England's legendary Lionesses have all eyes on them today, as they make their return to the Women's Euros following their victory in 2022.
The team, captained by Leah Williamson, have their first major game tonight, when they'll be taking on France, at 8pm.
However, a lot of credit for their triumphs has to go to their manager, Sarina Wiegman, the 55-year-old Dutch football manager and former player who has made quite a few sacrifices for her career.
Sarina Wiegman was announced as the England Women's football manager back in 2020, when the world was locked down in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though she first considered commuting from her home in The Hague, Netherlands, she soon realised that she would need to relocate to the UK for her role.
She then moved with her husband Marten Glotzbach, a German football coach, and their children, Sacha and Lauren, over to Britain and fully immersed herself in English culture.
As reported by The Guardian, Sarina said: "Although the countries are really close together there are some differences in culture, so I really tried to learn. I took some English classes in football. I said [to the FA that] I will learn about your culture and try and adapt to your culture, but the directness you have to know… I will not go around it or change that. The other things, I will try to adapt to. I think it went really well and we’ve really enjoyed ourselves, I think we can still grow a lot."
She even admitted, during the 2022 Euros, that she's now having milk in her tea and she's tried the British delicacy of fish and chips in a bid to settle in.
Although the focused football legend keeps her home life under wraps for the most part, she did share an off-duty glimpse of family time back in December 2020. Sarina, Marten and their girls all huddled together around the Christmas tree for a sweet festive snap – and their beloved pooch also featured in the wholesome photo!
Sarina's childhood adversity
© Getty ImagesThe heroic exploits of Sarina Wiegman and her Lionesses will inspire a generation of women to play the beautiful game. While parity with men is still some way off, girls today will certainly find it easier to make it onto the pitch than England's inspirational coach did. In a recent interview with talkSport, Sarina recalled how the footballing adversity she battled as a child in the Netherlands forced her to make an unconventional choice.
"When I started playing football as a six-year-old girl we weren't allowed to play, so I played illegally. At that time as a girl you were not allowed to play football. [In my school team] I was the only girl on that team...A lot of these guys went into professional football at the highest level so it was a pretty good team too. Every time when we would go back to school we would have drinks and chips and that was the fun playing football and having those things. There was nothing in me at that time that thought that I would be here right now having had a football career and a coaching career."
It's clear women's football in the UK couldn't have a more 'roarsome' figurehead...
Who is Sarina Wiegman's husband?
Sarina's husband Marten Glotzbach isn't in the limelight much, but we know that he is German, and worked alongside Sarina as the head coach for the Netherlands women's national football team.
It's not officially known yet how the couple met, however, given their careers in football it could have well been a workplace romance.
What's next for Sarina Wiegman?
It has been previously been rumoured that The Dutch football association KNVB is considering the manager to become the Netherlands men’s national coach when the position becomes available, but she is yet to comment on the matter, and the FA stated that they would reject any approach for Sarina.
© GettyAhead of the dramatic final Down Under back in 2022, Sarina told reporters: "I'm really enjoying my job," indicating no intentions of a job change. She firmly added: "I have the impression that people still like me doing the job. I have no plans to leave. I'm staying out of [speculation regarding the USA job]. I've heard it. I'm with England, I'm really happy with England and I have a contract until 2025."
It seems the England team are on board with Sarina staying too, with Georgia Stanway telling Sky Sports News: "We need her. We absolutely need her. She's done amazing, with the Netherlands and here as well."
