FA board approves appointing foreign coach to succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager | OneFootball

As reported by Matt Hughes of The Guardian, The Football Association (FA) board has given its approval to appoint a foreign manager as Gareth Southgate’s replacement as England head coach.

The proposal to consider the hiring of a foreign manager was said to be put forward by chief executive Mark Bullingham, who wanted to ensure such names would be considered before The FA officially begin the recruitment process.

And, whilst there some of the nine board members did disapprove, they are understood to have formally endorsed Bullingham’s request without putting it to an official vote, with the success of England women’s manager Sarina Wiegman being cited as a ‘good precedent’ for a foreign England manager.

The Dutch women and former Netherlands manager led the Lionesses to the nations’ first World Cup final and major international tournament victory since 1966, with their loss to Spain in 2023 edition of the Women’s World Cup, and their historic Euro 2022 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium.

As for who will take the Three Lions job, English names such as Eddie Howe and Graham Potter are said to be among the leading candidates to succeed Southgate, whilst foreign managers Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochetino, and Tottenham Hotspur’s current Australian head coach Ange Posteocglou are also of significant interest to The FA. That’s not to mention Wiegman herself, who has also been rumored as a potential contender.

If a foreign manager were to be hired, they would become just the third non-English manager in the men’s national team history, but also the third out of the previous six (excluding Sam Allardyce’s infamous one match in charge) – with the other two being Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

Regardless of whether it an Englishman, Argentine, Australian or a German as England men’s head coach come World Cup 2026 in Central America – or even Euro 2028 in the UK and Ireland – the entire nation will be hoping the new boss can replicate the success of Wiegman and finally bring men’s football home for England.

Travis Levison | Get Football

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