page_title: Pia Sundhage
section_title: United States Women's National Team
hierarchical_section_title: Pia Sundhage / Coaching career / United States Women's National Team
caption_attribution_description: Association football at the 2012 Summer Olympics
context_page_description: Pia Mariane Sundhage is a Swedish football coach and former professional player. She is the current head coach of the Brazil women's national football team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired as the top scorer for her national team, but she also had stints playing as a midfielder and a sweeper.
  Sundhage was the head coach of the United States women's national team from 2008 to 2012 and led the team to two Olympic gold medals and a silver medal at the World Cup. Her success led to her winning the 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year. Sundhage later became the head coach of her native Sweden women's national football team from 2012 to 2017, winning an Olympic silver medal in 2016.
context_section_description: Pia Sundhage was announced as the United States Women's National Team head coach on 13 November 2007. She became the seventh head coach in the U.S. team's history and the third woman. Lauren Gregg was in charge for 3 games in 2000, April Heinrichs led the squad from 2000–2004 and won the 2004 Summer Olympics, while Sundhage served as a scout for the United States during the 2004 Olympics.
  While at the helm of the United States, Sundhage won the 2008 Algarve Cup and gold medals at both the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was on the verge of winning the 2009 Algarve Cup, but the United States lost out to Sundhage's native Sweden on penalties. However, she did win the 2010 Algarve Cup a year later, defeating World and European Champions Germany 3–2 in the final.
  She coached the Women's team to the final of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, where the team advanced to the final for the first time since 1999. However, they were upset by Japan, losing 3–1 on penalty kicks. A year later, Sundhage coached the USWNT to another gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, defeating Japan 2–1 in a Women's World Cup final rematch, with Carli Lloyd scoring both goals.
  On 1 September 2012, Sundhage announced she was stepping down as the U.S Women's head coach having expressed a desire to seek opportunities in her native Sweden. Sundhage announced she would coach the U.S. team's games on 16 and 19 September on the team's Olympic victory tour before officially resigning. "I have days where I think, 'What am I doing?' and there are other days where I'm like, 'I'm all up for this next challenge'" Sundhage said upon announcing her departing the US women's national team. She coached her last game against Australia as part the team's Olympic victory tour on 19 September, defeating them 6–2. With this final win Sundhage was able to leave the team with a 91-6-10(Win-Loss-Tie) record that included two Olympic gold medals and a second-place finish at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
caption: United States women's national team at the 2012 Summer Olympics
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