CHICAGO (December 17, 2024) – Emma Hayes, who led the U.S. Women’s National Team to the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal in just her 10th match as head coach, has been named the winner of The Best FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year for 2024. Three key members of that gold medal-winning side, captain Lindsey Horan, defender Naomi Girma and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, were named to The Best FIFA Women’s 11. By virtue of her being named to the Best 11, Naeher won The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper for 2024, her final year on the USWNT.
This marks the second world coaching award of the year for Hayes, who on Oct. 28 was named the winner of France Football’s Ballon d’Or as the Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year. This was the first year a Ballon d’Or was given out to coaches for women’s and men’s soccer.
Few coaches have been more deserving of this FIFA award than Hayes was in 2024. After being named the U.S. Women’s National Team head coach in November of 2023, she led Chelsea FC to its fifth consecutive Women’s Super League title and just days later touched down in the USA to begin her role as USWNT head coach.
“We really appreciate the joy and energy Emma has brought to the team and U.S. Soccer,” said U.S. Soccer CEO and Secretary General JT Batson. “Emma’s dedication to our players, staff and everyone who cares about soccer in the United States is inspirational and she is so deserving of this award.”
She coached her first matches with the USA in June and memorably led the USWNT to the 2024 Olympic gold medal, guiding the team to six consecutive victories in France while winning all three knockout games by 1-0 scores, with the quarterfinal and semifinal taking 120 minutes to decide.
“It’s been an amazing year on many levels, but my overriding emotion is gratitude,” said Hayes.
“I want to thank everyone who has been on this journey with us, especially the players, coaches and staff from Chelsea and the USWNT. In the middle of 2023, I never thought I would be sitting here as part of a gold medal-winning team, but I’ve loved working with the players and I’m very excited about 2025 and executing our WNT strategy. It’s going to be an exciting time for the players as we continue to build on what we accomplished in 2024.”
This is the fourth time a USWNT head coach has been named The Best FIFA Women’s Coach. Jill Ellis won the award in 2015 and 2019 after leading the USA to World Cup titles. Pia Sundhage won in 2012 after leading the USA to the Olympic gold medal in London. This is the second time Hayes has won the award, also taking the honor in 2021 as head coach of Chelsea FC.
Hayes, 48, finished second in the voting for this award in 2020 and 2023. The other nominees for The Best Women’s Coach award this year were Arthur Elias, head coach of Brazil; Elena Sadiku, head coach of Celtic FC; Futoshi Ikeda, head coach of Japan; Gareth Taylor, head coach of Manchester City; Jonatan Giraldez, who was head coach of Barcelona before moving to the Washington Spirit for the latter part of the NWSL season; Sandine Soubeyrand, head coach of Paris FC; and Sonia Bombaster, head coach of Olympique Lyon last season before moving to Chelsea FC this season to replace Hayes.
In just her third year on the U.S. Women’s National Team, Girma, 24, has grown into one of the world’s best defenders. She put in a magnificent performance at the Olympics where she was the only U.S. field player to play all 600 minutes of the tournament. Girma started all 18 USWNT games in which she played this year, marshalling a U.S. defense that allowed just 12 goals, and just two in the Olympic Games. She finished third in minutes played (1,637) behind only fellow FIFA The Best Women’s 11 members Naeher and Horan. She also scored her first two career international goals in the USA’s 3-0 victory over Argentina on Oct. 30 in Louisville, Ky. In early November, she was named the #2 player in the world on ESPN FC’s Top 50 Women’s Players of 2024. In the NWSL for the San Diego Wave, Girma played 1,715 minutes in 20 matches and was named to the NWSL Best XI Second Team.
Horan, 30, played in her third Olympic games in 2024, captaining the USA to the gold medal. She played 544 out of the 600 total minutes in France and had two assists in the USA’s July 25 Olympics-opening win over Zambia. She finished first on the USWNT in minutes played (1,804) and started 21 of her 22 matches while scoring five goals with three assists. Her eight direct goal contributions were third on the team this year. After an excellent 2023-2024 European season for Olympique Lyon, she is also off to a great start to the new season in France, scoring 11 goals across 13 total games, eight Première Ligue matches and five UEFA Women’s Championship matches. Horan scored three times with one assist in the 2024 Concacaf W Gold Cup, including the game-winner in the 1-0 championship game victory over Brazil. In that tournament, she also scored what proved the game-winning goal against Colombia and buried her penalty kick to help lift the USA to victory over Canada in the shootout to decide the semifinal. Horan also converted the game-winning penalty kick in the USA’s 2-1 win over Japan to open the 2024 SheBelieves Cup.
It was yet another world-class tournament performance and year for Naeher, who played every minute of the 2024 Olympics, allowed just two goals and made crucial saves in all the knockout round games on the USA’s way to the gold medal. The USA won all three knockout games at the Olympics by 1-0 scores – two of which went into overtime – and with her shutout of Brazil in the gold medal game, she became the first goalkeeper in women’s soccer history to keep clean sheets in a World Cup Final and an Olympic Final. Her outrageous kick-save in the waning minutes of overtime in the semifinal win over Germany will go down as one of the most memorable moments in U.S. Soccer history.
During the year, Naeher became just the third U.S. goalkeeper to hit 100 caps and played a huge role in the USA winning two penalty kick shootouts against Canada. In the Concacaf W Gold Cup semifinal on March 6, she became the first U.S. ‘keeper to make three saves in a penalty kick shootout and converted the USA’s third kick herself. Her save on Canada captain Jessie Fleming won the game. On April 9 in the SheBelieves Cup championship game against Canada, she remarkably saved three more penalty kicks in a shootout that went seven rounds and once again made her kick, converting the USA’s third attempt.
Naeher, 36, announced her retirement from international soccer on November 25 and played in her final two matches for the USWNT against England on Nov. 30 and the Netherlands on Dec. 3, earning a draw and a win. She had 18 starts in her final year with the USA, going 13W-1L-3D, allowing nine goals with a GAA of 0.47. She was second on the team in minutes played with 1,710.
Heading into the final match of 2024, which was also her final match in a USWNT uniform, she had 17 starts this year, 1,620 minutes played, a 12-1-3 record and a 0.44 GAA while allowing just eight goals. For the Chicago Red Stars, for whom she will play next season, she played 2,222 minutes in 25 matches and is the club’s all-time leader in every goalkeeper category.
Naeher appropriately finishes her international career being named The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper for the first time.
The USA will return to game action for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup which will be staged in three doubleheaders in three venues. The USA will open the tournament against Colombia on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston (7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET on TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) while Japan faces Australia at 4 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The teams will then move to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the USA faces Australia on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Colombia takes on Japan at Noon MT / 2 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The final two games will take place at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Feb. 26 with the USA facing Japan at 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Australia taking on Colombia at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). Tickets are available here.