Emma Hayes: “If You Can’t Change the System… Change It”

Summary

Welcome to the Party

Episode: Emma Hayes: “If You Can’t Change the System… Change It”

Date: April 9, 2026
Hosts: Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, Billie Jean King
Guest: Emma Hayes (U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach)

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Episode Overview

This episode of “Welcome to the Party” centers on powerful, practical change in women’s sports, featuring U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes. Hosts Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy, and Billie Jean King dive into Hayes’s vision for transforming U.S. soccer and building systems through a female lens, her personal coaching philosophy, and her ambitious legacy plans to reshape the women’s game in America. The conversation is an inspiring and insightful blueprint for what it means to lead with purpose, empathy, and innovation at the highest level of women’s sport.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Celebrating Women’s Sports Community

[00:00–12:28]

• Opening banter between the hosts, referencing the Billie Jean King Cup (the “World Cup of women’s tennis”) and reflecting on national pride and teamwork in elite women’s sports.
• Billie Jean King recounts key stories from tennis, including coaching Lindsay Davenport, pressure under competition (“pressure is a privilege”), and the unique camaraderie of team events.
• Lighthearted discussion about competitive tempers (including how Abby managed frustration on the soccer field), golf tournaments, and the importance of kindness.

Notable Quote:

“When you play for your country, there’s just something different about it. It’s just, whoa.”
— Billie Jean King [04:29]

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2. Emma Hayes: Building A Blueprint for U.S. Women's Soccer

[14:59–26:00]

Emma Hayes Joins: Embracing the U.S. Women’s Program

• Emma Hayes reflects on joining the show, her travel schedule across U.S. cities, and preparing for the opening of the new National Training Center in Atlanta (“It’s breathtaking...without question the biggest training center in the world.”) [18:06]
• Discussions about integrating work and family (Hayes bringing her son Harry on the road), cultural immersion, and work-life balance as examples to her players about joy, balance, and living fully.

Notable Quote:

“When I was at Chelsea, I couldn’t breathe...I didn’t see as much of [my son] as I wanted to. As a parent, I didn’t want to live with that regret anymore...what better education...can I give him than going and taking him on my day off somewhere?”
— Emma Hayes [22:09]

A New Era for U.S. Soccer’s Home Base

• The National Training Center will serve youth and senior national teams, create a hub for coach education and referee development, and is intentionally architected to accommodate future growth and innovation.
• Emphasizes the symbolic and practical impact on American soccer: “It’s a home and a heartbeat...I think it will do so much for the country to have, you know, a soccer home.” [18:56]

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3. Supporting Players—A 360° Female Lens

[26:00–41:06]

Innovation in Managing Pregnancy and Return-to-Play

• Hayes details the 360° approach taken with players returning from pregnancy (notably Sophia Smith and Mal Swanson). Multidisciplinary meetings include medical, performance, technical staff, and club representation to support athletes at every stage, emphasizing individual timelines and holistic wellbeing.

Notable Quotes:

“What I’ve learned through so many different experiences with players is that there might be a tendency to rush back. I feel good, but I might have slight pains…and that might be a real red flag.”
— Emma Hayes [28:28]

“It all depends. It’s so individual and knowing that they feel supported is the most important with every step.”
— Emma Hayes [31:44]

Coaching and Building From a ‘Female Lens’

• Hayes explains her conversion to working through a specifically female lens, triggered by a 2016 FA Cup final loss and recognizing the impact of the menstrual cycle on performance.
• Systemic change is her mission: “If you can’t change the system, change the system.”
• Goal: By the 2031 World Cup, have everything from coach education to research embedded in women’s physiology and experience.

Notable Quotes:

“If we lose again, it’s never going to be because of a lack of knowledge around our physiology and anatomy.”
— Emma Hayes [34:17]

“Women deserve the very best. As I say to all my staff, you have to realize lots of things are different about us...Only 5% of research around sports science is on women.”
— Emma Hayes [36:35, 38:56]

Strategies for Scalable Change

• Further underscores the need for separate education and leadership structures for girls’ and women’s soccer.
• Partnerships with universities like Emory and major donors (e.g., Michelle Kang) drive both research and funding for programs that develop coaches, referees, and administrators uniquely for women’s soccer.
• The 2031 legacy: scalable, nationwide change.

Notable Quote:

“The legacy of the female lens for 2031 should be making sure all of this is scalable...and we should have the infrastructure in place.”
— Emma Hayes [43:11]

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4. Leadership, Legacy, and Philosophy

[41:47–59:59]

Why the U.S. Job?

• Hayes’s dream since attending the first pro women’s soccer final in the U.S. in 2001; inspired by the team’s ambition and values, and a strong sense of belonging from her formative years in America.

Notable Quote:

“One day I’m gonna work so hard, and one day I’m going to be the head coach of the U.S. women’s national team.”
— Emma Hayes [48:04]

Building Beyond Herself

• Emphasizes not only winning, but system-building so that succeeding generations benefit: “I want the next generation and the people behind me to feel like the women’s game and the girls’ game and the insights around them is by them, for them.”
• Hayes is determined, honest, and empowers people with clear standards and responsibility, focusing on balance, honesty, and lifting others up.

Notable Quotes:

“I want it to be a system. I want it to be enshrined in the culture...This for me is so much bigger, and I totally understand my focus has to be on the team, but I also know I have got a lot of experience that I can share...to help bring to life an incredible vision.”
— Emma Hayes [44:24]

“More importantly, I found that the more I lift people up, the more I empower them—but with responsibility—the more I’m getting out of them.”
— Emma Hayes [55:38]

Addressing Drop-Offs in Girls’ Participation

• Tackles systemic dropout rates among teenage girls by advocating for more flexible, socially inclusive structures and more women in coaching roles.
• Recounts personal experiences and recognizes the need for female role models and adaptable competition models to retain girls in sport.

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5. Memorable Moments & Quotes

Hayes on U.S. Women’s Soccer

“The values of the program, the strong characters, women who fought for something bigger than themselves…I always heard of so many men’s teams that did it, but…I think about all the different generations, all fighting for putting the shirt in a better place, putting the game in a better place. That resonates with me.”
— Emma Hayes [48:04]

Billie Jean King on Pressure

“Champions adjust and pressure’s a privilege.”
— Billie Jean King [04:06]

On Joy and Balance

“When a coach brings that, we see it…You have, I think, done such a really good job of that. I commend you.”
— Julie Foudy [53:01]

Hayes’s Life Motto

“If you can’t change the system…change it.”
— Emma Hayes [36:35 / 00:00 as intro highlight]

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Highlighted Timestamps

• 00:00–04:07 — Opening banter, values in women’s sports, BJK stories
• 14:59–18:56 — National Training Center and travel plans
• 22:09–26:00 — Family, work-life balance, cultural immersion
• 28:13–32:52 — Return-to-play protocols (pregnancy), 360° support
• 34:08–41:47 — Female lens, influence of physiology, research gaps
• 43:11–45:33 — Big-picture legacy, scalability for 2031
• 48:04–55:38 — Hayes’s “why,” system-building, coaching philosophy
• 59:44–End — Final reflections, gratitude, closing remarks

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Final Thoughts

This episode stands out as a manifesto for building sustainable, athlete-centered, and deeply informed structures in women’s sports. Emma Hayes’s leadership is as much about crafting wins as it is about constructing a future for girls and women in soccer—from youth levels to the elite national team. The conversation is filled with warmth, candor, and conviction, offering invaluable insights for anyone who cares about women’s sports and transformative leadership.

