FA chief executive Mark Bullingham has opened the door for England Women head coach Sarina Wiegman to take charge of the England men's team when Gareth Southgate eventually leaves his post.
The trailblazing 53-year-old has overseen a spectacular period of progress at the Lionesses helm since taking charge in August 2020, replacing Phil Neville after a successful stint with the Netherlands' Women's team.
Wiegman had won the 2017 Euros and took the Netherlands to the 2019 World Cup final during her time in charge of her home nation, before leading England to Euro 2022 glory at Wembley last year.
Following their historic continental success, England beat South American champions Brazil in the 2023 Finalissima and will compete in the Women's World Cup final for the first time thanks to their 3-1 semi-final beating of Australia on Wednesday, avenging a 2-0 friendly loss to the Matildas that ended their 30-game unbeaten run under Wiegman.
In addition to her team achievements, the Dutch manager has been named The Best FIFA Women's Coach on three occasions and was awarded a CBE in the 2022 Special Honours, while also winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award last year.
Ahead of Sunday's blockbuster meeting with Spain, Bullingham has insisted that he would happily hire a suitable female candidate to take over the men's team, and he believes that Wiegman can do "anything she wants" in the game.
© Reuters
"People always say it is the best man for the job or the best Englishman. Why does it have to be a man? I think our answer is always: 'it's the best person for the job.'," ESPN quotes Bullingham as saying.
"We think Sarina is doing a great job and hope she continues doing it for a long time. I think Sarina could do anything she wants in football.
"If at some point in the future she decides she wants to move into the men's game, that would be a really interesting discussion, but that's for her, right?
"I don't think we should view it as a step up. If she decides at some point in the future to go in a different direction, I think she's perfectly capable of that. It's the best person for the job, if that best person is a woman, then why not?
"You analyse the pool for any job at that particular time and do I think there's a really strong diverse pool of both men and women for any big national job? No, I think the talent pool is small for both, actually. But I don't like the mindset that it has to be a man.
© Reuters
"Sarina's doing the Lionesses and we think it's critical that she does that job, and she's doing a brilliant job. We don't like suggesting the men's team is above that. I know you weren't, but some people do suggest that.
"If and when we get a vacancy in either of our senior men's or women's manager positions, we would go for the best person for the job, which would be the best person capable of winning matches."
Amid Wiegman's landmark achievements with the women's team, Southgate guided the men's team to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and masterminded the Three Lions' run to the Euro 2020 final, which ended in penalty-shootout heartbreak to Italy.
The former Middlesbrough boss signed a contract extension until 2024 a couple of years ago, but England were dumped out of the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals to eventual runners-up France.
Southgate affirmed last year that he would not be immune to the sack if his side under-performed in Qatar, but the 52-year-old has stayed on to oversee England's Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
To date, the only woman to take charge of a professional men's team in England is Hannah Dingley, who spent 13 days as Forest Green Rovers' caretaker manager in July before being replaced by David Horseman.
