Latest news with #WomensFootball
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
FA insist Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman is not available for any price, as England mastermind gears up for yet another final
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham declared that Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman is not available to a rival nation at any price, should England retain their European title on Sunday and others call him to try and poach her. Asked at the England hotel on Thursday what his response would be to a rival CEO ringing up and asking 'how many millions have we got to pay for Sarina?', Bullingham replied: 'She's not for sale. Not at any price.' Bullingham's decision to declare before the European Championships that Wiegman would be retained as manager whatever the outcome came close to seeming an error of judgement, when Sweden took England to penalties and the relative minnows from Italy were 30 seconds away from beating them in Tuesday's semi-final. But a third successive final for England under Wiegman, whose FA salary is understood to be around £1.25million a year, has justified the chief executive's confidence. Bullingham fell short on Thursday of suggesting that Wiegman might come under consideration for the job of manager of the England men's team when Thomas Tuchel 's contract expires after next summer's World Cup. Wiegman's own deal runs to the end of the Women's World Cup in Brazil, the following summer. He said: 'My answer is the same now as it was in 2023. The starting point is it is almost disrespectful to assume the men's job is more senior to the women's. That is not the way we view it. I said two years ago Sarina could do any job in football, she is an amazing talent and we are delighted to have her running the women's team through to 2027.' Bullingham indicated that planning to replace Wiegman – if her contract was not extended – would begin in 2026. 'I'm pretty focused on Sunday,' he said, when asked when the recruitment process would start. 'But generally you're looking at ideally a tournament cycle out, if not a year out, that's when you'd know roughly whether the coach wants to carry on. 'But we haven't had any of those discussions yet. We haven't quite started working on the plans for [post] 2027. I know her focus, hopefully after success on Sunday, will shift quite quickly to 2027.' Social media platforms yet to apologise or trigger racial abuse investigation By Ian Herbert and Tara Anson-Walsh FA chief executive Bullingham also revealed on Thursday that social media platforms have made no contact with him to apologise or suggest they are investigating the racial abuse of England player Jess Carter. Bullingham said little has changed since Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka faced despicable abuse after missing penalties at the men's Euros three years ago and indicated that he expects communications regulator Ofcom to use new legislation to take action against platforms. The FA would not reveal which platforms was use posted racial to England defender Carter, citing the confidentiality of their work with police. It is understood that there was more than one. But with the possibility of a black player like 19-year-old star striker Michelle Agyemang taking a spot kick in Sunday's final against Spain, Bullingham expressed his frustration with the lack of progress since Gareth Southgate's black players were abused at the 2021 Euros. He said: 'We haven't seen the progress we'd like to have seen. We did think things would improve [after 2021] and we lobbied very hard together with Kick it Out and other representatives in football to make sure the Online Harms Act came through. I think we would have liked it to have been stronger in some cases. 'I think now it's incumbent on Ofcom to make sure they really do bring those responsible for running social media platforms to account. I haven't seen huge progress in the last couple of years. We would like to see it now.' Bullingham said that the FA would be pursuing 'different tools' to reduce the abuse. One option would be to boycott platforms, like Twitter and Instagram, which allow the abuse to get through. But the Lionesses, who do not command huge salaries like the men, have found important commercial value in those platforms as promotional channels. Manager Sarina Wiegman has said she leaves it to players to decide how much they want to be on social media – and midfielder Keira Walsh has been off it for months. Wiegman said: 'We make principles of how to use social media when and I would never say you're not allowed to use social media because that's not how I work. We want to set standards, but I think coaching is about helping developments but also giving players responsibility – from being dependent to independent and let help players make their own decisions.' Despite claiming to have AI technology to prevent users posting racist messages to players, the platforms are allowing the material to get through. 'There has been a lot of focus on taking down content and I think they could be better at taking down content,' Bullingham said. 'But, more importantly, they could be much better at preventing it as well and then aiding prosecution when it happens. So they need to be better.' The problem is exacerbated by the fact that at least half of the abuse players are facing comes from outside the UK. Tackling overseas abuse entails involving governing bodies like UEFA and FIFA. Bullingham said the FA had been working with them.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
England have it inside them to win
Euro 2025 final: England v Spain Date: Sunday, 27 July; Venue: St Jakob-Park, Basel; Time: 17:00 BST Coverage: Live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer; live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; text commentary on BBC Sport website and app Mariona Caldentey says England "have it inside them" to win Euro 2025 and Spain must be wary when the teams meet again in the final. Sunday's game in Basel (17:00 BST kick-off) will be a repeat of the 2023 Women's World Cup final - which Spain won 1-0 in Sydney. The two teams also went head-to-head in this year's Women's Nations League, with England picking up a 1-0 victory at Wembley in February, before suffering a 2-1 defeat in Barcelona in June. Midfielder Caldentey won the Women's Champions League with Arsenal this season and was named the WSL player of the year - so knows the Lionesses well. "I know the footballers they are and I know what they can do," Caldentey told BBC Sport. "It's a final, so they are dangerous even though they can't maybe play the greatest football yet, but they have it inside them. It will be a hard, but good game." Reigning champions England have had a rollercoaster tournament, overcoming several setbacks to reach their third successive major final. Following defeat by France in their opening group game, they came through a quarter-final penalty shootout against Sweden and needed an extra-time winner in their semi-final to beat Italy. World champions Spain have now won six consecutive knockout matches at major tournaments - but will be competing in their first Euros final. "Today we can enjoy. Tomorrow we have to start thinking of England," said two-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati following their 1-0 win over Germany. "I know England have played twice for 120 minutes. We trust in our squad. We believe in our players. "They have a lot of players that we faced a lot of times and in 2023. We know them and they know us. We want to prepare the best we can."
