Former England defender Faye White believes Sarina Wiegman is the best manager in world football after she led the Lionesses to back-to-back Euros titles.

England successfully defended their crown in the Euro 2025 final, coming from behind against Spain to draw 1-1 and force a penalty shootout, in which they triumphed 3-1.

They are the second team to retain the European Championship title, after Germany (1989, 1991, and six consecutively between 1995 and 2013).

As for Wiegman, England’s success on Sunday was her third in a row at the Euros, having also led the Netherlands to the crown in 2017. She is just the third manager to achieve that feat after Gero Bisanz (1989-1995) and Tina Theune (1997-2005).

England did it the hard way during this year’s tournament, with all three of their knockout-round matches going to extra time, while they led for just four minutes and 52 seconds during that time, the fewest of a title-winning side across major competitions.

And White, who made 90 appearances for England between 1997 and 2001, says there is no manager better than Wiegman.

"It's incredible, isn't it? She is one up there with the best," White told Stats Perform.

"I think there are a couple of German coaches that might have done it too, because I know Germany won it for something like five years in a row, the Euros, and then a couple of World Cups as well.

"Sarina's won a Euros with her native country, but then with a foreign team. So yeah, she is just quite incredible, and she has been that missing link [for England].

"I think when even when just after I'd retired and a few years after that, it was like we've got the ability, we've got the players, we're starting to get the resources, we're starting to get the backing from the FA with how it compares to what other club countries get, but now it's the next step.

"We need a manager who [those players] will believe, and having done it in the way she did it, which is quite similar in that the Netherlands were on the same kind of level and on par with England.

"I think if we'd have got a coach that had come from America or Germany or something, you know, their story in history has been very different.

"It might not have been effective in that sense, but she's taken the Dutch team to the Euros and then a final, and then to do that again with England, it's incredible.

"If it was in the men's game, I think [England] would be up there with the best, and she is the best current manager without question."

Before Wiegman took over at England, they had managed to make the final of the Euros twice, finishing as runners-up in 1984 and 2009.

The Dutchwoman also led the Lionesses to their first World Cup final in 2023, which they lost to Spain, meaning she has overseen five major finals in a row across her time with the Netherlands and England.

White noted England’s impressive rise in recent years and believes that the pieces have finally fallen into place thanks to Wiegman’s impact.

"I look at the history of how the England team we've progressed, and even Hope Powell, she may not have won things, but she had such an impact in putting the whole structure into place and getting what was needed for the women's game from the FA," White added.

"It's hard to compare them. I don't like comparing between the men's and the women's game because they're very different environments.

"It's very different resources and the makeup and the infrastructure of the game of what you have to do when you're a women's manager, either international or club; they don't have at clubs, they don't have hundreds of staff doing every single job.

"It's getting there, there are more staff now, and obviously the England team have had all the resources they need and Sarina all the staff she needs. I think it's that special relationship between her and her assistant [Arjan Veurink] as well, who's always been with her.

"He's obviously going to leave to be the Dutch head coach. So that will be interesting to see what happens after, but it will still be a good opportunity for Sarina now to push on and hope she stays with us for quite a few years."

England trailed 2-0 to Sweden but scored two late goals to force extra time before winning the shootout, while they looked set to exit in the semi-final before Michelle Agyemang and Chloe Kelly both scored late goals at the end of normal and extra time to go through.

They had to deal with key players leaving the squad before the tournament, with Mary Earps and Fran Kirby both retiring, while Millie Bright pulled out for mental health reasons, but White was impressed with the fight they showed.

"We didn't always play great, but like I say, when you look at it, you're going away on foreign soil, you've had several key players injured before the tournament, some pull out, a young squad to knit back together and then injuries throughout or the situation of how games went," she said.

"It's just about, like she even said, it was so crazy and chaotic from the first moment, but they found a way, and that's just the culture and the kind of environment you create."