“You need to celebrate the moments that are good,” says Wiegman ahead of England’s Euro 2025 final | OneFootball

Since being appointed as England boss four years ago, Sarina Wiegman has been consistent – in her lineup choices throughout a tournament, in her muted celebrations and in her ever-present success. That success has built a steady foundation from which the Lionesses can build, and on Sunday, they will play their third consecutive major tournament final under the Dutchwoman.

But in Switzerland, Wiegman’s muted celebrations have been traded for a sheer outburst of joy, relief, and countless other emotions. Perhaps that’s due to the Lionesses leaving it to late to secure progression in each of their knockout fixtures – and the 55-year-old confirmed “that comes from these performances. It’s so intense. Of course, I look very calm but when the whistle goes and we score a goal and we change the game, when you have one minute or ten seconds left, that is emotional.”

“Like every person in the room develops, I develop too, with experiences. You learn more about people, you learn more about people you work with. You learn more about yourself and how you respond to things and while I’m always working on developing the team and developing or trying to help the development of people, I always try to keep developing myself. What I really wanted to do over all these years and trying to enjoy it a little bit more; trying to enjoy things a little bit more instead of always being so focused. You have to be focused in this job, but you need to celebrate the moments that are good.”

The connections she has built with members of her squad over the past four years have been crucial too, she explains. “I truly believe that connections make a difference,” says Wiegman, a manager who has often been described as a motherly figure by her players. “You know, sometimes when people say ‘the girls’ I think ‘are they meaning my daughters, or are they meaning my team?’. I’m kind of a caring person. I care about them but at the same time I’m the coach, I’m making these hard decisions at the moment so sometimes you should leave that caring and leave it up to them. They’re grown-up women. So at least a mum should care,” she acknowledged.

In recent matches, Wiegman has turned to the bench to celebrate. “I’m looking at [Arjan Veurink and Darren Ward],” she revealed, referring to her trusted assistant and England’s goalkeeping coach. “I know the players put so much effort in every game and every training session, but we as a staff put so much effort also in everything we do. So when in the final moments we score a goal and we turn things around as a team, then it’s really exciting to get connected with them too. We do it together.”

There’s a common theme that quickly becomes apparent when speaking with Wiegman – she is not one to accept all of the credit. Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final against Spain will mark her fifth consecutive major tournament final as a manager, and while the Dutchwoman insisted she finds it “very special”, she was quick to emphasise: “But I do believe that everyone plays his or her part in the success. What I’m trying to do is bring people together in the best possible way. Players and staff and the people around me are really, really good. And if they perform at their highest level, then the chance of winning a game is the highest possible, and that’s what I’m trying to do. But without the quality, you’re not going to win a tournament, so you need very good players and the support staff. The environment we created, the performance, how we can do recovery, how we can do the gym sessions with players, the pitch which is perfect to train on. That’s all facility-wise but they’re important things to get the best prepared, so there’s so many things that make us who we are now.”

England’s Euro 2025 final against Spain will kick off at 17:00 (GMT) on Sunday 27th July at St. Jakob-Park in Basel.