FA Chief Responds To USWNT Interest In Sarina Wiegman

The USWNT are said to be interested in hiring Sarina Wiegman but FA CEO Mark Bullingham has said that any approaches for the England manager will be rejected.

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has said that any approaches for England manager Sarina Wiegman will be "100% rejected".

Wiegman, 53, has been in charge of the England women's national team since September 2021 and is under contract for another two years.

After leading the Lionesses to glory at UEFA Women's Euro 2022, the former Dutch defender has overseen her team's run to Sunday's Women's World Cup final.

She is the first manager to take two different countries to a Women's World Cup final, having previously led the Netherlands to second place in 2019.

Wiegman's excellent resume has seen her emerge as a strong candidate to replace Vlatko Andonovski as head coach of the United States.

Andonovski resigned from his role with the USWNT on Thursday after overseeing a disappointing World Cup campaign.

The USA had reached the semi-finals at each of the last eight Women's World Cups but exited in the round of 16 this year after losing to Sweden in a penalty shootout.

Wiegman is understood to rank high on the USWNT's wanted list, but her current employers have no intention of letting her leave.

Bullingham said on Thursday: "It is not about money. We are very happy with her and feel she is happy.

"We've seen lots of rumors, and she is a special talent - we know that. From our side, she's contracted through until 2025."

"She's doing a great job. We're obviously huge supporters of her and hopefully she feels the same way. She's someone we'd like to have with us for a very long time."

England manager Sarina Wiegman pictured before her side's 3-1 win over Australia in the Women's World Cup semi-finals on Wednesday :: IMAGO/Eibner/Pressefoto/Memmler

Asked if there had been talks with Wiegman about possibly extending her contract, Bullingham replied: "We've always said we'd get to it after a tournament. We had good conversations after the Euros.

"There will be an appropriate time to do it. We've got a bit of time. She'll want to have a decent holiday after this."

Bullingham also revealed that plans to build a statue of Wiegman outside Wembley Stadium have progressed.

He added: "We've made progress on that and it would be right to have something to commemorate that success outside Wembley. It's more the whole team.

"You have to go through various permissions - we've gone through that. The next stage is working on the design."