London, Jan 17 : Arsenal women have announced the appointment of Renee Slegers as the permanent head coach. The Dutch coach, who took charge of the women's first team in October 2024 on an interim basis, has signed a contract through to the end of the 2025/26 season.

She oversaw an unbeaten run of 10 wins and one draw in all competitions, with 31 goals scored and conceded just five during that time.

'I'm so excited to be continuing our journey together. 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," said Renee in a statement reflecting on her new deal.

'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,' said Renee, reflecting on her new deal," she added.

Renee's impact was recognised with the Women's Super League Manager of the Month award in December, while a run of five straight wins from five UEFA Women's Champions League group stage matches saw them qualify for the quarter-final stage as Group C winners.

Born in the Netherlands, Renee originally joined the club as assistant coach in the summer of 2023, following two years in charge of Rosengard, where she won back-to-back Swedish league titles in 2021 and 2022.

Renee represented Arsenal as a player, having spent time with the youth academy between 2006 and 2007. Her professional career included time at Willem II in the Netherlands and Djurgardens and Linkoping in Sweden, while at the international level, Renee won 55 caps for the Dutch national team before retiring in 2016.

/IANS