Sign Sarina For Team GB & Go For Gold!
By John Cushing, August 2025
I heard an interview on Monday morning on talkSPORT with a former Lion about how good it was that the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland came together for the British and Irish Lions tours of the southern hemisphere. And even though the latest instalment down under against Australia may not have quite captured the imagination of playing the All Blacks or world champions South Africa, the Lions unquestionably have a special part to play in world sport because of this rare event of amalgamating a team.
The Lions got me thinking about the Lionesses and their recent success under Sarina Wiegman of retaining the Euros - something no English football side had ever done before. I’ll be honest, that tournament passed me by slightly, but I watched the semi-final with my sister who’d returned from Switzerland buzzing about the tournament after being a volunteer, and seeing England play too. And then I saw some of the final from my sick bed on holiday! What England achieved against the world champions Spain was quite remarkable and the subsequent celebrations and plaudits for the players and manager are fully deserved - no doubt Lucy Bronze will be a leading contender for SPOTY this year and unless Jack Draper lifts the US Open title at Flushing Meadows, she should be the winner - that penalty and playing through a broken leg! Unbelievable. There’s no question England are the best team in Europe.
But what about the world? Which brings me onto the reason for this blog. Can Sarina and the team now win something on a world stage and not just the World Cup but the Olympics? I can imagine you’re now reading this saying who cares about the Olympics? Football isn’t an Olympic sport? Well it might not be in this country, but it is across the world and ask Messi, Neymar and many others who’ve all won a gold medal? But specifically in the women’s game, the 4 yearly tournament involving nations from across the globe is actually a fully FIFA recognised event, not U23s like the mens competition, and so arguably in the pecking order of achievements and things to win is bigger than the Euros! The Olympics is a major international tournament. The Olympics like the World Cup contains all the world’s big teams like the Paris 2024 champions under the English Emma Hayes, Sam Kerr’s Australia, Canada, Marta inspired Brazil, as well as Spain, France and Germany. You can also argue that Team GB finally competing at London 2012 was the start of the rise in the profile of women’s footy in the country. I’ve previously said Paris 2024 was a lost opportunity for the British women and Sarina Wiegman - to make their mark on a global stage? It’s probably the only blot on her CV isn’t it?
This isn’t an article playing down Sarina and the team’s achievement but it’s a serious question to the FA as to whether we can look outside our safe English bubble and come together 3 years before LA 2028, and as four football associations sit down with Team GB, and ask Sarina to manage the team and go for gold in America - the home of the current champions! I know the English, Scottish, Welsh, and N Irish FAs want to maintain their independence, and I’m not calling to change that, but the Lions in rugby union show bringing together the best of the best can be done and an Olympic gold medal, an Olympic champion title, being part of one ‘Team GB’ alongside heroes like Adam Peaty and Kelly Hodgkinson should be the next remarkable step on this ever advancing sporting success story!
