Forward Michelle Cooper and Midfielder Claire Hutton earn first senior national team call-ups

CHICAGO (Feb. 11, 2025) — Kansas City Current forward Michelle Cooper and midfielder Claire Hutton have received their first-ever call up to the senior U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup, presented by Visa. The tournament will be held in Houston (Feb. 20), Glendale, Ariz. (Feb. 23) and San Diego (Feb. 26). Cooper and Hutton are the two uncapped players on USWNT head coach Emma Hayes’ roster for the event, as the 22-year-old Cooper and 19-year-old Hutton will look to earn their first USWNT appearance during the event.

On the international level, Cooper has represented the U.S. Youth National Team (USYNT) throughout her career. At the U-20 level, Cooper earned both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball (MVP) competing for the U.S. at the 2022 Concacaf U-20 Women’s Championship. She also captained the U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and scored one goal in the tournament. In 2023, Cooper represented the U.S. U-23 Women’s National Team in a pair of friendlies against France. An integral part of the Current’s stellar 2024 campaign, Cooper made 17 total starts and 23 appearances in NWSL regular season and postseason play last season.

Like Cooper, Hutton has been a mainstay of the USYNT at a variety of levels. She made her U.S. Soccer debut with the U-17 National Team in 2022 and was named the captain of the U-19 National Team for the 2023 Pan American Games. Most recently, Hutton played a pivotal role for the U.S. U-20 Women’s National Team at last summer’s U-20 World Cup. She started five games as one of the youngest players on the roster and helped the team secure a Bronze medal in the tournament. Hutton started 19 of 22 matches for the Current in her stellar rookie season in 2024 and was named a finalist for both 2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year and 2024 U.S. Soccer Young Player of the Year.

Both Cooper and Hutton participated in last month’s USWNT Futures Camp in Florida. Cooper, Hutton and Angel City’s Gisele Thompson were the lone players to earn a callup on February’s roster, showing well enough in the January camp to earn the nod.

The Current are in Kansas City as the 2025 preseason, presented by CPKC, reaches the halfway point. The team will close out preseason training in Florida from Feb. 16 through March 3.

Single-match tickets for 2025 regular season home matches will be on sale to the general public starting Thursday, Jan. 30. The best way to ensure you won’t miss a second of the action at CPKC Stadium is by joining the Current Club, the Current’s trailblazing fan membership experience. Focused on ensuring fans continue to be able to access exclusive opportunities, members can unlock special benefits like priority access to single match tickets, members-only gifts and discounts, access to live and virtual events, exclusive content and more. 2025 Season Ticket Members are already enrolled in Current Club at no additional cost. Click HERE for more information about the Current Club.

FROM U.S. SOCCER
“This team is still growing, and I continue to be impressed with the dedication of our player pool to get better, individually and as a group,” said Hayes. “With many players at the beginning of their club preseasons, we’ll be patient with them but at the same time, we’re going to maximize the time we have together. We are facing three excellent teams with three very different styles and the tournament will be a great test to see who can perform against world-class players, but to see that, we need to give them opportunities. We have put in a lot of thought on how best to accomplish that while continuing to evolve and putting out a team that can win, so every game should be a lot of fun for the staff, the players and the fans.”

The U.S. roster features 21 field players and two goalkeepers. This tournament will be the 10th annual SheBelieves Cup, and the USA has won the past five editions. The first SheBelieves Cup for Hayes and for 10 players on the roster.

U.S. Women’s National Team Roster by Position (Club; Caps/Goals) – 2025 SheBelieves Cup

GOALKEEPERS (2): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash; 8), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals; 1)

DEFENDERS (8): Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 65/3), Crystal Dunn (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA; 155/25), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG; 62/1), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit; 0/0), Jenna Nighswonger (Arsenal FC, ENG; 18/2), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride; 2/0), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC; 103/2), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; 0/0)

MIDFIELDERS (6): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain, FRA; 22/1), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC; 28/1), Lindsey Heaps (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 161/36), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current; 0/0), Jaedyn Shaw (North Carolina Courage; 21/8), Lily Yohannes (Ajax, NED; 2/1)

FORWARDS (7): Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign FC; 75/21), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current; 0/0), Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC, ENG; 19/8), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash; 4/0), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 3/1), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals; 2/0), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC; 13/1)

Two players – Lindsey Heaps (formerly Horan) and Lynn Biyendolo (formerly Williams) -- will play for the U.S. Women’s National Team under their married names for the first time.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The world’s top-ranked U.S. Women’s National Team will host Japan (#8 in the current FIFA Women’s World Rankings), Australia (#15) and Colombia (#21) as the competition returns to its traditional six-game, three matchday format after being played in a four-game, two-date format last year due to the new FIFA windows in years that feature the Olympic Games.

The winner of the tournament will once again be determined by total points (three for a win, one for a tie), with the first tiebreaker being overall goal difference, followed by most goals scored, then head-to-head result and lastly, Fair Play ranking if necessary.

All four teams in the 2025 SheBelieves Cup field were in the women's tournament at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with the USA defeating Australia (2-1) in group play and Japan (1-0) in an extra time thriller in the quarterfinal match. Australia and Colombia will make their first appearances in the SheBelieves Cup, while Japan returns to the field for the third consecutive year and the fifth time overall. The USA has won the last five SheBelieves Cups and has seven titles overall, while France won in 2017 and England took top honors in  2019.

All the U.S. matches will be broadcast on TBS and Universo and streamed on Max and Peacock. All non-U.S. games will also be available on Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock.

The schedule will see the USA open the tournament against Colombia on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston (7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET on TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) while Japan faces Australia at 4 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The teams will then move to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the USA faces Australia on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. MT / 5 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Colombia takes on Japan at Noon MT / 2 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock). The final two games will take place at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Feb. 26 with the USA facing Japan at 7:30 p.m. PT / 10:30 p.m. ET (TBS, Max and in Spanish on Universo and Peacock) and Australia taking on Colombia at 4:30 p.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. ET (Max, Universo and Peacock).

Additional Notes:
The average age of the 23-player game roster is 24.9. The average number of caps per player on this roster is 33.2.

There will be four teenagers in training camp in Lily Yohannes (17), King (19), Claire Hutton (19) and Gisele Thompson (19).

The four uncapped players on the 23-woman roster all represented the USA at a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup: Tara McKeown in 2018 in France, Claire Hutton in 2024 in Colombia and Michelle Cooper in 2022 in Costa Rica, a tournament in which she captained the team and scored once. Gisele Thompson played in the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India and 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.

The 10 players in their first SBC are Cooper, Hutton, Mandy McGlynn, McKeown, Yazmeen Ryan, Emily Sams, Emma Sears, Ally Sentnor, Alyssa Thompson and Gisele Thompson.

U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Emma Hayes will be available to speak with the media via video conference on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 11:30 a.m. ET following the announcement of the USA’s roster for the 2025 SheBelieves Cup.

VIRTUAL MEDIA AVAILABILITY INFORMATION 
U.S. WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM 
--Tentative & Subject to Change – 
For planning purposes only, not for public release