Emma Hayes is the head coach of the United States Women’s National Team, having joined the national programme after 12 years in charge of Chelsea Women. Her coaching career includes seven Women’s Super League titles with Chelsea and Olympic gold with the United States at Paris 2024.
Her next major international objective is the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, with qualification still ahead as of 28 September 2026. Alongside coaching, she works in football analysis and education, and has spoken publicly about motherhood, her health and the need to improve support for women in sport.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Emma Hayes |
| Profession | Football coach |
| Current role | Head coach of the United States Women’s National Team |
| Previous role | Chelsea Women manager, 2012–2024 |
| Major international achievement | Olympic gold at Paris 2024 |
| Chelsea honours | Seven WSL titles, five Women’s FA Cups and two League Cups |
| National honours | MBE and OBE for services to football |
| Other professional work | Football punditry and football management education |
Emma Hayes and Her Early Coaching Career
Hayes moved to the United States in 2001, working in youth football, Olympic Development Program football and the USL W-League. Her first head-coaching position was with the Long Island Lady Riders, where she worked from 2001 to 2003 and received the W-League Coach of the Year award in 2002.
Her subsequent career included roles at Iona College, Arsenal and the Chicago Red Stars, as well as work connected with Washington Freedom and Western New York Flash.
The USWNT appointment therefore brought her back to a football environment she already knew. Her experience in the American game began more than two decades before she took charge of its senior women’s national team.
How Emma Hayes Built Her Career at Chelsea
Appointed Chelsea Women manager in 2012, Hayes remained at the club until 2024. During that period, Chelsea won seven Women’s Super League titles, including five consecutive league championships, alongside five Women’s FA Cups, two League Cups and the Spring Series.
The team also reached its first UEFA Women’s Champions League final in 2021. Her final season ended with another WSL title before she departed for international management.
In her farewell interview with Chelsea, Hayes recalled a working environment very different from the one she eventually left behind. Early training sessions frequently extended late into the evening, while some staff meetings took place in a curry house in Cobham.
She described improving the conditions surrounding the players as an important part of her work. Building the team involved developing its professional environment as well as preparing for matches.
Why Emma Hayes Left Chelsea for the USWNT
U.S. Soccer announced Hayes’s appointment on 14 November 2023, but she completed the 2023–24 season at Chelsea before beginning her national-team role in May 2024.
In her interview with the federation, she said coaching the United States had been an ambition since her twenties. Leaving Chelsea was emotionally difficult, but the opportunity to compete for World Cups and Olympic titles was one she felt unable to turn down.
Practical support also influenced the decision. Hayes said U.S. Soccer’s arrangements for mothers would allow her to continue coaching while having her son with her.
Olympic Gold and Emma Hayes’s USWNT Record
Hayes led the United States to Olympic gold within her first few months in charge. The team won all six of its matches at the Paris 2024 tournament, finishing with a 1–0 victory over Brazil on 10 August 2024.
The final was only her tenth match as USWNT head coach. It delivered an international title soon after the conclusion of her last championship-winning season at Chelsea.
FIFA subsequently named her The Best FIFA Women’s Coach for 2024, recognising a year that included both the WSL title and Olympic success. It was her second FIFA women’s coaching award.
Emma Hayes and the 2027 Women’s World Cup
After the Olympics, Hayes used 2025 to broaden the national-team player pool. U.S. Soccer recorded 44 players making appearances and 16 receiving their senior debuts during a year in which the team finished with a 12–3–0 record.
Preparation continued with a 26-player training squad selected for a June 2026 trip to Brazil. The two matches offered experience in the country hosting the following year’s World Cup. According to U.S. Soccer, the visit was also intended to familiarise players with future tournament venues and conditions.
The immediate competitive priority is the 2026 Concacaf W Championship. The United States is scheduled to face El Salvador in a quarter-final on 27 November 2026, with victory securing a place at the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
As of 28 September 2026, qualification had not yet been secured. The Brazil trip formed part of tournament preparation, while the November fixture provides the opportunity to qualify.