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For fans of women’s soccer, sports leadership, and organizational change, this episode is a must-listen.

Transcript

[Emma Hayes]

One day I'm going to work so hard and one day I'm going to be the head coach of the U.S. women's National Team. Well, if you can't change the system, change the system. Regardless of whether I'm the coach here or not, that I put the system in place, I want the next generation and the people behind me to feel like that the women's game and the girls game and the insights around them is by them, for them.

[Julie Foudy]

No coach has ever been able to do this. You could pull this off. Attention, the party is about to commence.

[Emma Hayes]

Welcome to the party.

[Julie Foudy]

What's up, party people? I'm Julie Foudy.

[Abby Wambach]

And I'm Abby Wambach.

[Billie Jean King]

And I'm Billie Jean King.

[Abby Wambach]

Kinger, are you on a delay?

[Billie Jean King]

What's up?

[Julie Foudy]

I think she's on a delay.

[Billie Jean King]

I must be because I went as fast.

[Emma Hayes]

Right.

[Julie Foudy]

You were. It must be delayed.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

I was like, come on, Kinger, have a.

[Billie Jean King]

What do you want for someone that's a lot older than you guys? Come on, give me the ball.

[Emma Hayes]

Give me the ball. Give me the ball.

[Julie Foudy]

Coming up, we have one of my favorite coaches on this planet, U.S. women's National Team head coach Emma Hayes. And we are about a year into her plan to build the game, which is really cool. We're going to talk about through this bold new female only lens. So we're going to talk about what's actually changing, how it's showing up on the field. And we can't wait to check in with Emma. But first, Kinger.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Billy Jean King Cup. Billy Jean King cup. Say that 10 times.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah. The World cup of women's tennis. Just like your soccer. Yeah. This is our World Cup. 148 countries.

[Julie Foudy]

It starts on Saturday.

[Billie Jean King]

Let's go 7M. It's qualifying. We go down. We get down to eight teams for the finals in China. Belgium plays the United States.

[Julie Foudy]

This started in 1963. Party people formally called the team. Yeah.

[Billie Jean King]

I was 19 years old. I was so excited. I was the number two player. Darlene Hard was one, Carol Caldwell was three. And we rocked. We won it. Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Qualifiers are happening April 10th and 11th. We will have 14 countries competing in home or away ties. It's basically a format of four singles plus one doubles. First team to three wins, advances. Is that all correct?

[Billie Jean King]

Correct.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. And then as you mentioned, there will be eight total teams in the finals in Shenzhen in September. U. S team is captained by the Lindsay Davenport, which is amazing.

[Billie Jean King]

Four times number one in the world.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah.

[Billie Jean King]

And what she was. What would you Say when I was captain, she was on the team.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. Really?

[Billie Jean King]

She's great. Yeah, she was.

[Julie Foudy]

She played you. You. Wait, say that again. When, when you were captain or when you were coaching or when you were captain?

[Billie Jean King]

When I was. Well, captain is the coach in this language. Tennis language, which drives me nuts. I said, we're the coach. Well, in Europe, a captain. Don't you have, like, a manager in soccer, too? I mean, it gets you a manager because countries do vary, but basically when you hear the captain of the team, they're the coach and they do everything we do. Yeah, it's a lot and it's exhausting and it's wonderful and exciting. I came up with the pressures of privilege with Lindsey Davenport. When she was playing, she was freaking out. She was freaking out against. We had to play Spain and she had to play Arancho, Sancho Zicario, who was a great player, and she always had fits with her. And she just looked down at me. I was sitting for a minute. I got up real fast and I'm still looking up. She goes, help. I don't know. I just. I said, champions adjust and pressure's a privilege. And she goes, oh, I like that.

[Abby Wambach]

Okay.

[Billie Jean King]

So she went on to win the match. So something happened, right? But it was. Oh, God, it gets tense. Well, you guys know, you know.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, but you know what I love about this is, is, it's. I mean, tennis is so individual. And I, and I of course, love the team aspect of it, but it's literally about country. Hence my usa, usa. USA hat.

[Billie Jean King]

Today, when you play for your country, there's just something different about it. It's just, whoa. It's overwhelming and wonderful and everything. I just, I love playing, playing for our country. I mean, I just, you know, some players wilt and can't handle it, and others just thrive on. I thrived on it. I loved it.

[Abby Wambach]

I think it's so fascinating around the locker rooms and, you know, whoever is going out to. To play in the final at Wimbledon is pretty much coming out of the same locker rooms and traveling around the world, playing in all the tournaments and having these behind the scenes moments where you're. You're literally like hanging out with these people pretty much all the time.

[Billie Jean King]

Oh, it's our friends.

[Abby Wambach]

And then you have to go compete against them. It's so interesting. So for me, the Billie Jean King cup is so cool because now at least some of the folks that live in your country that you've been traveling around with, you're now teammates with them and like, You're. It just has to be this total mental mind shift. Like, what. What is that like as an athlete, since you played, how do you shift from going to competing against these people to competing with these people?

[Billie Jean King]

I used to ask the players, is this easy for you or harder, just like you're saying? And they said, no, it's great. It's great because I get to play for my country, and now I'm with these players instead of against these players. They love it, most of them. But that's another thing. You learn to appreciate that they need space. If they lost and you won and you're in the same locker room, you got to be very. I'm very careful to try to. If I. If I lost, I was a maniac. I was terrible. Did you guys have good tempers?

[Abby Wambach]

Tempers? Oh, no. I saw red. I saw red a lot.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah, me too.

[Abby Wambach]

We had this thing, Billy, on the national team, we had this thing that if. If. If one of us was losing it on the field, we would scream to the other.

[Julie Foudy]

Ice.

[Abby Wambach]

Like, to. To imagine. I think Hacker calling, doctor calling. Hacker gave this to us. To imagine ice just going through your veins. Because sometimes I would get so mad and so upset and so angry, whether it was at the ref or at myself or whatever. I would get so, like, I would see red and I would just start fouling people, and my team would have to be like, abby, ice, ice.

[Billie Jean King]

Well, you can't foul. That hurts the team. Right. And yet you can't help yourself. I know that.

[Emma Hayes]

Exactly.

