USWNT: Chelsea manager Emma Hayes is new US women's team boss

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes has been named the new manager of the United States women's national team

Hayes will leave Chelsea for her new position when the Women's Super League season ends in May.

The Blues announced on Saturday that Hayes was planning to leave for "a new opportunity outside the WSL and club football".

Following the announcement, Hayes said her feelings for the US team and the country "run deep". "I've dreamed about coaching the USA for a long time so to get this opportunity is a dream come true," she said.

The appointment as US team boss means Hayes will be highest-paid women's football coach in the world. 

Hayes, who was born in London, started her managerial career with Long Island Lady Riders in the USA, she went on to join Chelsea as boss in the WSL in 2012 and won 13 major trophies the club as manager, including the past four WSL titles in a row.

She will take over the US team when she finishes with Chelsea, with the WSL season ending on 18 May 2024, while the Women's Champions League final takes place on 25 May.

She will then join up with the American national side two months before the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which begin on 26 July 2024.

Emma Hayes says her new job is: "a huge honour to be given the opportunity to coach the most incredible team in world football history... I know there is work to do to achieve our goals of winning consistently at the highest levels."

US Soccer president Cindy Parlow called Hayes a "fantastic leader" and a "world class coach who sets high standards for herself and for everyone around her".

"She has tremendous energy and an insatiable will to win," said Parlow.

"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 natural fit for this role and we could not be more pleased to have her leading our Women's National Team forward."

Having won back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019, the USA suffered their earliest exit at a World Cup this year - going out in the last 16.