Chelsea Women’s manager Emma Hayes will depart the club at the end of the season.
Following an emphatic 6-0 victory over Aston Villa in which a different player scored each goal for the Women’s Super League leaders, Chelsea confirmed their long-serving boss would move on after 12 years in charge.
Hayes joined the London club in 2012 and won six WSL titles, five Women’s FA Cups, two Women’s League Cups, one Women’s Spring Series trophy and one FA Women’s Community Shield during her time there. She achieved two doubles and one treble, in 2020/21, earning her an OBE the following year.
She was named WSL Manager of the Season six times and was inducted into the WSL Hall of Fame in 2021.
Hayes has been one of the most prominent figures in English football in recent years, regularly speaking up in support of the women’s game, and has been praised by the likes of Fran Kirby and Karen Carney for her off-pitch support during challenging times.
At the start of the season Hayes' father Sid died aged 82. She will, according to Chelsea's official statement, “pursue a new opportunity outside of the WSL and club football” upon her departure. Shortly after news of her exit broke,
The Telegraph have reported that Hayes was the favoured candidate to take over as head coach of the US Women’s national team after Vlatko Andonovski left in August and say she is now the leading candidate for the role.
Chelsea's co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said: "Emma has been one of the biggest drivers of change in women’s football. Her achievements at Chelsea are unrivalled and will live in the club's history forever.
"Given everything she has contributed to Chelsea in over a decade with the club, and the legacy she leaves behind, we would never stand in her way when she felt it was the right time to pursue a new challenge."
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