[Abby Wambach]

Sometimes in soccer, Billy, having a hard, like, tackle. Let's say that this team is just, you know, coming for you, and they're. They've got some momentum and they're beating. They're. They're. They're knocking on the door. Sometimes having a hard foul, even though the other team might get a free kick. That's like the actual. It can level set a moment. It can shift momentum.

[Billie Jean King]

Yes, it does.

[Julie Foudy]

Abby was good at that. Like, coming up, she'd go clean someone out. Okay, okay,

[Emma Hayes]

I see this.

[Abby Wambach]

Clean.

[Billie Jean King]

Okay, Abby, clean their clock. She's fine now.

[Julie Foudy]

Clean them out.

[Billie Jean King]

I have.

[Julie Foudy]

I have a couple scars to. To verify by Abby.

[Billie Jean King]

Jules, how are you as a player?

[Julie Foudy]

I was soft. I was from California. We didn't tackle. We just left that to the. The Rogers.

[Billie Jean King]

You just passed the ball, right?

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. I was like, you tackle people. I just like to, you know, prance around here.

[Abby Wambach]

It's why you can run now and I cannot run. My body is beat.

[Billie Jean King]

I think you both look pretty Good on that peloton. When you're doing your little.

[Julie Foudy]

Don't even remind me.

[Billie Jean King]

No, but you guys are really good, both of you. Are you kidding?

[Abby Wambach]

Actually, Julie, that does remind me. What is on. What is over your right shoulder. I want to just give you a little props right now.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay.

[Abby Wambach]

Gotta do it in front of Billy, because this is the only. This is the right way.

[Julie Foudy]

I don't know if you can see this.

[Billie Jean King]

I can.

[Julie Foudy]

Can you see the sign on there?

[Billie Jean King]

No.

[Julie Foudy]

It says, julie beat Abby on the bottom. Do you see that?

[Billie Jean King]

No, but I do now. I can tell that's what it says since you told me. Oh, that's great.

[Julie Foudy]

This was a guard classic, our Pro Am. And Abby's group was in front of our group, and we were playing.

[Billie Jean King]

Assuming this is golf.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, Pro Am golf. And it was such a cool day because we got to play with all these cola. Guard and colorectal cancer survivors and patients and caregivers and loved ones. And so it was such a neat, amazing day. And especially amazing because I gotta lift this bad boy at the end of it. I was like, okay, Julie won something. She won something.

[Billie Jean King]

Do you see how athletes are jocks? We have all these bragging rights. Oh, I did this.

[Abby Wambach]

And I'm pissed because that's actually the. Golf is the only sport I care about right now. Like, I could care. Like, I love this peloton challenge and I love beating Julie on it, but I would rather win the golf one.

[Julie Foudy]

Really.

[Billie Jean King]

Someday, maybe I'm going to keep playing tennis until I can't, and then I'll take up golf.

[Abby Wambach]

Actually, this is a good question, Billy. What in your life right now makes you see red? Like, what happens in a day? What? That just drives you bonkers and you're like. Like, is it. Is it, like, showing up late to something, which I'm sure you never do because you're an athlete. Like, what is. What is the thing that pisses you off the most?

[Billie Jean King]

I don't know. I just love life too much. What pisses me off? She's being late. Does piss me off. That's for sure. I don't know. I think when I see people being mean to somebody I can't stand, I don't like that. I think, yeah, I think we need to be kind and good to each other. And so when I see someone not being that way or being negative, I don't like it. I can get negative, though, because I yell at myself and all that internally and externally. Everybody goes, oh, no, go. Shut up. Go.

[Abby Wambach]

Away.

[Billie Jean King]

I know what they're feeling. Thinking. No, I don't know what is what with you. What do you. What bothers you?

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, what pisses me off.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah. Because I'm not getting into politics here either.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

I was just gonna say. You do not want to hear what pisses me off.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Abby Wambach]

Because I get it when people actually

[Billie Jean King]

don't tell the truth or when people.

[Abby Wambach]

I have one.

[Billie Jean King]

Or mean or. Cause I've got to practice. I don't like it.

[Abby Wambach]

I've got a practical and two of them. One when.

[Billie Jean King]

Practical.

[Abby Wambach]

One. Yeah. When my family doesn't wash the. The stuff down the sink.

[Billie Jean King]

Does that. Certain members of the family that do that. Or is it every.

[Abby Wambach]

The whole. The. Everybody. I think I'm the elected. I'm the elected. Food. Food washer down the sink. Yes. That's the thing. Okay.

[Billie Jean King]

That's fun.

[Abby Wambach]

That really gets my goat.

[Julie Foudy]

Wait, you said two.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, the dishwasher.

[Julie Foudy]

Not. Not emptying it.

[Billie Jean King]

This is the housework. Kittens kid.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, it's. It's the not. It's the not arranging the dishes correctly.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, I know.

[Billie Jean King]

I don't like that either. I think you hate it.

[Julie Foudy]

What are you doing there? I have to, like, rearrange all of them. I'm like, what?

[Abby Wambach]

Every single time.

[Emma Hayes]

What are we doing here?

[Billie Jean King]

You have to do it every time. They can't figure that out.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Billie Jean King]

Oh, come on.

[Julie Foudy]

I'm not sure that makes me see red, but I understand that frustration.

[Abby Wambach]

But decades. We're like. We're going on a decade. It's red at this point. But I have to. Still the same. I have had to accept that things will not change. It's not going to change.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, my goodness.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah. Some things don't change with people. You're right. So you have to adapt.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. We're going to talk instead how you should be cheering on the United States of America with them taking on Belgium on Friday on the Tennis Channel. I've got my USA hat ready to go. And the duality of this hat is perfect because. Coming up, Kinger, we're going to be sad to say goodbye to you, but we welcome in US Women's national team head coach Emma Hayes. And a bit of redemption on the line for the US Team because what will it take to avenge last year's, she believes cup loss? That's the tournament they play here in the United States. They lost it in that final game to Japan. So they have three games coming up against Japan in April. Can't wait to find out what Emma says about that.

[Emma Hayes]

Jules.

[Abby Wambach]

So, you know, some of the best moments in sports happened outside the stadium, right? It's the group text, the people crowding around one tv, the planning of these things, the community of it all. That's why. That's why we're doing this show. That's why we love sports, right? It's about the community. That's why events like the FIFA World Cup, Jules, Are so fun, because they turn an entire city, an entire country into a watch party. And if you live in one of those cities or you're heading out of town while it's all happening, which is a smart idea, that's actually a pretty great reason to think about Airbnb. You can host your place while you're away, and it becomes part of somebody else's whole FIFA World cup experience. You're giving them an experience. It's so beautiful. That's why I love Airbnb because it never just feels like just a place to sleep. It feels like you can actually get to live in the city for a minute. Okay? So you get to experience the local flavor, that extra personal touch. And during something as massive and exciting as the FIFA World cup, these kinds of stays are exactly what people are looking for. If you've ever thought about hosting, this summer is a great time as we welcome FIFA World cup fans from everywhere. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host.

