Arsenal Women confirm Renee Slegers as new head coach | OneFootball

Dutch coach succeeds Jonas Eidevall on full-time basis after successful spell as interim boss

Arsenal Women have appointed Renee Slegers as their new head coach.

Slegers has been in interim charge of Arsenal since October when Jonas Eidevall resigned.

The 35-year-old has enjoyed an unbeaten run of 10 wins and one draw, with Arsenal scoring 31 goals and conceding just five, and she has now signed a contract through to the end of the 2025/26 season.

Slegers was awarded the Women’s Super League Manager of the Month award in December, while a run of five wins on the spins saw the Gunners top their Champions League group.

“I’m so excited to be continuing our journey together.” said Slegers. “It’s a wonderful honour to represent this club as head coach and I have so much belief in what we can all achieve together.

“Over the past few months, I’ve felt such a powerful sense of collective ownership and responsibility across our players and staff – that has been our strength and I know we will make sure we drive and nurture this feeling as we all move forward.

“It has meant the world to me to feel the closeness and passion of our supporters during this process, and I want to thank you all for that. We want to deliver something beautiful that’s inspiring and leads to winning trophies. We all have a big part to play in achieving that.”

Slegers joined Arsenal as an assistant coach last summer after a two-year spell as a manager of Swedish club Rosengard, where she won back-to-back league titles.

Slegers moved into coaching after a successful playing career, which included time spent with Arsenal’s youth academy. She won 55 caps for the Netherlands before retiring in 2016.

Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke, said: “We’re delighted to announce that Renee has become the new head coach of our women’s first team on a permanent basis.

“We’ve all been incredibly impressed by the way Renee has led the team since October, nurturing a great collective spirit across the group and instilling belief in what we do and what we want to achieve - to win trophies and drive women’s football forward together.

“Now we look forward with positivity to a big second half to the season and beyond, with the whole club including our supporters right behind Renee and the team.”

Arsenal’s director of women’s football Clare Wheatley said: “We’re delighted to appoint Renee as our permanent head coach.

“Renee has excelled during her time as interim head coach, bringing our team, club and supporters together and leading us to a hugely impressive run of results and performances.

“We have undertaken a thorough recruitment process aimed at identifying the best candidate to lead our women’s first team at this exciting time.

“Renee was the stand-out candidate throughout the process and we’re thrilled to be continuing our journey with her as our permanent head coach.

“Renee understands the values and ambitions of our club, with experience of representing Arsenal both as a young player and now in a coaching capacity.

“We have every confidence that she is the best person to take us forward as we compete for trophies this season and beyond.”