Chelsea Women had created a frenzy. On Nov. 4, the English club released a statement saying their coach Emma Hayes was leaving at the end of the season to “pursue a new opportunity outside of the Women’s Super League and club football.” Hayes had just entered her second decade in charge of the club, and few knew where she would land next.
That same day The Athletic, among others, reported that Hayes’ next job would be with the U.S. women’s national team, leading a four-time World Cup and Olympic gold medal-winning program into a new era. On Tuesday, U.S. Soccer made her appointment official.
Hayes, who previously won six WSL titles in England, will become the 10th full-time coach of the U.S., but not until her final season with Chelsea is complete next May. Sporting director Matt Crocker made the final decision to hire Hayes after a search process that began in August, following the team’s surprising exit in the round of 16 at the World Cup and the subsequent departure of head coach Vlatko Andonovski.
“She has tremendous energy and an insatiable will to win,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “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…
