How USWNT coach Emma Hayes is rebuilding U.S. Soccer's women's program through female lens ahead of World Cup — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Emma Hayes won Olympic gold in 2024 with roughly 80 days on the job, then launched the 'WNT Way' strategy in 2025 and this year co-hosted the second herLENS conference focused on research and data for women in soccer
- U.S. Soccer and Hayes formalized a strategic partnership with the Kang Women's Institute for the herLENS Research Consortium, targeting how performance data is collected and why girls drop out of the game
- The 'Female 360' approach includes menstrual-cycle tracking, individualized hydration and nutrition plans, and operational tweaks Hayes credits with improving performance, including swapping hotel plate sizes in France and removing visible weighing scales to reduce athlete stress
- Hayes has publicly disclosed her stage five endometriosis diagnosis to normalize the conversation, framing it as part of a broader collective effort beyond competitive advantage
- Hayes used 44 different players in 2025 lineups — the most by any USWNT coach in the program's 40-year history — with 32 first-time cap-earners in her first 32 matches and 60 total players deployed since her hire
- U.S. Soccer is expected to co-host the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup with Mexico, Costa Rica, and Jamaica, and president Cindy Parlow Cone said Hayes's appointment was always intended to extend through that cycle, not just the 2027 tournament
Why it matters: Hayes is converting a gold-medal mandate into permanent infrastructure: the Kang Women's Institute partnership institutionalizes female-specific research, and a 44-player 2025 rotation signals she is treating the 18 months before the 2027 World Cup as a talent audit rather than a settled XI — meaning fringe players have a real pathway and the program's competitive edge is being rebuilt around cycle-aware training most federations still ignore.
Ask SkimNews
