In her early 20s, over half a lifetime ago, Emma Hayes packed a rucksack and moved to America.

So far, so unremarkable. But while plenty of young people make that same transatlantic trip in search of adventures and life experiences, Hayes’ ambitions set her apart.

A football obsessive, she had turned to coaching in her teens when her fledgling playing career was ended by a crippling ankle injury. A few years later, frustrated by a lack of opportunities for women in English football, she departed for the US with that solitary backpack, $1000 and “the target of getting a job”.

But not just any job. “Believe it or not,” she told FIFA.com in 2017, “my big ambition at that stage was to become coach of the US women’s national team. I was aiming high!”

Hayes laughed as she shared this story and yet, six years on, her grand, seemingly ridiculous youthful ambition has been realised. More remarkable still is the fact that this straight-talking Londoner was widely regarded as the only woman for the female game’s biggest job.