Sarina Wickman has been named England’s Coach of the Year. In the Netherlands, the choice did not fall on the Hague coach who led England’s footballers to the European title last summer, but on short-track coach Jeroen Otter.
Under Wiegman, England won every match at the European Championship, including the final against Germany at Wembley (2-1 after extra time). As a result, English women won their first major prize. It was England’s first title since winning the men’s World Cup in 1966.
“I feel honored, but also appropriately humbled,” Weickman said BBC. “I never could have accomplished this without an amazing group of players. And we had a great staff. It was awesome. I’m lucky to work with these players.”
Wickman, 52, joined England from the Orange women’s team after last year’s Olympics in Tokyo. He already became the European champion in 2017 in the Netherlands. Since Hague was appointed, England Women are unbeaten in all 26 of their matches. England qualified for next summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Notably, Wiegmann won no prizes at Wednesday’s Dutch sports fair. Otter, who won three gold medals as the national coach of the short track team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, was preferred by the professional jury and the athletes. Suzanne Schulting and the women’s relay team won medals for Otter.
At the English Sports Fair, almost all the prizes went to the English football team. The Footballers were named Sports Team of the Year. Beth Mead, top scorer at the European Championships, was named Sports Personality of the Year. Meet Vivian Miedema’s life partner. Both have now left with serious injuries.
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