USWNT Expected to Name Emma Hayes as Coach

Chelsea women’s soccer manager Emma Hayes is expected to leave the club following the conclusion of its season to become the next head coach of the U.S. women’s national team, according to multiple reports.

Hayes became Chelsea’s manager in August 2012 after Matt Beard resigned to become Liverpool’s manager. Chelsea announced Hayes’s departure Saturday, stating that she would “depart the club at the end of the season to pursue a new opportunity outside of the WSL and club football.” The Equalizer and The Athletic reported Saturday that Hayes is poised to accept the vacant USWNT coaching job.

In her tenure with Chelsea, Hayes is responsible for helping the club win six WSL championships, two FA Women’s League Cups, five FA Cups, a Women’s Community Shield and one FA Women’s Spring Series trophy.

Chelsea’s co-directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said Hayes played a fundamental role in creating change in women’s soccer.

“Given everything [Emma Hayes] has contributed to Chelsea in over a decade with the club, and the legacy she leaves behind, we would never stand in her way when she felt it was the right time to pursue a new challenge,” Stewart and Winstanley said in the team’s statement. 

Former USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonowski resigned in August after the club lost to the Netherlands in the round of 16 at the 2023 World Cup. Twila Kilgore then served as the interim head coach. 

The Chelsea women (4-1-0) currently sit in first place in the WSL standings.