Burna Boy, Wiegman steal show at Lionesses parade

August 3, 2025 by Our Reporter

It was a surprise England manager Sarina Wiegman could barely believe. As the Lionesses celebrated winning back-to-back European Championship titles in front of Buckingham Palace, out came Wiegman’s favourite artist.

Visibly shocked, Wiegman’s hands went to her head before she embraced Burna Boy, the Nigerian singer, who was confirmed by the Football Association at 9 am, on stage. Knowing every word, they proceeded to sing his hit song For Your Hand – which he recorded with Ed Sheeran in 2023 – together as Wiegman danced beside him in front of more than 65,000 fans.

“Sarina’s got rhythm,” defender Esme Morgan told BBC 5 Live. “She loves Burna Boy. I can’t believe it. Her face when they brought Burna Boy out was a picture, none of us could believe it to be honest, and she was busting out some moves and singing away, that was a special moment.”

The England manager has won three European trophies in her career, but has rarely looked as happy as she did in that moment.

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When asked about her Spotify Wrapped song list in 2023, Wiegman had said For Your Hand was her most-played song that year. Ella Toone had also joked that Wiegman would often rubbish the songs being played on the team bus, saying: “What’s this? Put Burna Boy on.”

While Wiegman had her moment alongside her hero, Toone and Morgan were not quite as lucky. Toone had said before the final that she and Morgan would belt out Heather Small’s song Proud as motivation before every game. It was fitting, then, when Small came onto the stage to sing after Burna Boy, and two microphones were passed to Toone and Morgan. They were, however, not turned on – and only Small could be heard.

Three years ago, the Lionesses had celebrated winning their first European Championship in front of 7,000 fans at Trafalgar Square.

The crowd was capped that day by the size of the venue and the late planning of the event. This time, the FA had planned – although it is understood that the specially designed buses that took the players down the Mall were nearly cancelled before Michelle Agyemang scored a 96th-minute equaliser in the semi-final against Italy.

Angela Rayner was in attendance, a day on from hosting the Lionesses at a Downing Street garden party, along with former England players Karen Carney and Jill Scott. While they would have had a perfect view from the VIP area, many fans said they could barely see the buses and only knew the team was arriving because they could hear the marching band playing in front of them.

Some of the players still looked like they were running on adrenaline, and many donned sunglasses to hide tired eyes.