Emma Hayes wants to change the way you think about women’s soccer

Emma Hayes does not want to talk about her U.S. women’s national soccer team roster, potential lineups or evolving tactics. She doesn’t want to discuss players leaving the NWSL for European clubs, her recently completed training camp or the upcoming SheBelieves Cup and friendlies.

Not right now, anyway. She’ll circle back to competitive priorities soon enough.

At the moment, the colorful and driven Londoner who, with short preparation, coached the U.S. squad to Olympic gold last summer in Paris, has long-term visions for the sport’s preeminent program and women’s global soccer at large.

“This is the single most exciting project I’ve ever been involved with,” Hayes said.

Her goal is to have a “transformative effect beyond just the development of our teams” as she seeks to have “a bigger impact on the entire ecosystem,” the former Chicago Red Stars coach said.

To get there, Hayes says the U.S. Soccer Federation and the sport as a whole need to begin looking at women’s soccer through a “female lens.” From the sporting side to commercial elements, she said, the women’s game will benefit from an approach different than the men’s game.

“I’ve challenged everybody across the federation internally to look at how they’ve been viewing the women’s game through that male lens,” said Hayes, who began her U.S. tenure last May. “The single most important thing about our mission is to make it really clear we want to create a female lens in everything we do as our starting point.”

This week she presented her ideas to a group of reporters and, separately and in presumably greater detail, to USSF chief executive J.T. Batson and others. Much of the USSF leadership has engaged with Hayes on the project, a spokesman said.

From grass-roots programs to fledgling pro leagues, the 48-year-old has a long history of working on grander objectives.

“I feel like I’ve worked on this my whole life,” she said. “It just came together when I came into this job.”

Since the Olympics, Hayes has brainstormed with Bart Caubergh, the national team’s program director; Tracey Kevins, the head of development for U.S. female youth national teams; and Fiona Roberts, who oversees team leadership development. She wants to create an advisory board with the pro leagues — NWSL and USL Super League — and perhaps colleges and high-end youth circuits.

In filling positions in the women’s program, the USSF is putting greater priority on insight and experience in the women’s game.

“Our mission is to architect a female blueprint to win and set the bar for the global game,” Hayes said. “I’ve decided for however long I have on this planet to get to a place where I’ve got the ability to influence — and the power to influence — something much broader and much bigger.”

That begins, she said, with a mindset and foundation tailored toward the women’s game. She noted most sports science research is taken from male athletes and strength programs are not necessarily geared toward women.

“Let’s think about this from a female physiological perspective,” Hayes said. “If we don’t produce as much testosterone — and we do have a menstrual cycle to deal with, where our strength gains might be better at the beginning versus the end and our injury risk might be higher in the middle and just at the end — we have to be more intentional about what we’re doing.”

She said there is a need, in certain situations, for an altered approach to game tactics too, because of the physical differences between men and women.

On the youth side, Hayes said issues exclusive to girls require a different approach and would perhaps lower the percentage of players quitting soccer in their early teens. Her aim, she said, is to shape coaching programs for women that are consistent “physiologically, anatomically, technically, tactically, psychologically, socially, emotionally.”

There are mundane considerations, as well.

“I’ve had years of being told, ‘Well, this is a great hotel to stay; that’s where the men stay,’” Hayes said. “I say, ‘I know, but we don’t really want to play on the PlayStation. We like to go out and have a coffee and we like to socialize.’ … If we want to create joyful, enjoyable but great learning environments, we have to recognize we might do that slightly different.”

Hayes is tackling the broader project as she continues work improving the national team, which will host Colombia, Australia and Japan next month in the SheBelieves Cup and face Brazil twice in April.

“I have to be extremely disciplined” in striking a balance, Hayes said. She will have a larger window between July and October, when the U.S. team is off.

Ultimately, Hayes knows the federation and fans will judge her on the success of the national team, namely the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The broader goal, though, is to “create a culture that creates better players, better coaches and better teams,” she said. “We’re going to be in a really strong position to be world leaders in what we do.”

Implementing it all will not happen overnight.

“The impact of these things, I doubt will be felt in its entirety until I’ve gone, but they, for sure, are going to be led by this country,” Hayes said. “And I genuinely believe the systems are in place, the appetite is there. We just need the time to do all of it at the level we want.”