What It Takes by Sarina Wiegman

I picked up What It Takes by Sarina Wiegman cheaply in Sainsbury’s. I didn’t know she’d written a book, but I couldn’t resist it. Like many people, I’ve got into watching women’s football, and especially the Lionesses in recent years. (Sadly I haven’t yet been to an actual Lionesses or WSL game yet, but I will do one day!) To me, Sarina Wiegman, the Lionesses’ head coach is an absolute hero.

What It Takes is kind of an autobiography, but only of the last few years. Before becoming manager of the Lionesses, she was manager of the Leeuwinnen, the Dutch national women’s team. (Coincidentally, Leeuwinnen means Lionesses.) Sarina Wiegman led the Leeuwinnen to victory in the Euros in 2017. In 2021, she became the head coach of the Lionesses, leading them to victory in the Euros in 2022, as well as runners up in the World Cup in 2023.

What It Takes is about the journey to those victories, the lessons she has learned along the way and the lessons she has shared. There is so much more to winning a major tournament than just having some good players, a few training sessions and shouting at them on the touchline. Sarina Weigman cares deeply about her players, whether they are on the squad or not. She phones them and has meetings with them. She talks through any issues they have and she listens to their input. It feels like this isn’t the way all football managers treat their players. It has clearly paid a big part in the success of both the Lionesses and the Leeuwinnen.

She uses sports psychologists and works closely with her assistant coaches. She has a plan B for every scenario – so if the Lionesses go a goal down, they know they have to switch positions – and it works! In the books she describes situations where that has happened and they have gone on to equalise very quickly and then win the game.

There is also a big section on the influence of the Lionesses and Leeuwinnen in football, but also in other areas of life – helping women to feel more equal and to go out and do what they want to do.

There are lots of excerpts from players, including Mary Earps and Lucy Bronze, assistant coaches, and the Dutch men’s national coach, Louis van Gaal.

What It Takes is an interesting read, but you definitely do need to be interested in football to read it. I would have liked to read more about her childhood. She makes a few references to it, but there is very little about her early football career. That isn’t what this book was intended to be about, but I would have enjoyed reading about.

If you are interested in football and the strategies and hard work that go into being a success, I would recommend What It Takes. But if football isn’t your cup of tea or you wanted to read a ‘proper’ autobiography, this wouldn’t be for you.