Hayes ‘shocked’ after being named Fifa Women’s Coach of the Year ahead of Cortes and Wiegman
EMMA HAYES admitted to being stunned to win Fifa’s Best Women’s Coach gong for 2021.
The astonished Chelsea boss beat England chief Sarina Wiegman and ex-Barcelona coach Lluis Cortes to the prize – with Thomas Tuchel victorious in the men’s category.
And Edouard Mendy’s triumph in the Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year category made it a hat-trick of award wins for the Blues.
Elsewhere, Manchester City‘s Lucy Bronze was named in Fifa’s Best Women’s World 11 alongside Chelsea’s Millie Bright and Magda Eriksson and Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema
And Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas has been crowned Best Women’s player.
In reaction to her win, Hayes 44, told BBC Sport: “I’m so shocked!
“I’m not usually completely shocked. I put this down to the players, the fantastic people that represent my work.
“Ultimately the coach is only as good as the people they have around them.
“I have got brilliant people at Chelsea that have helped support the team to (bring us to) the place we are at.”
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Last term the Blues became the first English club to have their men’s and women’s teams reaching the Champions League finals in the same season.
For Hayes, it was a historic milestone with her WSL side competing in this stage of the contest for the first time ever.
While the team fell to a 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in the finals, they dominated on the domestic stage brushing many of their opponents aside claiming a belated treble.
Hayes’ players lost just one league game last term on their way to a fourth WSL crown whilst also claiming last term’s league and FA Cup trophies.
The Kingsmeadow club also went on a 33-game unbeaten run that was ended by Brighton in February last year.
This year’s Fifa coach awards has been a much-discussed topic on social media with some fans surprised to see Bev Priestman miss out on a nomination.
The former Lionesses assistant manager coached Canada to gold medal triumph at the Tokyo Olympics.
And Cortez was seen as a possible favourite following Barcelona’s trophy-winning successes in Spain and in the Champions League.
The team won 43 of their 47 games played across all competitions last term losing on just two occasions.