[Julie Foudy]

All right, party people, now to the partiest part of our party. When you think about the best coaches in the world in any sport, abs, you're talking about people who win, of course. Yes. But also people who build and adjust and evolve and push the game forward. Forward. And our next guest has done that everywhere she's been, from building a dynasty at Chelsea. Sixteen trophies, party people. To stepping in with the U.S. women's National Team and winning Olympic gold in her first year, actually in her first 10 games as a coach. But what's been so fun to watch is how quickly she's embraced this group, the culture, the expectation, what it really means to wear that crest. And yes, even TikTok dances with her star players. Now two years in, she's not just leading this team. She's help shaping what women's soccer looks like at all national team levels, meaning youth national team levels on up for the foreseeable future, including building what she calls a new blueprint through a female lens. Emma Hayes, welcome to the party. Welcome to the party. Emma.

[Abby Wambach]

We're so glad you all showed up. Thank you. Thank you for Coming.

[Julie Foudy]

Thank you for coming.

[Emma Hayes]

I was waiting for the music.

[Julie Foudy]

You've got confetti. We love Emma.

[Emma Hayes]

Hay. Thanks for having me. Like, it's an honor, especially with you two. I see you running on your treadmills in between your shows. How's that going?

[Abby Wambach]

How's it going?

[Julie Foudy]

You had to bring up the damn treadmills. Don't even go there, Emma. I lose every damn time, Em.

[Emma Hayes]

Sorry.

[Abby Wambach]

You tied me once.

[Julie Foudy]

Well, I tie her a lot. I just can't beat her. I'm like, she doesn't even have an ankle, Emma. And I'm like, okay, we're gonna run on an elevated treadmill so that your ankle hurts. And she's like, okay. And then she still ties me.

[Abby Wambach]

I won't hold it against you. I get it.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, my gosh. How you doing? You just got in today from England. Let's go.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

How are we feeling?

[Emma Hayes]

I'm great. I've got a massive five week. I'm on the road for five weeks. So I had a little break back in England with my family and enjoyed the Easter holidays. And now I'm back. I'm raring to go. I'm super excited for this camp. And then I go around seeing about seven NWSL games across the country. Country. So I'm ready for a bit of travel.

[Julie Foudy]

I heard you got an Angel City one in the.

[Emma Hayes]

I got an Angel City 1. Seattle, Denver, Portland, San Diego, Gotham. Then I'm going to Atlanta for this. This small event called the opening of the National Training Center.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, what is that? May 7th is.

[Emma Hayes]

Yes, correct. May 7th.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay.

[Emma Hayes]

Very, very.

[Julie Foudy]

Wow.

[Emma Hayes]

For that. To open our home.

[Julie Foudy]

It's actually, like, up and running. It's going.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah, it's. I mean, they're on time, they're on track. I mean, I've seen it a couple of times. Is extraordinary. I mean, it's breathtaking. Just even driving into campus and you just see this extraordinary structure. It's humongous. It's without question the biggest training center in the world. And it's got amazing sloped pitches everywhere. Got great footsall fields. It's got great indoor courts, great gym, great recovery center. The whole thing.

[Julie Foudy]

And that's all built already. All that?

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah, the whole thing. The whole thing.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, my gosh.

[Emma Hayes]

There's gonna be amazing conferences. There be a great place for not just the players, but for. For coach education, for refereeing. Like, it's a home and a heartbeat. We were talking about it earlier, like, I think it will do so much for the country to have you Know, a soccer home. It's needed.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, for sure.

[Abby Wambach]

Will they play, like, will you guys have camps there? Will the women train there a lot or will you still train closest to the city of where games are played?

[Emma Hayes]

I think if there's an opportunity where if we're playing over on that coast and we can have like a five, six day lead in, then absolutely. We will look to be in Atlanta, but obviously we've got games in California. That makes it really, really difficult for players coming. So we will do the right thing. But of course, in preparation for major tournaments, that's going to be a base where teams can be all of our youth national teams, our extended national team. So it's a home for so many and I. You can't fill it. It is so big. There's so many rooms that they've left undesigned for. For whenever we sort of, you know, want to. To have an impact on it. So.

[Julie Foudy]

Wow. That's cool.

[Emma Hayes]

Got the. The chance to sort of co create some of the spaces in there. It's so big, you get lost. It's a great place. Place for hide and seek.

[Julie Foudy]

Harry's gonna love it.

[Emma Hayes]

It's perfect. It's perfect. I was thinking that, you know, me and the staff, but you know, Harry would like it too. Definitely.

[Julie Foudy]

You're gonna lose them for days. Harry's gonna be like, see you, mom. I'll see you next week.

[Emma Hayes]

I love playing that game. I love, I love. I love finding the best places. I think it's one of my favorite games.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, he's so cute. Abby for Harry. Oh, he's so stinking cute.

[Abby Wambach]

I don't think I've met Harry yet.

[Emma Hayes]

Coming on the. He's coming on the road with me for at least a couple of weeks. So I'm taking him around the country and I've been desperate to do this. I want to show him around. He's got a couple of weeks off of school and I'm taking him.

[Julie Foudy]

I said this to Emma the other day. One of the things I love most about her. I love many things about Emma and all, of course, the coaching that she does. But outside of coaching, one of the things I love is when she comes into a city, when we're on the road, she dives into that city. On their one day off, she'll dive into the culture of that city. So if it's Nashville, she's dancing, she's got her cowboy boots on, she's getting her cowboy hats made, her boots made. If it's SoCal, they hit Disneyland. It's like everything. It's St. Louis. They went to the Arch. They had everything. And often she does it with Harry. And it's adorable because what it also says, I think, and I love to the players is, yes, soccer is important, and we want to work hard and train hard and have the highest of standards, but we also need to enjoy life. And this is the example that I'm giving you of this duality of balance, which is so cool.

[Emma Hayes]

You know what? I appreciate you saying that because I think when I was at Chelsea, I couldn't breathe. You rarely got any time off. And I didn't see as much of him as I wanted to. To. And you know, as a parent, I didn't want to live with that regret anymore. And I knew taking this job on, there'd be even more travel. And I thought, well, what better education, you know, can I give him than going and taking him on my day off somewhere? And we. We go to museums or we're. Hyf's the best. He sets up all my. All my trips. He's. He's my tour guide. I'll go to zoos. I'll go anywhere, which is like, I should go and see in that town. I will always take that time. I get my work done in the morning, and then from about midday I go out and I. I enjoy the city. I. I love traveling around the country. I absolutely love it. And especially to places I wouldn't ordinarily go to.

[Julie Foudy]

Right.

[Emma Hayes]

I love it.

[Julie Foudy]

He's getting to see all these cool places in America. That's so rad.

[Abby Wambach]

And I just want to say, Emma, you just said hife. And not many people will know who you're talking about. And Aaron Heifetz. And we just want to say this really quick because we were just talking with him right before you got on. He has been with the national team, our women's national team, since 1995. He has been the sports press officer since 1995. And so we just looked it up on. On. On Claude and tried to figure out how many games he has been. And we figured out it was almost 650 games.

