FA CEO insists Sarina Wiegman is “not for sale” as Lionesses reach third consecutive tournament final

Mark Bullingham, Chief Executive Officer of the FA, spoke to the media on Thursday, emphasising his desire to thank fans for their support of the Lionesses, the grassroots pathway and the coaches that have shaped the current generation of players.

“First of all, thank you to the fans,” the 50-year-old said. “We have been feeling the love from back in England, and in the stadiums here, it’s been amazing. It has definitely helped the team and spurred them on in critical moments in games. Every single stadium we’ve been in, we have been in the majority.” 

“From my point of view, it’s a really exciting time to be an English fan, to be around English football. We don’t take anything for granted but when we look at our tournament record recently, we’ve now made it to five major tournament finals across men’s and women’s football in 5 years. We are incredibly proud of that.”

He continued: “I also want to pay tribute to Sarina [Wiegman]. Her record individually is phenomenal. We are lucky to have her, she has been incredible. Her record of managing five tournaments, reaching five finals, is phenomenal. I don’t believe anyone has been anywhere near that in the past, and I think it would be really hard for anyone to do in the future. She is a really special coach and we are delighted to have her with us.” 

“I also see the work she does with the players, the relationships she builds, the connections she builds in camp are phenomenal, and [she’s] just a cool head and the way she transmits that on the pitch. She looks like the coolest person in the stadium, and I have no doubt that helps in the critical moments.” 

“We are committed to her, and she is committed to us. And we’ve got a new team coming in to support her, so we haven’t quite started working on the plan for 2027, but I know that her focus – hopefully after success on Sunday – will shift quite quickly to 27.”

Around the time of the last FIFA Women’s World Cup, in 2023, he was asked if Wiegman would ever be considered for England’s Three Lions role. He gave the same answer to that question today, insisting that “it’s disrespectful to assume that the England men’s team is a step up over the Lionesses, that is not the way we view it. Sarina could do any job in football, she is an incredible talent, we are delighted to have her running the Lionesses through till 2027.” 

And if any other FA contacts him with an offer for Wiegman, the message is clear: “She’s not for sale. No price at all.”

While Wiegman is understandably receiving the plaudits for England’s success in recent years, Bullingham also chose to shine a light on those who have paved the way and contributed to the Lionesses’ current crop of players.

“To the pathway and the coaches that have brought some of this talent through, we can see some of the youngsters really pushing for starting positions and pay tribute to the clubs who have also contributed to their development,” he explained.

“And to highlight, a big thing we are working on at the moment is bidding for the 2035 World Cup and our hope is that the success in this tournament will help inspire more positive momentum for that, and support from fans throughout the country as well. A couple of the younger players here could still be competing at the 2035 World Cup, and hopefully a lot more girls throughout the country who will be looking at 2035 and think ‘what a fantastic opportunity for me’. We have done a good job over the last couple of years of growing women’s and girls football, but there is still a lot of growth out there, and our hope is that we use this tournament as another trampoline to push further for women’s and girls’ football.” 

“Until we have the same number of women and girls playing football as men and boys, we’ve still got a job to do. We think this tournament will help with that ambition.”