Five things you might've missed from episode five of That Lionesses Podcast

Episode five of That Lionesses Podcast connected by EE has been released, and we had a very special guest for this one, as England head coach Sarina Wiegman joined host Harriet Rose for a chat ahead of our UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 campaign.

As well as discussing the preparations for the trip to Switzerland in July and how Sarina and her team are approaching it, Harriet also had the chance to ask Sarina about some of the things that help make her tick away from the training ground when she’s at work.

And we’ve picked out five things which Lionesses fans might find interesting about our boss.

A non-negotiable

One key thing for Sarina on trips away and tournaments is making sure her love of coffee is fulfilled….

“I really enjoy my coffee, so that’s absolutely a non-negotiable, I have to have coffee. I take it with a little bit of milk. A flat white, very simple.

Getting away from it

International trips are intense for all concerned, with training, games, media commitments and much more to consider. So Sarina revealed how she’s tried to maximise her time away in the build up to this summer to ensure she’s ready to go when the business end arrives.

“Before the tournament, I’ll take some actions, try to take some time off, a little further away from the tournament, because the closer it gets, I just want to get ready and you just want to get into it.

“I try to relax, and I just have to make sure that when I go into the tournament I’m fit and also fresh because it’s going to be intense, and you actually don’t want to switch off because it’s game, three days, game, three days, sometimes four, but in the group stages three days in between.

“You really do not want to switch off, so just moments like half an hour, or when you wake up in the morning, I do some movement. I like to maybe have a little run or do some yoga, do some reading, things like that. It’s just not half a day, I don’t need half a day off but just some mindful moments, that’s what I enjoy.

Taking in the Swiss scenery

The Lionesses have known their base camp for the tournament in Zurich for a number of months now and having visited already, Sarina knows what to expect on arrival. And while she’ll be focused firmly on football, she can still appreciate her Swiss surroundings.

“It’s very beautiful, I’ve been there a couple of times and it’s very pretty. Around the hotel, there’s like a little forest and it’s a little hilly, so when you go for a run it’s pretty tiring when you go up the hill.

“It’s fresh, we’re near the lakes so you can switch off a little bit then it’s really nice to just go out.”

Sarina’s new glasses

One talking point among Lionesses fans has been Sarina’s recent switch of glasses frames, from gold to a tortoise shell model.

And Sarina revealed: “Well, actually I’ve had these for a year already but we didn’t have a tournament last year unfortunately.

“I had those last glasses for such a long period of time that I felt that I had to change, well people told me ‘you should change your glasses every once in a while’

“I was like okay, and it took me a couple of weeks to find the right glasses but I got some good advice and I actually really liked the other glasses, but I think I had to change a little bit.

“I would love to wear lenses and not wear glasses at all, but my eyes don’t like it at all, so I have to wear them.”

Leaving a legacy

Sarina’s career as both a player and coach has been well lauded, but she’s also been a trailblazer for women and girls’ football in her homeland of the Netherlands and now in England following her time working with the Lionesses.

And she spoke about her fierce determination to play the game growing up before also going into coaching once her playing career was over.

“I really wanted to play football and be involved in football and I never let anyone tell me not to do it,” she said.

“I’ve had so many people tell me ‘oh why would you play football?’, and I thought, well because I love it. And why would you want to become a coach in football? Well because I just love it, I love to work with people and I just love the game, so I never let anyone tell me what to do or what not to do.

“I just followed my dreams, but I actually could never dream that I would be sitting here now and being coach of England and going to a second EUROs with the team, but I just followed my heart.

“I would just say follow your heart and go for it if you really feel like that’s the right thing for you. I knew from a very young age what I wanted to do and at that time I couldn’t become a coach, so I wanted to be a PE teacher, because I wanted to be involved in sports and I wanted to work with people. So I just did that and over time, I was so lucky because I had so many trailblazers who paved the way for me and then I could become a coach.”