[Emma Hayes]

He has cat believable.

[Julie Foudy]

We think 650ish. I'm gonna get stat guy Steve on it to verify.

[Emma Hayes]

I think my favorite one was when he. I think it was in. Was it in 99 where he had this like the yellow. The yellow pinion. Did he. Or something.

[Abby Wambach]

The vest. He had a vest on.

[Julie Foudy]

He had the gold.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

And ran out to the field.

[Emma Hayes]

I was Just going that. Either that one or in one of his mauve ties or mauve shirts.

[Abby Wambach]

He got to Brandy Chastain before the players did.

[Emma Hayes]

He did.

[Julie Foudy]

He did get to Brandy Chastain before the players did. He's in every shot.

[Emma Hayes]

That's my favorite.

[Julie Foudy]

I told net, I told Netflix for the movie. I'm like, I, you better have High Fitz and his gold vest. And that has got, that has got, got to make it. They're like, oh, we got it.

[Emma Hayes]

Definitely.

[Abby Wambach]

He's in.

[Julie Foudy]

He's in. All right, let's talk about these, these games and the fact that you get. Let's start with the fact that you get Sophia Wilson back.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

So we're, we're to two shots of espresso, which is amazing. Yeah. Coming back from, from having her baby in September, Gigi is so cute, always on the sidelines. You see her. I know it's going to be so fun. And then, of course, Tierna Davidson, which is huge, back from her ACL injury. How sweet is that to have those two back.

[Emma Hayes]

Oh, I mean, you don't realize until you watch him play for their club team in the last couple of weeks that not only are they top class players, but they have the experience not just to manage what they've managed, whether having a baby or coming back from an acl, but they can seamlessly sort of hit, hit the ground running and find their stride. I mean, I say this to players all the time. You know, when, when someone like Tiana, yes, we know she's not playing 90 minutes just yet, but they've got credit in the bank. You know, these players have done it at the highest level and they've done it at Olympics, they've done it at World Cups, They've demonstrated that they, they can perform at those levels. And the reality is this is business. We, we need to get closer and closer to putting a team together for that qualifying campaign. And I can't wait for that. You know, it's better, I think, to get them into this situation. I think Tierna will probably play a little than Soph, but Soph has demonstrated she's playing 90 minutes and I think she's already looking threatening. I can see it in her face. Like the golf threat she brings is something that's very different to any other striker that we've got, and not just in the way that she can stretch and get in behind, but she's so hungry to put the ball in the back of the net. She looks irritated when she doesn't score. And I can see it like I've seen the goals this week, like she's happy for her teammates that they've scored but she really wanted to be the one that scored. And I think that quality as Abby will know firsthand, there's not many players in the world that really like display that I think Ali sent is very similar. Like scoring goals for her is an absolute passion. And I think for Tierna, left footed centre backs are hard to come by. And when you think about the top level, you know we are probably second in the world, second or third in the world in terms of controlling football matches. Now possession. So you need players in those deep spaces to be able to break them lines. And when you got a right footer on that side, you can't play every pass through those angles. But what people don't realize is the most progressive passer in our team is Tierna Davison and she still holds that quality. She can get a ball from the deepest spaces in the midfield or she can find the front line with quality. And she's a great thinker of the game but someone who I think allows us to be even more dominant in attack. So I'm so, so excited to get back.

[Abby Wambach]

That's amazing. We've been talking a little bit about this 360 approach to pregnancy that you all take and I would love to learn a little bit more about that as it relates to some of the, you know, obviously Sophia and Mal coming back from pregnancy.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah, I think, yeah, I've been through a career now where I've actually, I've managed a lot of, a lot of players back from pregnancy and of course having gone through that myself, I absolutely know how unprepared you really are for that. Not just in the build up to it and how it changes your body, but once you give birth you're not only having to deal with the, you know, the hormonal disruption of that, but actually your body doesn't necessarily go back to the way you want it to in the time that you want it to. And so you have to really, you have to really honour that with the right strategy. So one of the things that I think is really critical and I do this with a lot of players, we do these 360 meetings where every department, so for every medical performance, technical, even their own clubs, representatives in their own clubs, we get together with the player and we start with working through, okay, what are the questions you might have now you're pregnant? You might have questions around training or you might have questions around, you know, lifting or you might have questions around just all the things that will crop up in their heads and then we'll work through a program for them at every stage of that trimester. Of course, everything is led by what their doctor says first and foremost in terms of what they can and cannot do safely. But it's a little bit like, I don't know, like people say, oh, you know, when people get their period, do they stop training? I'm like, no. Our job, women, is always that no matter whether you're pregnant or you're on your period is how can you continue to train safely and give you the tools to be able to do that. So some of that might look like they might require pelvic floor support to ensure that if their pelvic floor is strong enough, in some cases it might be too tight. Your pelvic, your pelvic floor is your epicenter. So is it not only going to help you give birth, but it's going to help you recover? So teach them how to manage those things or teach them to understand anything from nutrition all the way through so they can come through that safely. So we do that pre pregnancy and then we have regular check ins with them. And then once they've had the baby, depending on, you know, some places a natural birth, some cases a C section, are then guided primarily by the medical team on which stages they can go to next. Because what I've learned through so many different experiences with players is that there might be a tendency to rush back. I feel good, but I might have slight pains in my pubic bone area and that might be like a real red flag for, well, especially after giving birth. Yes, you might, you might produce more red blood cells, but your bones are really vulnerable. And so to not to create any stress responses in your bones, you might have to take a little bit longer or just so many different things that go on. Because there's also the other things. They might not get the right nanny support from the beginning. They might not be sleeping very well, they might not breastfeed really well. So when people say, well, when do you think they'll be back? It all depends. It's so individual and knowing that they feel supported is the most important with every step. But also provide experts around them that are in a position to help them come back not just safely, you're better, so that they can find another level in them. And that's something I've always enjoyed doing and I know for both so, and now I hope that they feel as supported as they possibly can be by the club and country, because I think working together is the most important thing, so that the player feels supported.

[Abby Wambach]

That's incredible how far we have come.

[Julie Foudy]

Jules, I was just thinking, if Joy Fawcett is listening to this, who was the first one to have a baby on the national team? She'd be like, wait, what is happening? Even Shannon Box, when she was Emma, was describing all of this to Shannon Box, who of course had a baby. It was like, shut up. The whole time. She kept going.

[Abby Wambach]

No way.

[Emma Hayes]

She was looking at me like I was an alien.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah.

[Emma Hayes]

She was like, what do you mean?

