US coach Hayes evades equal pay issue

The Best FIFA Women’s Coach 2021 avoided commenting on whether she would be entitled to a raise if the men’s team changed coach

US Women’s National Team Coach, Emma Hayes She dodged a question about equal pay, On whether he should get a raise if he likes an expensive star yourgen club He was hired to replace Gregg Berhalter On the US men’s team.

Berhalter is under contract for the 2026 World Cup and USSF sporting director Matt Crocker has not spoken to the media about Berhalter’s condition since the team’s first-round elimination at the Copa America last week.

Sources tell ESPN that a decision on Berhalter’s future will be revealed sometime this week.

“My focus today is getting our team ready for our training camp this week. I have to think about that and I have to think about performance first and foremost, I’m with this team at this Olympics,” Hayes said at a news conference on Monday. With the U.S. men’s Olympic coach, Marko Mitrovic.

“I think in terms of the issues around the men’s team and gender equality, they are not questions at the moment or for me, knowing that my absolute focus is on preparing this week.”

Hayes, who was named FIFA’s Best Coach of the Year in 2021, coached Chelsea Women from 2012 to 2024 before taking over with the United States this spring.

Berhalter earned $2,291,136 in 2022, including $900,000 in bonuses for the Americans’ World Cup qualifying campaign and reaching the second round, according to his 2022 U.S. Soccer tax return.

Hayes’ predecessor as U.S. women’s coach, Vlatko AndonovskiHe had a base salary of $396,089 in 2022 and also received a bonus of $15,000. Andonovski resigned last August after the U.S. women’s team was eliminated in the second round of the World Cup.

At the time of Hayes’ appointment in November, USSF said Hayes was on track to become the “highest-paid women’s soccer coach in the world.” Coaches’ salaries are publicly disclosed by the USSF when it releases its tax return each February for the fiscal year ending March 31.

In 2022, the NFL agreed to equal pay for players on the men’s and women’s national teams.

Klopp left Liverpool this spring after nine seasons that included Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles.

With young talent looking to make it to the podium at Paris 2024, the U.S. team led by Hayes was eager to do better than settle for bronze as it did at the Games in Tokyo three years ago, U.S. captain Lindsey Horan said at the same press conference.

“After the World Cup, we really regrouped,” Horan said. “If you look at the young players coming in, the leaders in this team, it’s a great mix of what we have. I think what we’re going to see and what lies ahead is incredible.”

The squad will feature a number of new faces, with only eight members of the Tokyo team travelling to Paris from the 18-man Olympic roster.

Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.