When England face the USWNT at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, all eyes will be on Emma Hayes.
The former Chelsea manager is making her first return to English soil in a managerial capacity since leaving the seven-time Women’s Super League (WSL) champions in May to lead the U.S. women’s team.
Footballing trips across the Pond are familiar territory for Hayes, though. Her coaching career began at summer camps in Long Island, New York when she was 25, when she headed to the States with just $1,000 (£1,250 at today’s exchange rates) and a one-way ticket. After eight years coaching club and college teams (with a three-year stint as Arsenal’s assistant coach in the middle), she returned to England in 2012, building Chelsea into a domestic behemoth, before heading back to America this summer and promptly leading her new team to gold medals at the Olympics in France.
Hayes is not an anomaly. Where MLS was historically branded a “retirement league” for august but ageing male players, English women footballers (and coaches) have found early-career moves to the States foundational.
Of England’s current 24-strong squad, forward Alessia Russo and right-back Lucy Bronze, plus head coach Sarina Wiegman, credit time spent in the U.S. as being critical in their career development,…