[Julie Foudy]

And Shannon Box wasn't that long ago. When did she retire? Five years ago, maybe less. So.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

And that. And that has been, I think, one of, again, one of the many things you've brought to this program. But your ability to frame everything in a female lens, which we've talked a lot about and you've talked a lot about, but the party people probably haven't heard a lot about it in terms of how you coach players, how you, as you just said, deal with players who are pregnant, how you build team chemistry. And I think the quote you once said is, I'm tired of being compared to the men's game with everything we do. I'll pull up the direct quote. But it was good. It was like, why do we keep.

[Emma Hayes]

Why don't we.

[Julie Foudy]

Why do we keep copying the men's game we're going to build for women? Now, what triggered that? You switching to this female lens entirely.

[Emma Hayes]

2016, losing the FA cup final to Arsenal at Wembley and having seven players in phase four of their menstrual cycle and standing on the touchline. Arsenal deservedly won that day, but I remember standing there in the middle of the game thinking, why are our reactions so off? Why are we a second off of everything? And just a light bulb moment came up because I knew before the game that we had vast majority of the team in phase four, their menstrual cycle. And I remember standing on the touchline and going, actually, why don't I know anything about our menstrual cycle is going to affect our performance, actually. Why have I never been taught anything like that? And then my head started spinning, like around. This is in the middle of the game. And I remember it finishing because I. I learn. I learn all the time, but I definitely learn from the losing. And I said to myself, this is never going to happen again. If we lose again, it's never going to be because of a lack of knowledge around our physiology and anatomy. And then I went on a quest from there on in hiring people at Chelsea at the time, and some of them are with us now in the US that I wanted to change that whole conversation. So it started primarily from a physiological level. And I remember at the time we had a player at Chelsea that was rehabbing from an acl, and the men's physio in the men's building was rehabbing one of my players and one of the male players at the. The same time. And I remember him kept saying to me, you know what? She's just not making the same progress. And I said, yeah, I know, but we don't have as much testosterone as men do, so we don't build as much muscle, so maybe you should be doing it slightly differently for her, for example. And he was like, no, no, no, we do it. And I just remember lots of little things that have happened over the years. And I. And I've said it to myself, well, if you can't change his system, change the system.

[Abby Wambach]

That's right. That's right.

[Emma Hayes]

Otherwise, we're gonna. We're gonna. Gonna spend my whole life regretting. I've been an elite coach for such a long period of time. I've managed women my whole career. It's. I've got to play a major part in redesigning the system. And I've. Yes, I've done. I, I think Chelsea was a. An amazing lab to do lots of those things here. I want it to be a system. I want to be enshrined in the culture. I want, I want to. I look at 2031 and Home World Cup. I want the legacy of all the body of work that we are doing right now is to make sure that everything from coach education is through an entirely female lens, to practitioners that are being schooled through, through that female lens, to coaches, to everybody. So I, we deserve that. Women deserve it. They deserve the very best. And as I say to, to all my staff all of the time, you have to realize lots of things are different about us. Everything. And yes, there might be some similarities within that, but if you think about that from a, you know, a female football perspective, well, we've got, we've got, we've got cue angles that are different from our hips to our knees. And if we don't master sort of jumping and landing mechanics in a certain way, no wonder we're going to have the ace. The volume of ACLs we have. Or have we been given the right strength programming from young ages to address some of those challenges? Because our, because our you know, our hips are tilted slightly forward more than men. These, all of these differences, including that our hips are shaped a certain way because we're designed to give. Designed for childbirth or we have boobs because, you know, we're designed to by nature to breastfeed. All of these things impact us. And so how, how have we been sold this short that only 5% of the, of research around sports science is. I know women.

[Julie Foudy]

I know that's insane. Is it 5%? That's what I was wondering what the percentage was. I knew you would know.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

And then 5% around women. 95 on men. And then they try to apply that 95 and that data and those analytics right to the women's game.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah, that's, that's. And then they break it down even further. Right. And if you think why do, why does, why does more than like 60 of girls that were playing football at 11 drop out about 12 and 13? Why have we really, really answered that question yet? Like, it's not as simple as we're going through puberty. Yeah. That matters. It would be ideal if our coaches are equipped to deal with that and parents are equipped to deal with like something that's quite like shocking. I remember when I got my period, I was mortified. It happened during a football match. And I remember hiding in the toilet going, oh, can't go back out there. How do I tell my dad this? And, and you think about. That's why I'm always insistent. We need more female role models for girls. We need more female coaches to, to be in a position that can empathize but also have that experience to help guide them through that to. I say, I say this all the time. Maybe we, we have to think about how we model our leagues and the competition so that it's slightly different. Some girls are really, really serious about playing football. Some they want to play it, but they don't want it to be the only thing because they're social beings. They want to do. Yeah, but does that mean they have to drop out the game? Why can't we create leagues where we have, I don't know, teams of 25, but some, some might come one week, some might come the other. Why not, why don't we have co coaching teams so that you don't have one coach, you have three and it might be three mums? One mum can come one week, one mum the next. That's how you're going to keep them in. Stop designing it through the men's lens.

[Julie Foudy]

You could have a. No, you could have a non contact team for Glennon Abby.

[Emma Hayes]

She would love that.

[Abby Wambach]

That's hilarious. My wife. Yeah. And I guess Emma. This is all so beautiful and important and I think that if you're trying to change structures, it is incredibly difficult. Right. Because first of all, the stat of 95% of the data is for men. How do you then synthesize the data points that you get in order to co create or create new structures that will actually be for these women? Like how are you doing that? Because I'm a data person. But there's only so much data, then there becomes the human. Like then you have to go do the thing. So I'm just curious, like, how are you able to balance and hold the fact that you are in the middle of building the structure and also inside of the structure itself? Like, how are you doing both?

[Emma Hayes]

Well, look, we have an incredible group of people that work across U.S. soccer, some of which might be coming from the Kang Women's Institute that are developing research that we bring.

[Julie Foudy]

That's Michelle Kang for the party people who she's referencing. Owner of Washington Spirit, London City Lionesses.

[Emma Hayes]

We have a group of experts in here that are helping develop the insights that we bring to life with our athletes. So let's say our players go through a whole education on the menstrual cycle to understand it, whether in, in its entirety. Not just you have a period, it's four phases. You know, this happens at ovulation, blah, blah. But imagine giving them the support that says in phase one, eat more like this and maybe add a bit more like this to your, your training or to your recovery. In this phase, do this. Or if you're a person who. Some players don't have a regular period, okay, why might not they not have a regular period? We have to get underneath that. There might be a myriad of different reasons, but we educate the players. Our goal, and we are working on this in the background is with soccer forward and strategy at US Soccer is how can we make this scalable? How can we make this scalable to the whole country?

[Abby Wambach]

Awesome.

