Emma Hayes has said her aims for the United States women’s national team go beyond just winning and has spoken of wanting to build a program that “sets the bar for the global game.”
Hayes, who took over as USWNT head coach last summer after a trophy-laden 12-year-spell at Chelsea, led the team to a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
It was the USWNT’s first gold since 2012 and saw them return to the summit of the women’s game following their shock round-of-16 exit in the 2023 World Cup.
However, Hayes’ ambitions in the job go beyond just on-field success.
“I plan to do more than just win with this team,” she said in an interview with ESPN’s Futbol W.
“Like, that’s not who I am. I’m a builder and I want to put in place a robust program with the right support so that hopefully the U.S. can always compete beyond my tenure but also set the bar for the global game off the field. That’s one of my big goals.”
Hayes’ USWNT tenure began in whirlwind style. She was jettisoned into the role just weeks after winning the Women’s Super League (WSL) with Chelsea in May 2024, and by August was on the podium in Paris with a gold medal around her neck.
With the Olympics now in the rearview mirror, Hayes spoke of taking a big-picture view in her role.
“I’ve sort of had to zoom out and reflect and say, ‘listen, last year was extremely intense,'” she said.
“Like that’s unusual to go from a club situation into a national team. But in the last six months I’ve really tried to stay zoomed out and say ‘okay well, what gaps can we close in certain areas?’
“And one of those is that is developing more program opportunities, particularly at the under-23 level, as I really feel there’s like a lost generation that didn’t get a lot of cap-opportunities because they went from [under] 20s … and if they didn’t make the seniors, there weren’t a lot of of opportunities there. And I actually learned the other day that in the U.S. there are less U23s playing domestically and internationally in terms of experience than a lot of top nations.
“So we’ve got to close the gap … whether that’s encouraging the players to keep pushing to play wherever they are, but also internationally create an U23 program so we can start to give them international experiences prior to them coming to the senior level. And of course, some may go from [under]20s to seniors, but I really feel there’s a missing gap that we’ve got to get right. And we’ve certainly addressed that and we are aiming to [start that] program from April.”
