England boss Sarina Wiegman has opened up on her side's "unbelievable" year and lifted the lid on her hopes for 2023.
Wiegman has overseen a historic 12 months for the Lionesses who have gone 20 games unbeaten, secured World Cup qualification and triumphed at the summer's Euros to claim England's first major trophy since 1966.
This succession of impressive feats has helped to spark something of a revolution in the women's game and has led the Dutch coach - alongside players Beth Mead, Leah Williamson and Ellen White - to be included in the New Year's Honours list.
Reflecting on the Lionesses success at the EUROs, Wiegman told England Football : "When I started last year in September 2021, I just hoped that everything would go well. Of course, you have dreams and you go into it to win the EUROs but you also know it is going to be really, really hard.
“So when it does happen and we win the EUROs, as you might have seen right after the final whistle, I was very flabbergasted and overwhelmed.
“We did it, we won the EUROs and it was unbelievable.”
It was a stunning tournament for England, who beat out the likes of Spain and Sweden before coming up against Germany in a record-breaking final at Wembley.
A whopping 87,192 fans packed into the iconic stadium to watch Manchester City striker Chloe Kelly seal victory for the Lionesses in extra time, and the connection between the supporters and players is one of Wiegman's highlights of the year.
"We can absolutely feel that connection and the players feel it too," she said. "When we are waving to the crowd, the fans feel how much we appreciate them coming to watch us in the stadiums.”
She added: “We said we want to inspire the nation and that is absolutely what we did. You can see little boys and girls with the names of our players on their shirts and they can see that they too can become a professional player and coach.”
England built on their incredible summer with an impressive victory over World Champions USA in October, before draws with the Czech Republic and Norway and a thumping 4-0 win over Japan rounded off an unbeaten year for the Lionesses.
"I can’t say one reason as being the most important behind our success because it was a puzzle and all of the little pieces of the puzzle fit into each other," Wiegman said.
"If you take one out, then the puzzle is no good. We did things on the pitch and we did things off the pitch. We did some things around creating an environment, we had clarity around how we work, what the schedule looks like, how we train, how we play, clarity around tasks and responsibilities and really having the courage to take action and accept mistakes.
“Those are some of the things but the belief is something which really came into the team and that was a big thing"
While 2022 has been a momentous year for the Lionesses, 2023 promises to be even bigger, with the World Cup to come in July. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, Wiegman said: ”It has been an incredible year when dreams come true, especially by winning the EUROs. There were such great memories and we helped change society. So hopefully we can do a little more in 2023.”
She added: “Hopefully next year, we can keep up with our performances and sustain our success and keep performing.
“Of course, we have our dream of doing really well at the World Cup and hopefully it works again!”
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