ENGLAND will consider appointing Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman as Gareth Southgate’s successor.
The Dutch manager has led England Women to Sunday’s World Cup Final a year after leading the team to glory at Euro 2022.
She is also the only manager – male or female – to lead two different teams to a World Cup final, having finished as a runner-up with the Netherlands to the USA in 2019.
Wiegman, 53, has been linked to the vacant role at the USA Women’s team following Vlatko Andonovski’s resignation.
But she is under contract with the Lionesses until 2025 and FA chief executive Mark Bullingham believes she is capable of doing “anything she wants in football” – including the England men’s job.
He said: “People always say it is the best man for the job or the best Englishman.
“Why does it have to be a man?
“I think our answer is always: ‘it’s the best person for the job.’ We think Sarina is doing a great job and hope she continues doing it for a long time. I think Sarina could do anything she wants in football.
“If at some point in the future she decides she wants to move into the men’s game, that would be a really interesting discussion, but that’s for her, right?
“I don’t think we should view it as a step up. If she decides at some point in the future to go in a different direction, I think she’s perfectly capable of that.
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“It’s the best person for the job, if that best person is a woman, then why not? You analyse the pool for any job at that particular time and do I think there’s a really strong diverse pool of both men and women for any big national job?
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“No, I think the talent pool is small for both actually. But I don’t like the mindset that it has to be a man.”
The FA could begin their search for a new men’s team manager after Euro 2024 – when Southgate’s contract ends.
And Wiegman has convinced FA bosses she could be the right person for the job after leading England to successive finals.
She has achieved the feat despite injuries to key players such as Fran Kirby, Beth Mead and captain Leah Williamson.
England overcame the red card and following suspension of another key star, Lauren James, to beat Nigeria, Colombia and hosts Australia.
They face Spain in Sunday’s final – a team they beat on the way to winning Euro 2022 last summer.
Prior to taking charge of England Wiegman won the Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 before taking them to the World Cup final two years later.
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At club level she has won the Women’s Eredivisie twice, with Ter Leede and ADO Den Haag, as well as the KNVB Cup on three occasions.
Wiegman also won the Dutch league and cup with Ter Leede as a player and was victorious in the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship with North Carolina Tar Heels in 1989.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
