Chelsea manager Emma Hayes will become the highest-paid women’s football coach in the world when she joins the United States women’s team at the end of the season.
Hayes will finish the 2023/24 Women’s Super League campaign with Chelsea before she joins her new team two months before the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“This is a huge honour to be given the opportunity to coach the most incredible team in world football history,” Hayes said.
“The feelings and connection I have for this team and for this country run deep.
“I’ve dreamed about coaching the USA for a long time so to get this opportunity is a dream come true. I know there is work to do to achieve our goals of winning consistently at the highest levels.
“To get there, it will require dedication, devotion and collaboration from the players, staff and everyone at the US Soccer Federation.”
Hayes started her coaching career in the US and admitted on Tuesday it would be a fairy-tale end to her Chelsea career to lift the Women’s Champions League for the first time at the end of the season.
The Champions League is the one major trophy that has eluded the 47-year-old during her 13 year tenure with the Blues, having lost 4-0 in the 2021 final to Barcelona and reached the semi-finals on three other occasions.
She was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to football, having been judged FIFA Best Women’s Coach – beating Sarina Wiegman – the year before.
US Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker led a worldwide search for interim coach Twila Kilgore’s replacement.
In this year’s Women’s World Cup, the US crashed out during the last 16 after losing to Sweden on penalties – the first time the country’s team had not come first, second or third in the tournament’s history. At the time it was managed by Vlatko Andonovski.
United States Women have also won four Olympic golds, but only took home bronze in 2020.
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A statement from US Soccer revealed Hayes will become the highest-paid women’s football coach in the world.
“Emma is a fantastic leader and world-class coach who sets high standards for herself and for everyone around her,” added US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone.
“She has tremendous energy and an insatiable will to win. Her experience in the USA, her understanding of our soccer landscape and her appreciation of what it means to coach this team makes her a natural fit for this role and we could not be more pleased to have her leading our women’s national team forward.”
