At just 20 years old, Claire Hutton has already made her mark among premier defensive midfielders in the NWSL. From signing her first professional contract at 17 years old, out of high school, to making regular appearances with the U.S. women’s national team, her trajectory was recently reflected in a landmark $1.1 million transfer from Kansas City Current to Bay FC. The move was the second-largest intra-league deal in league history.
Just a year ago, Hutton was preparing for the 2025 regular season following a futures camp appearance with the USWNT U23 program; now she’s become a regular, putting in the work to earn more time with the senior team ahead of World Cup qualifiers in November.
“I just kind of think about where I was last year, and I was in for 23 futures camp last year with a lot of the girls who are here now So, I think just seeing that there’s been a lot of growth since knowing that each camp, each game and everything that I feel like I’ve grown, not only as a player but a person, and fostering more of a confidence and ability to connect with my teammates has been so cool. Just something that I keep striving for. I have goals to make the ’27 World Cup roster. So, I’m hoping to just keep pushing and keep making my way into camps this next year and get those opportunities,” Hutton told CBS Sports during January camps.
Tracking a World Cup qualifying year
The 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup is officially less than 500 days away. The USWNT will kick off its march towards the qualifiers in November with the annual SheBelieves Cup. The group is set to take on Argentina, Canada, and Colombia, and only some holdovers from the January camps will have made the roster. Head coach Emma Hayes was transparent about moving forward after January camps with a smaller core group of players.
The beginning of the year is an opportunity to map out and present goals and expectations for players, and for Hutton, that includes both standing out and also contributing alongside a younger group. There’s familiarity among players who have been together through youth teams and are now getting opportunities at the senior level. Whether some of them will be on the same rosters is a development to track toward qualifiers in November, or even future cycles like the 2028 Olympics or the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“The biggest thing I talked to [Hayes] about was being in camp was leadership, figuring out, even though I might be labeled as a younger player, how to take my experience and help others. It’s really cool being in this camp with players that I grew up with in the youth system. So, hopefully we’re all there together, or maybe ’27, ’28, ’31. We have so many camps and tournaments and everything down the line, so figuring out how to bring those players in. They’re my sisters, so playing together on the field and having that connection on and off, and just continuing to foster that,” Hutton said about her current and longer-term goals.
During the annual U.S. soccer January camps, head coach Emma Hayes selected Hutton to form a heavy NWSL club-affiliated roster due to the unofficial window. The 10-day camp was a final opportunity to see less experienced players before the staff narrows the roster to a more regular core leading up to the November qualifiers. The most capped player in the squad was winger Trinity Rodman, whom Hayes tasked with a captaincy role, forming a leadership trio with Emily Sams and Hutton for the first camp of the year.
“The biggest thing is connection, both on and off the field. That’s kind of what we try to push ourselves in and become a family. It starts in the meal room. It starts with meetings and just taking time to get to know one another and being able to find those friendships off, which then translate to those connections on. So, I think just taking pride in that, believing in each other and knowing that everybody has the capabilities, everybody has the talents, just leaning into each other and just believing,” Hutton said on working as a leadership trip alongside Rodman and Sams.
Leading and learning
Hutton’s leadership has stood out over recent camps. During the January window, Hayes referred to Hutton as a future national team captain following a win against Paraguay, noting that the 20-year-old could one day wear the armband on a more regular basis rather than just as a shared responsibility during the unique window.
“People like responsibility, so to give them that was only going to add value to their performances, because they care about the team, they care about the crest … I think for Claire, I think she’s a future captain in the making, without question. So, what a great, what a great learning moment for her to have that situation with all of her peers coming onto the pitch,” said Hayes.
Hutton has taken advice from Hayes and the staff on leading a group from within and on having a core message within that. It meant looking beyond one’s own personal goals and being more inclusive of the team’s shared goals. The suggestion Hayes offered Hutton was “take the visors off and look out for everybody” over the duration of the January camps.
“I think one of the biggest things, too, is like coming into those other camps all within the past year, during the individual meeting at the beginning, one of the biggest things she’s told me is learn from the other players, and I’ve really taken that to heart,” Hutton explained.
“So, whether it be sitting down at the table with Lindsay [Heaps] or Naomi [Girma] or other players like Emily Sams right there, it’s been so cool just to see their experiences and see how they lead … Seeing different leadership styles and seeing what I think best fits me and what aligns with myself. So it’s just knowing that she [Hayes] has that confidence in me helps me push it a little bit more.”
Hutton is also receiving advice through observing and shadowing. She references Heaps as a “big sister” and the type of captain who has taken her under her wing and someone who she’s always looked to for guidance, and wants the locker room to feel a sense of unity and family.
“Honestly, just the epitome of this team is that we’re a family. I’ve said it so many times, and I mean it. I know [Hayes] means that everyone on this team is just taking care; obviously, there are nerves. It’s a first camp. We’re coming off an offseason, so just being able to take care of one another in camp, on and off the field, and knowing that it’s bigger than oneself. It’s the team, and then it’s the country, then it’s the world. We’re the red, white, and blue, so we just want to be a family within that.”
Representing the country at multiple levels
When Hutton took the armband from Trinity Rodman following a substitution window, she became the youngest player to captain the side during the modern USWNT era. It wasn’t her first time in a leadership position. Hutton has led youth national teams in friendlies and tournaments, guiding them to a U20 World Cup bronze medal finish in 2024.
