After South Africa was knocked out of the Women’s World Cup on Sunday, England’s Sarina Wiegman is the only female head coach left. If history has anything to say about it, this could be good for the Lionesses Down Under.
Twelve of the 32 head coaches at the World Cup were women, including Desiree Ellis, whose Banyana Banyana were eliminated by the Netherlands in the round of 16 with a score of 2-0.
Even though there aren’t many of them, women have done very well on the world sports stage. The Women’s World Cup, the Women’s Euros, and all but one of the Olympics have been won by teams managed by women since 2000, according to the Female Coaching Network.
The only person who isn’t on this list is Norio Sasaki, who led Japan to win the World Cup in 2011.
Wiegman’s European winners play Nigeria in the round of 16 on Monday. She took over as head coach of the Lionesses in September 2021, and her team went 30 games without losing, with only five draws. It was over when Australia beat them 2-0 in a friendly on April 11. England hasn’t lost any of their last five games.
On Saturday, Switzerland lost 5-1 to Spain (coached by Inka Grings), and Norway lost 3-1 to Japan (coached by Hege Riise). Both teams were coached by women.