BBC News
15 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
England have it inside them to win
Euro 2025 final: England v SpainDate: Sunday, 27 July; Venue: St Jakob-Park, Basel; Time: 17:00 BSTCoverage: Live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer; live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; text commentary on BBC Sport website and app Mariona Caldentey says England "have it inside them" to win Euro 2025 and Spain must be wary when the teams meet again in the game in Basel (17:00 BST kick-off) will be a repeat of the 2023 Women's World Cup final - which Spain won 1-0 in two teams also went head-to-head in this year's Women's Nations League, with England picking up a 1-0 victory at Wembley in February, before suffering a 2-1 defeat in Barcelona in Caldentey won the Women's Champions League with Arsenal this season and was named the WSL player of the year - so knows the Lionesses well. "I know the footballers they are and I know what they can do," Caldentey told BBC Sport. "It's a final, so they are dangerous even though they can't maybe play the greatest football yet, but they have it inside them. It will be a hard, but good game."Reigning champions England have had a rollercoaster tournament, overcoming several setbacks to reach their third successive major defeat by France in their opening group game, they came through a quarter-final penalty shootout against Sweden and needed an extra-time winner in their semi-final to beat champions Spain have now won six consecutive knockout matches at major tournaments - but will be competing in their first Euros final."Today we can enjoy. Tomorrow we have to start thinking of England," said two-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati following their 1-0 win over Germany. "I know England have played twice for 120 minutes. We trust in our squad. We believe in our players. "They have a lot of players that we faced a lot of times and in 2023. We know them and they know us. We want to prepare the best we can."
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Spain beats Germany 1-0 on Bonmati's extra-time winner to set up Women's European Championship final against England
ZURICH (AP) — Spain beats Germany 1-0 on Bonmati's extra-time winner to set up Women's European Championship final against England.
The Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Germany 0 Spain 1: Lionesses handed chance for World Cup final revenge as pair to renew rivalry in Euro 2025 showpiece
AITANA BONMATI was Spain's saviour once again as the world champions beat Germany to book a place in the Euro 2025 final The two-time Ballon d'Or winner fired home from a near-impossible angle to send her nation through and set up another major tournament final clash with England. 3 3 3 Sarina Wiegman's side narrowly lost out to Spain in the final of the Women's World Cup in 2023. And now England's comeback queens will have the chance to silence Spain in Sunday's final. Nothing could separate the two teams until the 113th minute when substitute Athenea del Castillo sent Bonmatí through on goal. After turning Rebecca Knaak, the midfielder caught Ann-Katrin Berger out of position by finding a small gap at the near post. Spain dominated the ball throughout but Germany were able to break their high press on multiple occasions, with Giovanna Hoffmann misfiring twice and Klara Bühl dragging her early effort wide in the first half. Montse Tomé's side came close to taking the lead on the brink of half-time, with Esther González forcing a brilliant close-range save from Berger after receiving a long ball from Patri Guijarro in the box. Clàudia Pina then challenged the Germany goalkeeper once again just moments later, although Berger was just about able to keep the ball out. Spain's first big opportunity of the second half came when Bonmatí turned past Knaak with the drop of a shoulder before shooting, but her effort was blocked by the outstretched knee of Sophia Kleinherne. Although they struggled in possession throughout, Germany looked dangerous on the break with Bühl especially causing problems for the Spanish back four. The 24-year-old came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock with a free kick from over 25 yards out in the late stages of normal time, but her curled effort narrowly ran past the post. Supersub Chloe Kelly's late winner sends England into Euro 2025 final Spain quickly responded, with substitute Salma Paralluelo attempting an audacious backheeled shot just outside the six-yard box which was calmly collected by Berger. The forward then narrowly missed the opportunity to tap-in a low-driven cross from Athenea del Castillo before the final whistle. Bühl came close once again with just a few seconds left to play when her effort from outside the box took a huge deflection off Olga Carmona, looping upwards and forcing Cata Coll into a crucial save on the line. Carlotta Wamser jumped onto the rebound of the goalkeeper's initial save, forcing a huge second block which ultimately took the clash to extra time.
