport culture,” she says, “and in the Netherlands, but here, at every corner, the whole day on TV, for example, there’s sports. There’s either football or there’s rugby or there’s cricket. And if that’s not there, then there’s something else.”

And, thanks to Wiegman, the Lionesses now form one of the biggest parts of the sporting summer. A result of England’s historic victory at Euro 2022 and run to the 2023 World Cup final is that the attention on the Lionesses before Euro 2025 and their opening game against France tomorrow has never been greater. The news of two senior players — in Mary Earps and Millie Bright - withdrawing from the England squad before a major tournament may not have been headline news even four years ago. But the success of Wiegman’s team means there is more publicity, and, for the first time as England coach, more questions when there is some disruption behind the scenes.