Wiegman echoes Stanway’s ‘proper England’ mantra ahead of Euros quarter-final | OneFootball

Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman has echoed Georgia Stanway’s ambition for her side to play like “proper England” ahead of their Euros quarter-final.

The Lionesses have coined the phrase ‘Proper England’ throughout Euro 2025, something midfielder Stanway first used in relation to the side’s desires to bounce back from a difficult defeat to France in their first game.

The phrase highlights England’s desire to go back to basics, play with passion and dig deep, something they have done in their big wins over the Netherlands and Wales to reach this stage.

“Proper England is who we are and what we want to show,” Wiegman said. “Of course that has to do with our tactics, how we want to play, but also our behaviours.

“[It’s about] how we want to support each other together, work really hard, and of course play to our strengths too. So, when we do that we think the chance of winning is the highest.”

England now set their sights on their quarter-final meeting with Sweden at Zurich’s Stadion Letzigrund on Thursday.

Sweden have conceded just one goal this tournament, the least of any nation at Euro 2025. On top of this, the side went undefeated during the group stages, including beating Germany in a 4-1 victory.

“We know they have qualities,” Wiegman said on Sweden. “They’re good in the air, they want to put in crosses, they have some speed up front too. So we’re going to try and prevent that. It helps when we have the ball a little bit more than they have.

“It’s going to be what kind of game we expect. I expect a very competitive game where it’s very hard to predict the outcome.

“They’ve had a very good group stage series in the three games that they had, but I think we are in a very good place too. We’re ready to go, so hopefully we can show that tomorrow.”

The England head coach also hopes her side can inspire more women into football this summer.

She was the only female at the helm during the quarter-final stages of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup but two years on at Euro 2025, female head coaches make up 50% of the managerial pack amongst the final eight nations.

Wiegman, who kick-started her head coach career in 2006, has always been a vocal advocate for providing female talents a platform within the women’s game.

“What we’re all working on is we hope more females stay involved in football,” Wiegman said. “We want girls to play football.

“We want every girl and every woman to have the opportunity to get involved in football in whatever role, that is also in coaching. We have to push hard, we’re moving into the right direction but we have to keep moving to keep having these opportunities.

“Also, not destroying men in the women’s game who also have played a tremendous role.”