Arsenal have confirmed Renee Slegers as their permanent head coach on a contract until the end of the 2025-26 season.

Slegers, 35, stepped up from her role as assistant coach to take interim charge following Jonas Eidevall’s resignation on October 15 and has since overseen 10 wins and one draw in her 11 matches in all competitions. She won the Women’s Super League (WSL) manager of the month for December.

Under Slegers, Arsenal have moved up to third in the WSL and progressed into the Champions League knockout stages as group winners.

Her first match in the full-time role comes this weekend as Arsenal host Crystal Palace in the WSL on Sunday, January 19.

“I’m so excited to be continuing our journey together,” Slegers said. “It’s a wonderful honour to represent this club as head coach and I have so much belief in what we can all achieve together.

“Over the past few months, I’ve felt such a powerful sense of collective ownership and responsibility across our players and staff – that has been our strength and I know we will make sure we drive and nurture this feeling as we all move forward.

“It has meant the world to me to feel the closeness and passion of our supporters during this process, and I want to thank you all for that. We want to deliver something beautiful that’s inspiring and leads to winning trophies. We all have a big part to play in achieving that.”

Slegers rejoined Arsenal as part of Eidevall’s backroom staff in the 2023-24 season, having been part of their academy as a player between 2006 and 2007.

She previously succeeded Eidevall as head coach at FC Rosengard too, after the Swede left to take charge of Arsenal in 2021. In that two-year spell with Slegers as head coach, Rosengard won back-to-back league titles.

Arsenal’s director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley said: “We’re delighted to appoint Renee as our permanent head coach. Renée has excelled during her time as interim head coach, bringing our team, club and supporters together and leading us to a hugely impressive run of results and performances.

“We have undertaken a thorough recruitment process aimed at identifying the best candidate to lead our women’s first team at this exciting time. Renee was the stand-out candidate throughout the process and we’re thrilled to be continuing our journey with her as our permanent head coach.

“Renee understands the values and ambitions of our club, with experience of representing Arsenal both as a young player and now in a coaching capacity. We have every confidence that she is the best person to take us forward as we compete for trophies this season and beyond.”

The club’s co-chair, Josh Kroenke, added: “We’ve all been incredibly impressed by the way Renee has led the team since October, nurturing a great collective spirit across the group and instilling belief in what we do and what we want to achieve – to win trophies and drive women’s football forward together.

“Now we look forward with positivity to a big second half to the season and beyond, with the whole club including our supporters right behind Renee and the team.”

reported in October Arsenal had made former Manchester City Women’s head coach Nick Cushing their first-choice target. He later committed his future to New York City FC, but was dismissed in November.

In Arsenal’s final game before the winter break, they came from 2-1 down to defeat Bayern Munich 3-2 — a side they were beaten 5-2 by in October in Eidevall’s penultimate match in charge — to ensure they finished above the German outfit in their Champions League group. The victory also maintained Slegers’ unbeaten record during her interim spell.

Eidevall spent just over three years at Arsenal before his resignation seven games into the 2024-25 season, having won just two matches in all competitions. He was named San Diego Wave’s new head coach in January.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Arsenal, UK Women's Football

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