[Emma Hayes]

That's why I say 20. The 2031 legacy. I'm happy to say it on record because I'm happy to put our own federation under this pressure. The legacy of the female lens for 2031 should be making sure all of this is scalable by that period and we should have the infrastructure in place. From a coach education perspective, in my world, we have girls and women's coach education should be separated, should be carved up, should be done completely Separate, separate leadership, separate direction on the women's game and the girls game. Including all of those insights in that. That's something I think is a non negotiable. I think it's then about partnering up with the right universities. I know Emory will be a big partner down in Atlanta that can help with research and insights with that. We need our partners, our sponsors to be able to commit to funding these programs. Whether it's developing leaders, whether it's developing administrators, referees. We're a not for profit organization. We're reliant on, on contributions that are being made by our sponsors. But it's my life's mission and I promise you could ask anybody this about me. I mean, when I say something, I mean it. And I want to, I want to make sure that regardless of whether I'm the coach here or not, that I put the system in place and that that system happens no matter what. No matter what. That's, that's what my goals. Because listen, I love, I love women's sport and I like. My passion is in, is in women's football. So I would, I think I would fail as the leader I have set out myself to be if I didn't do more than just winning. I don't think it'd satisfy me either. I think this for me is so much bigger and I totally understand my focus has to be on the team, but I also know I have got a lot of experience that I can share with the team, around the team to help bring to life an incredible vision.

[Julie Foudy]

Did you, when you took the US job, Em, did you realize that this would be such a big part of. I'll say it, I think it will be a big part of your legacy.

[Emma Hayes]

No, I didn't. I, I think getting this job like I was, I didn't want. It was so. It was, it was my dream. So it was. It was so hard for me to even like confront doing the one thing I had spent my career wanting to, to do. So I think I was so wrapped up with, I can't do this job. I'm not going to do this job. Am I going to do this job? Oh my goodness, I can't believe I've been offered this job to then get this job in a really difficult time, which I know you, you know, you know about with my dad dying. And then I got it and it was like I'd fell in love with the game all over again. And so that love sparked to life. Probably a body of work over 25 years where I was like you know what? I've had enough. I've had enough of being stuck in a copy and paste culture. I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want the next person to experience it. I want the next generation and the people behind me to feel like that the women's game and the girls game and the insights around them is by them, for them. And so I've seen, you know, whatever. There's so many different people I could cite as, like, great role models. But I. I want to. I want to do something that is very dear to my heart, and that is to. To. To create the very best possible experiences so that girls stay in the sport. Because I hate the number of dropouts that there are in teenage years. I hate it. And I hate hearing about so many negative experiences that girls have and women have throughout their career. I want to just. This is. This is my life's work.

[Abby Wambach]

Emma, I just have a question around. Why this was your dream job? Why the United States? Why this? Why this national team?

[Emma Hayes]

I. I go back to 2001, and sitting on the bleachers, the WUSA final. I was a 20, don't know how old. I was 22. And I was sat there with the

[Julie Foudy]

first women's pro league wusa.

[Emma Hayes]

Yes, I was there. And I was there with my boss at the time, Kim Wyatt, the first US Women's National Team goalkeeper.

[Julie Foudy]

85. Er, let's go.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah. And. And I remember sitting there and Kim was off chatting somewhere else, and I just sat on the field and I. I left England where there was just nothing. There was no opportunity whatsoever. And I just. I was like, one day. One day I'm gonna work. I'm going to work so hard, and one day I'm going to be the head coach of the U.S. women's National Team. And I kept. I didn't keep it all private. Like, people have been in my life that I coached with. Like, I bumped into a coach the other day that I worked with back in New York, and. And she came down the field when I. In New York, and I said to her, can you believe I got it? She went, yeah, you are always gonna do this. And I was like, really? She went, yeah. Like, why do you look surprised? I'm like, I don't know. We were just two kids in our 20s, like, dreaming about this job. And she was like, you were always gonna do this job. And I think. I think it's all the things the program stood for. I think, to answer that question, not just the winning and the Ambition that the program had, but the values of the program, the strong characters, women who fought for something bigger than themselves. I always heard of so many men's teams that did it, but I think about all the different generations, all fighting for putting the shirt in a better place, putting the game in a better place. That resonates with me completely. And I. I've always felt a little bit of an outsider in England. And I think that comes because if you think about it, between 20 and 30, my. All my friendships were made in the U.S. all my, like, really cool years were spent developing my career. I just. It just felt such a part of me, and I. I could. I couldn't. I've just fell in love with the country when I lived here. So getting the opportunity to come back and coach it again, I was like, oh, yeah, I can't believe I'm gonna do it. And the fact that I was the 10th head coach, it's my favorite number. Do you know, in my 10th game.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, that's so. That's wild. Did you know that the U.S. women's National Team is the winningest team in the history of all sports?

[Emma Hayes]

My God. I mean, it's like, people.

[Julie Foudy]

The history of all sports.

[Abby Wambach]

That's what we just. Yeah, that's what we were talking about with.

[Julie Foudy]

I thought it was just in. In women's soccer.

[Emma Hayes]

I definitely know that. I definitely know that. And. And look, I. Oh, my God.

[Billie Jean King]

Check that guy.

[Emma Hayes]

I love the. I love the All Black team. And I love. I love the legacy of that program. And I think that I. I always say to people, Brazil, the Brazil men's national team, historically, in terms of, you know, bringing a little bit of something about to soccer, is one team, the All Blacks, and then the US Women's National Team, they're the three teams for me. So to get. To get this. I know probably at the right stage in my life, like, I totally know you. You know, everybody was like, oh, my goodness, you. You know what pressure. You got to coach a team where you got to win every game, multiple scorelines. And all I kept thinking was, well, I'm just not going to let that define me. I'll give it everything I've got, and I'm going to do it with a huge amount of dedication, commitment, and I'm going to enjoy it, because, fuck me, you only live once.

[Abby Wambach]

Truth. And Jules, just know it says the Americans hold the highest winning percentage of any international sports team team at 84% on home soil. Yeah. So international sports team.

[Julie Foudy]

I. Would you read that to Me, I guess I just went automatically to women's soccer.

[Abby Wambach]

This is not. This is. That is not through the women's lens, Jules.

[Julie Foudy]

Right. I know that was not the female lens. Well, Em, I will say, too, with having seen you when you were coaching at Chelsea and spent some time that one summer of drinking red wine alongside, outside the fire, the fire pit every night, calling Euros before that, and then seeing you with this team, that. This is the happiest I've ever seen you.

[Emma Hayes]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

And clearly the most balanced. You're not driving hours to training every day and not getting time with Harry and all those things that you need for your mental health and in life and for happiness and. And it shows. You see it on the field, you see it with the players. It's such a reflection of this team because you bring that. And when a coach brings that, we see it with Corey Close and her ability to spread joy in a way that made the team joyful. And you have, I think, done such a really good job of that. I commend you.

