Sarina Wiegman named UEFA Women's Coach of the Year
The Lionesses chief has picked up UEFA's prestigious award for the second successive year
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The Lionesses boss picked up the award at UEFA’s ceremony in Monaco on Thursday evening and it’s the second year in succession that she’s picked up the title.
Wiegman was nominated alongside Spain’s Jorge Vilda and Barcelona coach Jonatan Giraldez, with the result announced at the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony, held at the Grimaldi Forum.
It was another memorable campaign for Wiegman and her squad, following last summer’s success in winning EURO 2022 on home soil to land their first major title.
They followed that up by securing qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand, as well as winning the Arnold Clark Cup in early 2023 and then winning the inaugural Finalissima against Brazil in April.
Speaking after receiving the award on stage, Wiegman said: "I would like to dedicate this award to the Spanish team, the side that played such great football that everyone enjoyed.
"This team deserves to be celebrated and deserves to be listened to. We all know the issues around the Spanish team and it really hurts me as a coach, as a mother of two daughters, as a wife and as a human being.
"The game has grown so much, but there's still a long way to go in women's football and in society.
"I'm going to give them a big applause and I hope you will join me."
"It's not about individual prizes for me, but it shows that with the teams I've been working with we've done really, really well and I hope to in the future too.
"It means a lot, but we play to win games and play to improve all the time, to perform well and win at tournaments.
"That's always what we want to do and if we do well, then this [awards] comes with it which is really nice because you're being appreciated.
"I've had two years in England with the team and it's been an incredible journey so far, I've enjoyed it very much.Yes, boss! 👏👏
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) August 31, 2023
Sarina Wiegman has been voted @UEFA 2022-23 Women's Coach of the Year! 🏆#UEFAawards pic.twitter.com/uYLqRk08Cd
"The team is so committed and eager to improve and the willingness to improve is great.
"It's a big pleasure to work with them and also the staff because there's a great experience which is nice to work with and the connection is really good.
Sarina reflects on World Cup campaign
The Lionesses head coach sat down to speak after the end of her team's World Cup journey in Australia
That set up a match with Spain in the Final earlier this month where England narrowly lost by 1-0 in Sydney.
The final three nominees were decided after an initial shortlist of coaches was provided by the UEFA technical observers based on their performances during the 2022-23 season at club or national team level.
From there, the top three nominees were voted for by a jury composed of the coaches of clubs participating in the group stage of the UEFA Women's Champions League, together with the coaches of the women's national teams of UEFA's member associations. A group of journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) were also part of the jury.
Coaches and journalists were asked to select their top three coaches from the shortlist by allocating them five points, three points and one point respectively. The final result was based on the total number of votes cast by the coaches and the journalists with coaches unable to vote for themselves.