US women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes says she hopes she will add a Women’s World Cup to her trophy cabinet.
She was speaking as she was inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her achievements in coaching, which include seven Women’s Super League titles with Chelsea.
Asked by Sky Sports what she still wanted to win, she replied: “Hopefully a World Cup! I want to help USA qualify first, that’s the goal, and building a different infrastructure abroad.”
Hayes left Chelsea at the end of the 2023-24 season to take up the role in the USA.
And she spoke about the adjustment from club coaching to international coaching, drawing an analogy with family life.
“It’s like going from being a parent to a grandparent. They come and you see them every eight weeks, and you spoil them, take them to Disneyland, and do all the things they love doing, and obviously create a good environment to test them and then you send them back to their clubs, or their parents.
“I’m really enjoying using my brain.”
Hayes: It’s highly unlikely I’ll go back to club coaching
And she emphasised that she is focused on success with the USA. She dismissed any interest in taking over the job as Lionesses head coach at any point – calling current incumbent Sarina Wiegman “a wonderful manager” – and brushed off the idea that she might return to club coaching.
“I think it’s highly unlikely,” she said. “I’m enjoying what I’m doing and I’m enjoying the pace of it.
“Being a mum is really important to me. Combining this job with being a parent are the two things I want to do more than anything else.”
Emma Hayes: My dad would be so proud of me
She added that of all her honours – which also include five Women’s FA Cups – winning Olympic gold with the USA in Paris 2024 is her fondest memory: “Thinking about 2012, sat there with my dad, on the halfway line at Wembley, in the final, saying: ‘What do you think, Dad? Do you think one day I’ll ever get to coach in an Olympic gold medal final?’
“Then getting to 2024, I remember tears rolling down my face, and thinking the one person I wish was here to see it is up in heaven.
“But oh my goodness, he’d be so proud of me.”