Emma Hayes in TV Football Coverage
Hayes has combined coaching with television analysis across several international tournaments. Her broadcasting work includes the delayed Euro 2020 tournament, held in 2021, and ITV’s Women’s Euro 2025 coverage.
ITV also appointed her to its punditry team for the men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup, working from its New York studio. That role was separate from her preparation of the USWNT for the following year’s women’s tournament.
Discussing her approach with FourFourTwo in 2021, Hayes said she aimed to explain tactics in the accessible language she would use when talking about football with her mother. The magazine republished those comments during the 2026 World Cup.
That tournament also prompted searches for “Emma Hayes kitchen”. The phrase referred to a tactical-analysis area in ITV’s studio that viewers and publications compared with a kitchen. It was a studio-set comparison, not a reference to her home.
The Independent reported that ITV later adjusted the presentation, introducing movable magnets and tighter camera framing following criticism of the set.
Emma Hayes’s Coaching Philosophy and Approach to Players
Hayes has described understanding players as people as the starting point of her coaching philosophy. In her November 2023 U.S. Soccer interview, she spoke about learning what motivates and inspires individuals before asking them to meet elite professional standards.
Her move into international management also changed how she organised her work. Speaking to The Guardian in September 2024, she said the gaps between national-team camps gave her more time to recover and plan.
She described enjoying the process of building systems and developing a longer-term strategy towards the 2027 World Cup. International football offered a different working rhythm from the demands of a club season.
Women’s Health, Player Welfare and Public Work
At Chelsea, Hayes supported an approach to training that considered players’ menstrual-cycle information, with their consent and specialist involvement. The club described the programme as a way to improve understanding of female physiology in training and recovery.
Her work with the USWNT has also included an emphasis on female-specific research, wellness and individual development. U.S. Soccer has described this as examining the women’s game through a “female lens”, connecting player support with the particular needs of female athletes.
On 15 April 2026, Hayes joined Melinda French Gates at the SheBelieves Summit for a conversation about women’s sport, leadership and health.
She also took on a football-education role when the PFA Business School appointed her co-course director of its Women’s Football Management MSc. The programme was announced with a planned September 2026 launch.
Emma Hayes’s Personal Life and Family Values
Hayes is a mother to her son, Harry, and has spoken directly about combining parenthood with elite coaching. Her public comments have addressed the practical support needed to sustain both responsibilities.
She has also credited her late father, Sid, with influencing her willingness to speak about problems in women’s football. During her Football Writers’ Association tribute acceptance speech in January 2024, she said he encouraged her to use her voice and push for change.
Her account of his influence connects family life with the advocacy that has accompanied her coaching career.
Health Challenges and Major Personal Changes
In a statement published by Chelsea in 2022, Hayes confirmed that she had undergone an emergency hysterectomy following an ongoing struggle with endometriosis. She took time away from the team to recover.
Speaking to The Guardian in September 2024, she discussed her recovery and the effects of sudden menopause. She also spoke about grieving her father while completing her final Chelsea season and said she had overworked herself during that period.
Hayes has previously discussed pregnancy loss and the demands of returning to coaching after childbirth. In a 2022 Guardian interview, she described losing one of the twins she was carrying in 2018 before giving birth to Harry.
She said she regretted returning to work eight weeks after his birth, having underestimated the physical, hormonal and emotional demands involved.
Recognition Beyond Match Results
Hayes received an MBE in 2016 and an OBE for services to football in the 2022 New Year Honours. She received the latter at Buckingham Palace on 24 June 2022.
Further recognition followed in 2025. The Professional Footballers’ Association awarded her its Merit Award for her coaching achievements and contribution to women’s football.
On 30 September 2025, she was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in Manchester. The museum’s own announcement confirms the location and date of the induction.
Emma Hayes’s Continuing Influence in Football
Hayes’s career combines success in club and international football with sustained attention to the conditions in which players train and compete. Her current work centres on developing the United States squad and preparing for its next major competitive test in World Cup qualification.
Football education, television analysis and player welfare remain part of that wider professional role. Her public accounts of coaching, motherhood and health also provide context for the changes she has made in her working life.
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