After the Women’s World Cup, Sarina Wiegman, the Dutch coach of England, is already cited as a future lead for the position of coach of the Oranje. Corinne Deacon was the first woman to lead a professional team in 2014.
What if the KNVB (Royal Netherlands Football Federation) entrusted the reins of its (male) selection to a woman? It would be historic and The Telegraph claims that Sarina Wiegman will be among the coaches targeted by the Dutch FA to lead the Oranje (for the future succession of Ronald Koeman). At 53, she is now a highly respected technician. And not just for leading England to the 2023 World Cup final, losing to Spain last Sunday.
Wiegman served as an assistant coach for Sparta Rotterdam’s reserve team, becoming the first-ever woman to feature on a professional-level coaching staff in the Netherlands. She then took charge of her country’s women’s team in 2017, to win the Women’s Euro the same year and then to finish in the final of the 2019 World Cup against the United States. Before being chosen by the FA to lead the Three Lionesses, with a new continental title at stake, last year.
The Dutch press forgets to say that it was Corinne Deacon who became the first woman to lead a men’s professional team. In the summer of 2014, Clermont Foot appointed Helena Costa, who quickly gave up. Deacon was then promoted to head this team and was voted best Ligue 2 coach by France Football at the end of 2015, after the 7th place of the Auvergnats. It was in August 2017 that she accepted the position of coach of the Blue. For the difficult story that we know…
