Emma Hayes is the most outstanding coach England has produced in the women's game, a manager who essentially built Chelsea from the ground up, won seven Women’s Super League titles, seven domestic cups and reached a Champions League final, turning the Blues into the dominant force in the domestic game. For some, then, it was unfathomable that she would leave that job to manage the United States women’s national team, not the Lionesses.
Instead of her next step being to lead her home country on the international stage, Hayes took over the four-time World Cup winners earlier this year and only added to her already immense reputation when she delivered Olympic gold in Paris just a few weeks later. It’s extremely likely that, in the years to come, the 48-year-old will stand in between England and a major title, with them possibly crossing paths at a future World Cup.
Before that becomes a possibility in 2027 though, the Lionesses will go up against Hayes for the first time on Saturday, as the USWNT visit Wembley for a friendly of the highest profile. It's an occasion that has prompted excitement but also questions, again, of why the Football Association (FA) let the best coach in English women's football take charge of a team that will be a genuine rival for the Lionesses in the battle for big titles.
But that shouldn't be the question; this isn’t a case of asking how the FA let this happen. The fact of the matter is that being the head coach of the USWNT is the biggest job in the women’s game and it’s one that, for a number of reasons, it makes more sense for Hayes to occupy than the England hot seat.