Hutton is among multiple players receiving senior-level callups, but can still represent the United States at the U20 level. The 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will take place in Poland from September 5 to 27 and will be held in the host cities of Lodz, Bielsko-Biala, Katowice, and Sosnowiec.
Hutton was recently named to the 2026 SheBelieves Cup roster and can still represent the Stars and Stripes at the youth level, alongside national teammates Jordyn Bugg and Lily Yohannes. Emeri Adames and Kimmi Ascanio spent time with the U23 side and were recently named to the U20 camp roster. Head coach Emma Hayes has been open about wanting to see eligible players get experience playing in youth World Cups.
“When I see countries like Spain, Germany, England, all of their top youth national team players being able to play in major international tournaments again and again and again. It’s not only an indicator of future success and preparation, but it’s a great opportunity for those individual players, not just to build their reputations and their brands for themselves or as U.S., but also for their clubs,” said Hayes.
But I totally recognize that in the U.S., in other franchise sports, they’re not accustomed to international windows, which the game has become accustomed to. Then you add to that non-FIFA windows, [the] January can be in one of them, the under 20s being one. So it’s far from ideal if you are an owner of a team that has a player that’s an important player in your team, playing for you and competing for your club, but you have to weigh up the long term benefits, and I think it’s absolutely essential that the best available players are available to play in youth national team tournaments for a myriad of reasons that I’ve just mentioned.”
While the 2026 Concacaf W Championship roster is likely the most significant roster a senior-level player can crack this year, there are other opportunities available for players to lift a World Cup ahead of qualifiers in November and in 2027. Hayes has been steadfast in her patient approach to player development, never discounting a young player’s ability to represent the senior squad at the 2027 World Cup, while also emphasizing the importance of gaining more high-level tournament experience across multiple levels.
“We absolutely want them to go to the World Cup, and we think it’s important we work with our NWSL clubs and the league as a whole to express the importance of that. This is why I work really hard for the NWSL so that I can put the players back into their club in a healthy position, or I’ll do the same in October, which I know might be a big window. So I think it’s about give and take, and I think it is important that, on behalf of the players that we do push for those things,” Hayes explained.
“Because I think Jordan Bugg, for example, Lily Yohannes, Claire Hutton are going to be significantly better off for both club and country if they are able to do what the likes of Germany do, Spain do, England do. That their best young players, much like (Aitana) Bonmati, much like Linda Caicedo. When I look at their journey, play youth national team up to seniors, 23’s, back to youth national team. The journey in that direction should be normal for our players in this country, and I sincerely hope that our NWSL clubs do support the development of those players to go and play in the World Cup.”
Hutton participated with the U20 side at the 2024 U20 World Cup, where the team earned a bronze medal. It was the first time the team returned to the U20 World Cup podium since the program’s 2012 World Cup championship win. The midfielder captained the team while managing her rookie season with the Kansas City Current.
“I think any way to represent your country, whether it is in the youth system, the full team, it’s such an honor. I had the chance in 2024 and that was my first-ever youth World Cup. I didn’t go to the 17s, and it was such an honor,” Hutton reflected.
“Talking with Emma [Hayes] on how she sees it as just another opportunity to get under you and be in a tournament style play and getting used to playing those big games back to back to back, and playing for something versus always in club, when you’re just going weekend to weekend, it’s huge. I’m excited for the opportunity. Obviously, it’s gonna have to be a discussion with club and country together,” she said.
Hutton recounted a 2025 loss against Brazil last April, where less capped players were given the opportunity to suit up for a match against a high-level opponent. The midfielder recalled how Hayes sat with all the youth players heading into the game and told the group that the staff wanted to see their mental response against a rival team.
“I think just as a group, we grew so much. I give credit to those moments, those games where she does take chances on us, and she knows that it isn’t going to be perfect, but it’s those moments that do help us grow so much,” Hutton said.
“If you’re afraid to go through those, it’s not going to help you. All of us took it head-on. Learning alongside Lily, learning alongside Jadyn Shaw, all of them, throughout the past year, has been amazing. They’re players that I can lean on as well, it’s so awesome because I have friends, I have teammates, and sisters for life, just that I can look up to and lean on.”
The 2026 NWSL season will begin on March 13. Following the 2026 January camps, Hutton was traded from Kansas City Current to Bay FC. A move that came with the second-highest intraleague fee in NWSL history for the rising star midfielder following her first time wearing the captain’s armband for the USWNT. Hutton has now shared USWNT locker rooms with club teammates as well, including midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta.
“I think Claire is a natural-born leader. The second she got on the team with us in Kansas City, she was asking me what the role is, what’s it like to be a captain? So, I knew she was already ready for that,” said LaBonta.
“Emma [Hayes] announced [in January camps] that if Trin [Rodman] wasn’t on the field, Claire’s gonna wear that arm band. I got so excited for her because I know how much it means to her. She is one of the kindest human beings, but also one of the most passionate about the sport. She really cares about her craft, and she cares about the team, and so I just knew it was bound to happen. It was gonna happen at some time. So I’m so proud of her, and I continue to be one of her biggest supporters.”
On the pitch, Hutton is proving her impact on a weekly basis. As a defensive midfielder, her play can be both subtle and dominating. Whether she’s functioning as a shield for the backline with her physical presence to break up attacks or using her mobility in possession under pressure, she’s showing it all at a young age. What separates her from her younger peers is her composure and decision-making. It’s all a perfect combination for a future captain in the making.
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