Sarina Wiegman: England Women head coach reflects on Euro 2025 win, Hannah Hampton’s impact and Thomas Tuchel | Football News

As Sarina Wiegman reflects on Euro 2025, a smile spreads across her face.

“It’s still strange. Did this really happen?” the usually-stoic England head coach admits. “To be honest, it makes me really emotional.

“Those games were so insane in how they developed. It was different to the other tournaments we played so I got very emotional. It was so special.”

Player dropouts, injury doubts, an early defeat, comeback wins and penalty shoot-outs defined England’s journey to becoming back-to-back champions of Europe.

Months later, Wiegman sat down with Sky Sports News to give her account of the most dramatic tournament win in modern history. Recalling the build-up to the tournament, Wiegman said ‘there was a lot going on’.

That’s putting it mildly.

Mary Earps decided to retire after being relegated to second-choice ‘keeper. Fran Kirby did the same after finding out she wasn’t in Wiegman’s immediate plans and former captain Millie Bright opted to take a break instead of going to Switzerland.

Add to that, five presumed starters were doubts to make the tournament because of injury.

Lauren James, Georgia Stanway, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp and Lucy Bronze all bust a gut to get on the plane, something Wiegman is immensely proud of.

“We had five pretty big injuries from players playing many minutes and they worked very hard to get back. It’s very special that all five players made it,” she reflected.

“A player can get injured and not be available. A player can retire and not be available. The reason is different, the outcome is the same – who is the next person to step in?”

The problem with almost half a starting line-up coming back was that England were undercooked going into the tournament and it showed in their defeat to France in their opening game.

Tough words were said, realities laid bare and changes made to training. England felt low after losing to one of the tournament favourites, but Wiegman wasn’t going to let it happen again.

‘We didn’t take our penalties very well vs Sweden’

Every ounce of that determination and belief in the squad was needed in the quarter-final against Sweden.

“Boom – in 30 minutes we were 2-0 down,” recalls Wiegman. “Ok, it’s a game like this. We said at half-time, ‘we can still change this game’.”

Chloe Kelly came on to set up goals for Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang to take the game to penalties. Chaos ensued with nine spot-kicks missed.

“We took them not so well. I said to Arjen [Veurink, former England assistant head coach] ‘wow’, or I said something stronger like ‘we may be on a plane tomorrow’.”

Bronze, however, smashed home England’s winner to make it a night to remember in Zurich.

“I’ve never experienced a game like this but what got us through is how this team is connected. We were together in 2022 and 2023 but this team took it to a new level. There was a lot of belief in this team and the team bonding gave us the extra edge.”

‘We knew we were better at penalties than Spain’

England needed that togetherness in the semi-final to overcome another deficit to beat Italy in extra-time to reach their third consecutive major tournament final.

Standing in Wiegman’s way was the country that beat England in the 2023 World Cup final.

“Ok, we’re playing Spain. They’re the best in possession, it’s nice to watch, but they have some vulnerabilities we tried to exploit,” the Lionesses head coach said when thinking back to the game plan.

Wiegman acknowledges England ‘struggled’ after Mariona Caldentey put the world champions in front. But they found momentum again after the break and equalised through Alessia Russo’s header.

Yet again, England took a massive game to penalties. People call shoot-outs a lottery – but it’s a cliché Wiegman knew didn’t apply to her side.

“We had an advantage, we knew that,” she said. “They were disappointed to be in that position. We have experience and we know we can do it. We know we are better at penalties than they are.

“And we also had Hannah.”

‘I’m so proud of Hannah’

When Hannah Hampton saved Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati’s penalty a realisation swept around St Jakob’s Park. England were about to be European champions again.

England wouldn’t have lifted the trophy without their No 1. The Chelsea ‘keeper made big saves throughout the tournament, not just in the shoot-outs. Her distribution also added a dimension to the Lionesses they’ve never had before.

It’s something even more remarkable given the spotlight Hampton was under after Earps’ shock retirement. Hampton was also grieving after her grandfather passed away two days before the competition started.

“I’m really, really proud of her,” Wiegman says. “She was in great form and also had personal stuff to deal with before the tournament. She did a very good job, she’s incredible.”

‘Tuchel knows what he wants to do next summer’

Hampton and the rest of the squad celebrated hard after the Euros win.

A night to remember in Zurich was followed by a trip to Downing Street before the celebrations in front Buckingham Palace.

“You see 70,000 people cheering for you, you tell yourself ‘this is not real. What’s happening here?'”, the Lionesses boss recalled.

Unexpectedly, we saw a different side to the normally cool Dutchwoman during the party on The Mall. Wiegman, live on TV, danced and sung with Burna Boy much to the surprise of everyone watching.

“My daughters were there but I didn’t know. While we were singing and dancing Georgia [Stanway] said ‘your daughters are here’ and I saw them and ran over to them. It made me even more excited,” she said. “You don’t see much like that. I was really enjoying myself.”

Wiemgan will also enjoy it if England’s men bring home a major trophy at this summer’s World Cup in North America. She meets up with Thomas Tuchel every so often, but insists he doesn’t need her guidance.

“Oh he knows”, Wiegman joked. “We meet once in a while and he’s very excited too. He knows exactly what he wants to do this summer.”

He wouldn’t go wrong with following Wiegman’s blueprint for success.

If 2025 has taught her anything it’s how to deal with adversity, setbacks and chaos, and still end up with another medal around her neck.