Who is Pia Sundhage, the new Swedish coach of the Brazilian women’s national team

After 2019 Women’s World Cupwith badass as coach of the Brazilian women’s national team and much criticism of him, a big change is about to happen. Last Wednesday (24), the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced that the team will be officially led by sink sundhage🇧🇷

Recently, she was sought by the president Rogerio Caboclo and showed interest in the vacancy. But always with the proviso that he will respect the contract with the Swedish under-17 team, which remains in force until the end of the year. With the entry of Pia, this is the first time that the national team will be led by a foreign woman.

Pia Sundhage’s Prestigious Career

At the age of 59, the Swede is a reference in women’s football, mainly for having commanded the United States National Team in 2008 and 2012, years in which the team took home the gold in the Games Olympics. In 2008, the final was against Brazil and the Americans won by 1 to 0. In 2012, the dispute was against Japan and the score ended in 2 to 1. It is also worth remembering that this victory was a recovery of the previous year, when the team played against the Japanese national team in the 2011 Women’s World Cup, but lost on penalties and was runner-up in the dispute.

During all this trajectory with the American team, the coach showed important results that bring happiness when imagining her as coach of the Brazilian women’s team. In 107 games leading the team, she added 91 wins, 10 draws and only six defeats.

Even with the second championship for the United States, most of Pia’s history was in Sweden. More than a coach, she initially took to the field as a professional striker for the team. Falköpings and later passed through Jitex and Östers. With such teams, she won the Swedish Championship four times (1979, 1981, 1984 and 1989), in addition to having also taken home the title four times in the Swedish Cup (1981, 1984, 1994 and 1995).

When talking about the World Cup, it is also important to remember that Pia was part of the Swedish national team in 1991, when the team won third place in the first world competition.

As a coach, Pia led Sweden at the Olympic Games 2016 Olympics. Even though the players didn’t take home the gold, the technique’s training yielded good results. The team eliminated Brazil in the semi-final on penalties, but lost to Germany in the final, by 2-1, and got the silver medal.

The firm position of the Swedish

Off the field, the coach has a strong political stance. Like this Megan Rapinoe did this year, by turning down the visit to the White House after the US victory in the Women’s Cup, Pia declined the invitation to George Bush to visit the site in 2009, the year after the team took gold at the Olympic Games. In 2011, after the American team was runner-up in the Cup, it also declined the invitation made by Barack Obama🇧🇷

Pia is also openly gay. In 2014, she gave an interview to The Local” and made it very clear that she does not intend to hide her sexual orientation in order to be more accepted. “If people ask me about it, I say ‘yes, I’m gay’ and that’s the way it is. I have never encountered any problems for this as a technique in the US or anywhere. It was hard when I was twenty, in Sweden, but I still didn’t care. This is me. Take it or leave it”, emphasized the technique.

Still in the same chat, Pia commented on how being a woman in football is difficult – and, unfortunately, it remains so, even five years after the interview. “After 22 years in the national team and as a coach, I still have to prove to people that I can lead and understand football. When a man coaches a women’s team, no one questions his knowledge. But if I became the head coach of a men’s team now, despite the fact that I coached an Olympic gold medal team, I would still need to prove myself on the first day, first week and first month all the time.”