By MC Bousquette

Staff Writer

On the heels of winning the Women’s World Cup, USWNT Coach Jill Ellis signed a multi-year contract to stay on as the squad’s skipper.

Ellis’ existing contract expired last week, and according to the Washington Post, there is word the new contract stipulates that Ellis will remain with the team through the 2019 World Cup in France and possibly the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Clarifying details may be announced in the US Soccer press conference scheduled for today.

Ellis has a time of transition ahead of her — numerous USWNT veterans are retiring, including Shannon Boxx and Lauren Holiday. Ellis is faced with several tough roster decisions headed into the 2016 Olympics in Rio, including whether to leave veterans off the roster in favor of developing younger talent for the national team.

Ellis has extensive experience at player development — she formerly filled the role of head coach at UCLA, with the USWNT U-21 squad, and went on to serve as US Soccer’s Development Director for the women’s national teams. She was the interim head coach for the USWNT in 2012, and replaced Tom Sermanni in 2014 after he was fired by US Soccer.

The USWNT coach was not without controversy during the World Cup, as the US struggled and rumors flew that she had lost the team’s support. In the end, however, her tactical shifts in the final rounds of the tournament proved successful as the USWNT took home the gold.

It also helped Ellis to have key support from within her side. After winning the World Cup Final, Carli Lloyd said, “I know lots of people were worried about us, but we all held together, we all stayed the course, we all executed the game plan. What Jill [Ellis] did and the coaching staff did from start to finish earned us this World Cup.”

The USWNT’s next stop before the Olympics is Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA on August 16th, where they will kick off their victory tour with a match against Costa Rica.