Sarina Wiegman revealed she ‘screamed for three minutes’ after Chloe Kelly’s decisive penalty secured England’s dramatic retention of the European Championship title.
Asked how she felt in that moment, the England head coach said: ‘I think I just started running. I think I’d been screaming for three minutes.
‘I just could not believe that we won it. When she went to take that penalty, her conviction again and she just loves these moments.’
England went behind for the third successive time in the tournament against Spain on Sunday before an equaliser from Alessia Russo and some deft goalkeeping from Hannah Hampton took them to extra time – where Alex Greenwood, Niamh Charles and Chloe Kelly ensured that the world champions were vanquished.
‘Three times going into extra time, that’s crazy. I feel this tournament was crazy and chaos on the pitch. I think off the pitch, everything was pretty calm.
‘The team showed so much resilience but also belief – belief that we can turn things around and we can win by any means.’
Sarina Wiegman revealed she ‘screamed for three minutes’ after England’s Euro 2025 triumph
The Lionesses defended their crown after beating Spain in a nerve-jangling penalty shootout
Wiegman and her victorious players were given a heroes’ welcome when they landed in the UK
Wiegman and the team were up until the early hours of Monday morning celebrating their victory in Zurich with friends and family before travelling back to London today.
‘I feel a little bit tired because we didn’t get that much sleep, but I feel most of all, a lot of pride of the team,’ Wiegman said. ‘A new England, going into a new tournament and then finishing again with the cup. That’s just incredible.
‘During the tournament, we go the group stage, then you go to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final and you have these really small, like an hour, nice celebrations, you be happy with what we have accomplished and then move on.
‘But now, when you win the final – and it was so tough and such a tight game and everyone was so exhausted – then the relief and the happiness was so huge that we were ready to celebrate. I’ve seen a lot of dancing, a lot of singing, happy people, happy players, happy families. It was lovely.’
The final was the most-watched televised moment in 2025, with a peak live audience of 12.2 million watching on Sunday evening across all BBC platforms.
And there are further huge crowds expected to be drawn from the Lionesses open-top bus parade and celebrations outside of Buckingham Palace on Tuesday afternoon.
The boozy party, which Wiegman described as ‘lovely’, ran until gone 4am at the hotel
Wiegman and captain Leah Williamson were seen cutting a cake to toast the success
Lionesses hero Chloe Kelly scored the winning spot-kick to seal another memorable Euros win
Kelly proudly posed with her gold winner’s medal during the wild on-pitch celebrations
‘I’m really looking forward to going back to England,’ Wiegman added.
‘The fans have been amazing. I think we always have a very good crowd and we never, ever take that for granted.
‘We’re England and we want to win but there’s so much more than winning a game. We know with winning, that makes change. It inspires people.
‘Young kids, but also you see so many people that you inspire – not just little girls but little boys and grandads and grandmas and whole families, in England but also beyond.’
