Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has been appointed head coach of the US in a record deal that would make her the world’s highest-paid women’s soccer coach, the US Soccer Federation said on Tuesday.
Hayes, 47, revealed earlier this month that she plans to leave Chelsea at the end of the season after a trophy-laden spell in charge of the English club.
“This is a huge honor to be given the opportunity to coach the most incredible team in world football history,” Hayes said in a statement confirming her appointment.
Photo: Reuters
The federation did not divulge details of Hayes’ contract, but said she would become the “highest-paid women’s soccer coach in the world.”
ESPN, citing a source with knowledge of the contract negotiations, reported that Hayes’ deal would run through 2027 and see her earn a salary that was “close if not equal” to the US$1.6 million earned by US men’s soccer coach Gregg Berhalter.
Hayes will see out her duties with Chelsea in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and then formally take up her US role next year, two months before the Paris Olympics, where the Americans would be looking to recapture the gold medal they last won in 2012.
Hayes is one of the most respected figures in the world of women’s soccer, leading Chelsea to six WSL titles, five FA Cups and two league cups. In 2021, she took Chelsea to the final of the women’s Champions League and was named FIFA’s women’s coach of the year.
The English coach, who started her coaching career in women’s club soccer in the US in 2001 after her promising playing career was cut short by injury, would be handed the task of returning the USA to the pinnacle of women’s soccer.
The US women have dominated women’s international soccer for much of the past decade, winning back-to-back FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2015 and 2019.
However, they were bundled out of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in August in the last 16 — the team’s worst-ever showing at a World Cup.
Vlatko Andonovski left as coach in the aftermath.
Hayes said her appointment was the realization of a lifelong dream, adding that the job was simply impossible to turn down.
“I’ve dreamed about doing this job from my days as a coach in my early 20s,” she said. “You can’t turn the US Women’s National Team down.”
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said