One of the most talked-about names in football right now is Sarina Wiegman. The Dutch coach has taken the England Women’s team to their first-ever Women’s World Cup final.
Her guidance has gotten the best out of so many England players since she took charge back in August 2020. She delivered the Euros for England in 2022 and is now on the brink of adding the World Cup to that initial triumph.
Money is a very big talking point when it comes to women’s football. The finances involved are simply not on the same level as the men’s game and many have been left wondering what Wiegman gets paid for all the great work she does for the England women’s national team.
The specific figure that Sarina Wiegman receives from the Football Association for her work is not known as that is a private matter that has not been made public by her or anyone from the FA.
That being said, the general belief is that Wiegman gets an annual salary of £400,000 for being the England Women’s coach. Now, that is a lot of money to almost everyone and a sum that you could live a very charmed life on, but it is tiny when you compare it to the supposed £5m that Gareth Southgate gets for being the England Men’s coach.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham has been speaking about Wiegman in glowing terms over the last few weeks. He was asked if she should have a statue, to which he said: “She can have whatever she wants, she’s incredible.”
However, despite his praise for Wiegman, Bullingham insisted the women’s game is not yet at a point where equal pay is feasible.
He said: “Over time, that’s where you’ve got to get to. If you look at the disparity in the market and the income coming in, that’s why you’ve got a difference. We don’t talk about people’s remuneration. I would say that Sarina is, within the market she operates within, well-paid.”
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While we may be talking about what Wiegman earns as England coach, all that she will be thinking about right now is the World Cup final which is coming up on Sunday morning.
England kicked off with a tepid 1-0 win over Haiti which proved tougher than expected, and the 1-0 win over Denmark did not do much to excite fans to England’s prospects. Things then got a lot more exciting as England beat China 6-1, scoring some superb goals in the process.
The Nigeria game in the round of 16 was something of a lucky escape for England given they did not impress and Lauren James’ red card made things much harder. They got through it on penalties, and then managed to get the better of Colombia in another very tough game.
The best performance of the tournament so far came against Australia in the semi-final in front of an incredibly noisy home support. England deserve their place in Sunday’s final against Spain, even if it has not been a walk in the park to get there.
Should Wiegman deliver a World Cup title for England, you can expect a lot more noise to be made about how her contributions are recognised by the FA.
