When you first meet Andree Jeglertz in August 2025, there's a buzz of anticipation in the air. After all, this is the new Manchester City head coach—a manager with a résumé that reads like a who's who of women's football: a Women's Champions League winner, a three-time league champion, two-time Swedish manager of the year, Finnish Football Manager of the Year, and the mentor who helped shape a teenage Marta. Yes, that Marta.

But here's the twist. Jeglertz—tall, athletic, with a voice as gentle as his manner—doesn't launch into the usual managerial spiel about tactics, formations, or what you need to do to fit into his system. Instead, he flips the script. The conversation becomes about you. Your goals. Your values. The edges of your comfort zone—on the pitch, and even more so, off it.

"He will never talk to you about the weather," says Malin Levenstad, who served as his assistant at Sweden's Linköping in 2021. "It's always the person at the centre. Always. And you don't have a second to think about anything else because he's so in the moment with you."

In those first moments, you might not notice the small details that define him: the pink-and-green beaded friendship bracelet reading "F*** War," a tribute to a Ukrainian staff member and player from his Linköping days; the gold chainlink bracelet honoring his wife Ulrika's late father; or the faded braided band emblazoned with "F*** cancer," worn so long the pink has washed away but the spirit remains.

This approach isn't just philosophy—it's strategy. "To keep everyone happy," explains Everton and Japan forward Yuka Momiki, who played under Jeglertz at Linköping. "He said he wasn't able to ask something of you on the pitch if you're not happy off it. I had never met that kind of manager before."

So what kind of player—what kind of person—emerges from that conversation? How hard do you run? How deep does your drive go? For Jeglertz, the answers start long before the first whistle blows. It's a lesson in leadership that transcends the game: listen first, connect always, and the wins will follow.