Gareth Southgate will remain England national coach beyond the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The English FA announced on Monday that the 51-year-old had prematurely extended his contract until the end of 2024.
“It remains an incredible privilege to coach this team, “ Southgate is quoted as saying on the FA website. His assistant coach Steve Holland will also remain in post until at least December 2024. “I am delighted that Steve and I have been able to extend,” Southgate said. “There are great opportunities open to us and the fans can be excited to see what this squad can achieve in the future. “
Southgate led the Three Lions to a final of a major tournament for the first time in 55 years
This squad – this is his squad. When Southgate took over from Sam Allardyce, initially on an interim basis, in the autumn of 2016 after a botched EURO 2016 – where England were embarrassed to the bone in a 2-1 loss to Iceland in the last 16 – the Three Lions were ranked far away from the top of the world. Southgate initiated a change in personnel, rejuvenated the team and gave it a modern style of play. With success. For the first time in 28 years, England advanced to a World Cup semi-final at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and at EURO 2020 England reached the final of a major tournament for the first time since the home World Cup in 1966. The 3-2 penalty shootout defeat to Italy was the Three Lions’ only competitive defeat of the calendar year, as they also came through World Cup qualifying for Qatar 2022 unscathed.
After losing the European Championship final, Southgate had initially left his long-term future open. Now, after almost exactly five years in office – he got his permanent job in November 2016 – he is clarifying it. And the pay is likely to be significantly better. English media speculate that his annual salary will rise to up to six million British pounds (around 7.1 million euros)
