‘We all have a platform’ – Coffey on speaking out, WSL appeal and special Hayes

From an outside perspective, it looked like Sam Coffey was set up for the rest of her career back in her homeland.

As club captain of Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and a midfield mainstay in the United States national team, the 27-year-old would have been forgiven for simply enjoying the fruits of her labour.

But Coffey has never been one to stay in her comfort zone, both on and off the pitch.

When current Women’s Super League leaders Manchester City came calling in January, she jumped at the opportunity to test herself on the other side of the world.

“It felt time for a new challenge. I’m always looking to grow and be my best,” said Coffey.

Barring an improbable late-season collapse, the 2025-26 WSL title will be Coffey’s latest honour in a fast-growing list.

After winning the 2022 NWSL championship with the Thorns in her first season as a professional, she helped the US win the Concacaf Gold Cup and Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.

Coffey did not need to move 4,800 miles and eight time zones east in order to continue winning, but she felt the move necessary to feed her insatiable appetite for learning and personal growth.

“The girls have been very welcoming, every day I start feel more at home,” added the New York native.

After growing up in the village of Sleepy Hollow, 28 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, Coffey attended Pennsylvania State University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

The profession runs in the family – Coffey’s father, Wayne, is a New York Times best-selling author, while sister Alex is a sportswriter.

In 2022 Coffey moved across the country to Oregon to begin her professional career with the Thorns.

Her eyes light up as she compared Manchester to her adopted home of Portland, but not in a longing, nostalgic way. She has been keen to throw herself head-first into a city that, as the cliche goes, prides itself on doing things differently.

“I owe it to the place I’m in to assimilate, learn about what’s important to it and what the city is about. I want to continue to get immersed in the culture and learn as much as I can,” she said.

Coffey’s uncompromising stance on values and morals aligns neatly with Manchester’s proud history of political activism and social change.

“We all have a platform,” she added. “I understand as players that can sometimes be overwhelming to speak out on, but at the end of the day we do have followings, influence.

“I look at the women who came before me – [Megan] Rapinoe, [Becky] Sauerbrunn, [Alex] Morgan, I could name so many. They are the epitome of using your platform for good.

“We all have a voice and they set such a standard for what this team [US] means to people. It is so much more than a soccer team. We have always been this pillar of what it means to stand up and speak up for social justice issues whatever that might be, most recently equal pay.

Provided the US qualify as expected, Coffey will likely make her Fifa Women’s World Cup debut in the 2027 tournament.

Although the deep-lying midfielder received her first senior call-up in 2022, it wasn’t until Hayes took charge in 2024 that she became a mainstay of the team.

“I think her game has gone to a whole new level,” Hayes said of Coffey last year.

“It’s all of it together, it’s who she is in the locker room, it’s who she is on the field, it’s how she goes about her business.

“She’s an impeccable learner, she’s always wanting to improve her game. It never ends, it’s never enough.”

It’s clear Coffey thinks similarly highly of the English coach, who led Chelsea to a host of trophies during her tenure, and often FaceTimes Hayes after training to catch up on life.

“I have nothing but the best things to say about her – she has revolutionised our national team and changed it for the better,” she said.

“Her and I have gotten quite close, she’s a very special human being.

“Tactically she’s brilliant, but an even better human. She does such an exceptional job creating an environment that is so challenging and excellent with incredible standards, but also one that is so joyful and fun to be part of as a player.

Following Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson’s moves to Chelsea last year, Coffey is the latest American player to cross the Atlantic. However, she doesn’t agree with those who say the WSL is necessarily better.

“We were so challenged in the NWSL in so many amazing ways, and now this is just a different and new one,” she said.

“Here you’re playing against so many of the world’s best, playing in a different style of league with a different style of play.

“I wanted to challenge myself as both a footballer but also as a person living outside of my home.

“There is this amazing momentum in the women’s game where you can grow all around the world and play incredible football and be challenged and tested against the world’s best. For me, for this season, it meant coming here.”

But why City?

“Immediately what struck me before anything else was the culture I felt was here,” added Coffey.

“It’s not just a team that’s excellent with high standards, but also a place that cares about people and does things the right way and has a strong culture.