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Post-Euro coaching changes for England

Janneke Bijl and Arvid Smit have been appointed as assistant coaches for England senior women with both due to start work after UEFA EURO 2025

this summer.

Bijl and Smit will replace Arjan Veurink, who is leaving to become Netherlands head coach after the tournament in Switzerland, with their first camp due to be

this October. The pair currently work closely together in the Dutch set-up and have been well-known to England head coach Sarina Wiegman during her

international coaching career.

Janneke Bijl is a former Dutch international who has been Netherlands’ senior assistant coach since 2023 and was part of the coaching team at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. A UEFA A licence holder, Bijl was previously head coach of Netherlands’ WU16s and WU19s.

During her notable playing career, she earned four senior caps and made 32 appearances in the development team pathway. She started her career at her local grassroots club LRC Leerdam. She then played at the highest domestic level for Saestum, winning multiple national titles and Dutch FA Cups.

She went on to play in the Eredivisie for FC Twente, FC Utrecht and PSV Eindhoven. Due to injuries she had to retire at the early age of 29, which marked the start of her coaching career. As a coach she also followed the pathway: from coaching at amateur level, to being the head coach of national youth teams before her move into the senior set-up.

Arvid Smit has been assistant coach of the Netherlands since 2019, and part of the coaching staff during four major tournaments – the 2019 and 2023 FIFA World Cups, the 2021 Olympic Games and UEFA EURO 2022.

As a player, Smit represented De Graafschap, PSV Eindhoven, FC Groningen, Willem II and FC Volendam in the Dutch Eredivisie. He also spent two seasons in Portugal’s top-flight representing CS Marítimo and UD Leiria.

Before joining the Orange Lionesses in 2019, Smit combined the role of assistant of the men’s first team of Telstar, in the Dutch second tier, with being head coach of third division club DEM in Heemskerk. At the latter club, he held the position of head coach since the summer of 2017 and guided them to promotion in two consecutive seasons.

Wiegman said: “I am delighted to add Janneke and Arvid to our coaching staff. They both have significant coaching experience at national-team level which will be vital to our mission of qualifying for the 2027 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The bar is being raised with every tournament, and we need the very best approach if we are going to continue challenging the top teams.

“As well as the quality they will bring to our training sessions and match planning, I have real trust in how they work and how they can complement the rest of the technical team and our environment. I know they are excited by the challenge ahead and I am sure the players will also enjoy working with them.”

Bijl represented her country as a player at senior level after several honours in her domestic club career before moving into coaching and then joining the Dutch set-up in 2023. Smit, a former midfielder at the highest level in Dutch and Portuguese football, has been part of the Netherlands staff since 2019.

Darren Ward continues as goalkeeping coach while Geraint Twose, who like Veurink and Ward was part of Wiegman’s coaching team that was key in the EURO 2022 success and reaching the 2023 World Cup final, will take up a new position after the EURO as England women lead transition coach, supporting the development and progression of players between the pathway and seniors.

Elsewhere in the England pathway, Gavin Step will become interim women’s technical director with the imminent departure of Kay Cossington, while Emma Coates has taken interim leadership of women’s development teams.

The national coaches at St George’s Park will report into Coates while she will also retain her lead role in charge of the WU23s – assisted by Gemma Davies – with its close link to the seniors. WU19s head coach Lauren Smith has her own EUROs to look forward to in Poland next month after a successful first season with the Young Lionesses.