The English Football Association said on Monday that national team coach Sarina Wegman has extended her contract until the end of the 2029 Women's European Championship.
Wegman, who assumed her position in September 2021, led the England women's national team to the first major title in its history, the European Championship 2022, before retaining the title 3 years later.
England, under the Dutch coach, reached the final of the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023, but finished second behind Spain.
“I am very happy to be able to continue working with this team, and I cannot imagine a better job than this in the world of football,” Wegman said in a statement.
England has not yet qualified for the 2027 Women's World Cup, and will face Ukraine in a two-match playoff next November and December. To determine who qualifies for the tournament to be held in Brazil.
The 56-year-old coach added: “Everyone who knows me will realize that my main interest at the present time is undoubtedly (qualifying for) the World Cup, and helping this team reach its maximum potential in the coming years.”
She continued: “We have an important challenge ahead of us to confirm our qualification to Brazil, and we hope that we will be able to achieve this and give the country another exceptional summer that will be remembered next year.”
David Raya, the goalkeeper of the English football team Arsenal, praised the reaction of his teammates after the harsh loss to Brighton before the international break, after the team achieved 3 consecutive victories since the resumption of competitions.
The British news agency PA Media reported that Arsenal suffered a heavy defeat against Brighton at the end of last September, before its players had to wait three weeks until playing their next match, due to them joining their country’s national teams during the international break. But the team achieved 3 victories in the 3 matches it played since the resumption of competitions, the last of which was a victory over Nottingham Forest 1-0 with a goal by Noni Maduike, which came in the last minutes of the match that was held on Sunday.
Raya, whose team will meet Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the Champions League, praised the reaction of his teammates, describing it as “amazing.” Raya told the club's website: "We came back very strong, especially after the heavy loss to Brighton and having to wait 19 days to play a match." He added: “The way we responded; The way we played, the way we came back, is amazing, you know.” He continued: “Therefore; I am happy with the performance we gave in every match. Of course, there are things we need to improve, as usual, but we take the positives, and we are currently looking forward to Wednesday’s match.”
The match was not easy against Nottingham Forest. Madueke's shot in the 80th minute, which deflected after colliding with a player to give the team the points, was Arsenal's only shot on target. But the match highlighted the team's ability to extract results, a feature that distinguished their path to winning the title last season.
Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the direct investment company Avenue Capital is the most prominent party that has submitted an offer to acquire a minority stake in the company that will own the international media broadcasting rights for the Italian Football League.
The League is considering selling a stake in a company that will handle its international broadcasting, sponsorship and betting rights, and last month it received final offers from direct investment companies.
The two sources said that the Italian League clubs met on Friday to conduct a preliminary review of the offers.
The two sources explained that the New York-based company, Avenue Capital, aims to acquire a 10 percent stake in the media company for 320 million euros, which would raise the total valuation of the project to 3.2 billion euros.
One of these two sources said that Avenue Capital is leading the race, even though some competitors have offered to pay larger amounts, because its offer comes in the form of an investment in common stocks, without providing guarantees related to future cash flows that some competitors seek.
The source added that the companies “Carlyle” and “Nextalia”, which cooperated to submit a joint offer, offered about 650 million euros in exchange for a share of about 17 percent, which estimates the value of the project at about 3.75 billion euros.
The two sources said that the “Avenue Capital” offer will be subject to a more detailed study by the clubs in the coming weeks, and at the same time they indicated that no final decision has been taken on the matter.
Avenue Capital, the Italian League, Carlyle and Nextalia declined to comment.
Any deal requires the support of at least 14 of the 20 clubs in the Italian League.
The Italian League, which includes clubs including Inter Milan, Juventus, AC Milan and Napoli, has faced difficulties in selling its media rights abroad in the past few years, with the interest of broadcast companies declining due to the crowded match schedule dominated by the expanded Champions League tournament, and the popularity of the English Premier League.
The Italian League's international media unit achieves sales of about 250 million euros annually, which is a small fraction of the sales achieved by the English and Spanish leagues. According to data from the European Football Association (UEFA).