[Emma Hayes]

Well, I appreciate that. And I truly. I truly love the job. You ask anyone around here, I'll say it all the time. I pinch myself all the time. I don't take it for granted. But what I've learned through years of coaching is that coaching matters. And I value my profession. And by that, I mean, it's not just that I was a middle child and always had to facilitate either side of my siblings, but I think being a good listener, a good learner, being someone who I try to put myself in other people's shoes or I empathize really well. I look at them as young people who, you know, don't have all the answers, and sometimes they try and navigate themselves through situations where they. They struggle. I just. I love that part of this job of coaching. I love getting to know them. I love trying to bring the best out of them. But I'm. I'm honest. They'll always tell you that. I'm brutally honest. I will say if it's not good enough. But what I've learned about coaching women is we're not glass. We don't break. You have to decide which one. One can handle which thing. Some of them can handle a really tough thing, some can't. Tone matters. Timing matters. And you gotta have the ability to be able to be calm and. But at the right moment, let them know when you're, like, not good enough, it's not good. And I definitely have that in me. Like, you'll know when you've Crossed me. There's no question about that. Like, I will for sure. If I think that there's been a compromise, like on the level that's expected or that I think took over too much, we tried to be too selfish in something, I will call it out. But more importantly, I found that the more I lift people up, the more I empower them. But with responsibility. You have to have responsibility, possibility, the more I'm getting out of them. And this group have responded really, really well to everything that we as a coaching staff have been able to deliver so far. So. Yeah, well, it's a process.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. From a really old timer and it's semi old timer and happy. We are very grateful that you decided to come to the United States and take over this job, because I do. I'm just so excited. I've seen the gaps in so many different areas and you have come in and said, here are the gaps. I'm going to not just identify them, I'm going to fix them. And I'm going to create a structure and system that will live beyond me, which I know is a big thing for you. And the ability to pull all of that together is so difficult. No coach has ever been able to do this. And I feel like you could pull this off. You really could. You have the people around you. You have the brilliance to do it, the personality and wisdom to do it. So I feel like we got really lucky.

[Emma Hayes]

Listen, I got lucky. Like, I got lucky too. Like, we found each other at the right time. I look at it like that and you are correct. I'm surrounded by brilliant people that help put it into action. But what I know is I'm so determined. So I'm diff. I am. Someone said to me, you're really difficult to say no to. Yeah, you're damn right I am. But I won't do it. It's not worth it. Like putting in place, building structures, running football teams, running football clubs. This is my bread and butter. I know how to do this stuff. But when I saw the missing gap between, I could not believe the lack of experience three year olds were getting in this country. And I was like, we need to bridge this gap because that, that gap is going to keep growing. With the Champions League and everything in the Nations League in, in Europe, we got to bridge it. But at the same time, we've got to do two things. We've got to try and keep winning along this path and we've got to develop. And with that development, it's going to be sometimes good, sometimes Good. So, yeah. And sometimes I'm going to want more, and I do want more. And the team know that I will keep demanding and keep pushing that. If we, if we keep trying to do the right things might not all come off all at once, but being in a position where we've got a more experienced playing pool is we're in a better position for it. Because this isn't about, like, doing it for the sake of doing it. Anything can happen. People can get pregnant, people get injured, people drop form if you in this. And you know what the thing is in the, in the game, the way it's played now, they play more games than they've ever played at a higher level. There's more travel involved. They spend something like I was talking to the Gotham girls the other day, they spend something like 180 days on the road traveling. Because of that, then you've got the 5, 5 substitution rule. You actually do need to have more depth. All of these things play a part. And if you watch any level of football now, you're like, acting actually. It's so rare that just 11 players play anymore. And that's why playing Japan three times for me might seem bonkers to most. But I don't want to just win games comfortably. I don't want to do that. I want to suffer. I want to struggle. I want to find the hard. I want to see how we come through that moment. And.

[Billie Jean King]

Yeah.

[Emma Hayes]

Do I think there's another level in us? Yeah, there is. And it's not where I want it to be just yet, but, like, I think everybody, everybody's doing everything I could ask, and that's all I can ask as coach.

[Abby Wambach]

Emma, you're the best. Thank you so much for coming on and joining us. We love watching you thrive and, and soar, and we're going to keep watching you thrive and soar. And I can't wait to see all the new structures that you build for us. I'm so sad that I didn't get as long to play with you, under you, but thank you for your service so far. I hope we last forever.

[Emma Hayes]

Appreciate you two legends. Thanks for having me on. The honor is all mine.

[Abby Wambach]

I just felt very inspired and impressed and sad that I'm missing that I never got to be coached by her for a long period of time. She was my coach for like a second at the, at the, at the Freedom.

[Julie Foudy]

I know, I know. I. I do. I really, like I said at the end of that, I, I do feel so lucky that we got her because she she came in abs and things that, like, you notice as a player, you're like, oh, that's weird. Why aren't the under 23 is playing? And then you notice the gap, but you don't do anything about the gap.

[Abby Wambach]

Right.

[Julie Foudy]

She came in and was like, what the heck? And then like that they had an under 23 team alongside every national team camp. And so she's, she's, you know, popping between both fields, training both. So she just has. Has a way and wisdom. And when she brings in the knowledge, like she said, of these past 20 years and that female lens, when, remember I said what triggered it, she was like, October 16, 20, 2016, Arsenal, Arsenal versus Chelsea at Wembley. I was like, oh, my gosh, she knew the exact date.

[Abby Wambach]

Yep.

[Julie Foudy]

So, yeah, she is a gem. And it's been fun. It's been fun to watch her and call games and work with her and she's just so collaborative and super helpful.

[Abby Wambach]

Well. And I can't wait for the scalability of what she's building for all other women's teams. Like, I'm actually going to email her and say, hey, what do I need? How do I need to learn this stuff for my kid who's about to go into college and she needs to know this stuff about her menstrual cycle. You know, like, we need to be trying to scale.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. So that your kid will one day know about all this stuff.

[Abby Wambach]

Exactly, exactly.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And Michelle Kang, let's give props to her. Right? Yeah, I, I think there she's at over $50 million she's donated for this alone to do and create a female lens, a woman's pipeline and coaching and refereeing and in all the areas on the women's side specifically. So big cheers. Yeah. For Michelle Kang and what she's done in this space. Okay, party people, don't forget to subscribe to the welcome to the party YouTube channel so you can actually watch the party. Click that little bell. I can't click that little bell icon. So you get updates when new episodes go live. I'm so not used to doing a recording late at night. It's like, what is going on?

[Abby Wambach]

And we would also just appreciate it if you rate. Leave a comment and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. And be sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube and wherever you get your socials at. Welcome to the party show where Julie, Billy and I will bring the party straight to your feed. You can also email us at Party People. Questions, Dot. Nope. Party people questions gmail dot com. I'm hunger. Thanks, Kate Diaz for music. I gotta go eat dinner. Bring your paws in, Jules. Let us do a usa usa. Usa.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. On three. One, two, three.

[Abby Wambach]

Welcome to the Party is an independent production brought to you by Treat Media. Treat Media makes art for humans who want to stay human. Initial Digital is our production partner, and you can also watch our full conversations on the welcome to the party YouTube channel and follow us at welcome to the Party show on Instagram and TikTok. Thanks for listening.