Sonia Bompastor has been confirmed as Chelsea Girls’s new head coach, signing a four-year deal.
The 43-year-old, who replaces Emma Hayes, joins Chelsea from Lyon after three years in cost on the French membership the place she gained seven trophies, together with three French league tiles and the Girls’s Champions League in 2022.
Bompastor gained her third Division 1 Female within the 2023/24 season, however misplaced in Saturday’s Champions League closing in opposition to Barcelona.
Chelsea had a shortlist of 4 folks to fill the top coach emptiness. It is understood Bompastor was all the time the popular candidate and Lyon have been due compensation, as she had one other 12 months left on her contract.
Chelsea have continued to work on participant recruitment in the course of the course of to convey Bompastor in, however their new head coach will now work on transfers.
Bompastor shall be accompanied by her assistants Camille Abily and Theo Rivrin. Abily retired in 2018 after a enjoying profession by which she made 323 appearances for Lyon and earned 183 nationwide crew caps for France.
Chelsea common supervisor Paul Inexperienced mentioned: “The sporting administrators and I carried out a radical and regarded recruitment course of to establish Emma’s successor.
“Sonia’s vision, coaching philosophy and winning mentality made her the outstanding candidate. She is a world-class coach with a proven track record of success on the biggest stages that will instantly command respect from the dressing room.”
Chelsea’s co-sporting administrators Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley added: “Sonia is the ideal candidate to build on Emma’s legacy and take the team forward.
“She brings a wealth of expertise from managing on the highest ranges and profitable trophies as a participant and a coach. Her ethos and values align with Chelsea Soccer Membership. We’re all wanting ahead to having her on board.”
Hayes, who has joined the US girls’s nationwide crew, left Chelsea after securing a file fifth Girls’s Tremendous League title in a row.
It ended a 12-year spell in west London the place she gained 14 main home titles, together with seven WSL titles, 5 FA Cups and two League Cups.
Who’s Sonia Bompastor?
Sonia Bompastor coached Lyon to Champions League success in 2022
There have been two standards that Chelsea have been in search of when appointing a supervisor to fill Hayes’ impossibly massive sneakers.
Any new supervisor should keep the success of the membership. Chelsea have dominated home soccer in England for years, and have begun to claim themselves in Europe too.
A feminine coach has additionally been excessive on their wishlist. In Hayes, Chelsea have had a trailblazer. One of many sport’s chief champions who has been accountable for development and alter – a serious participant in bettering the general well being of the game.
The very fact she has finished so from a feminine perspective is equally essential. Hayes entered the sport at a time when only a few feminine voices have been taken significantly – a spot in skilled feminine head coaches nonetheless exists to today.
And Bompastor suits each – she is one other girl managing at a high European membership, with a confirmed observe file of success.
“Sonia is another big personality,” author and analyst Abdullah Abdullah instructed Sky Sports activities. He has written books on each Lyon and Chelsea’s journeys in European competitors.
“She came into a Lyon dressing room that needed guidance after they lost their way a little bit under the previous manager. She is a legend of the club and French football so she was instantly respected and lauded internally.
“That gave her a basis with the French gamers. This may be replicated at Chelsea with somebody who’s a legend, however has additionally performed the game-winning Champions League and league titles.”
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Chelsea announce strategic growth plan
Alongside Bompastor’s arrival, Chelsea also announced a “long-term strategic plan to speed up the expansion of Chelsea Girls”.
With NewCo set to take over the operating of the WSL and Girls’s Championship from the FA subsequent season, Chelsea are utilizing the chance to tackle a brand new construction to take a seat alongside the lads’s crew, quite than beneath. It’ll embody devoted assets, administration and industrial management centered solely on the ladies’s crew.
Chelsea are additionally in search of new funding for his or her girls’s facet, with a membership assertion explaining: “Currently, any prospective investor into a WSL team is required to invest through a men’s team.
“Having analysed the market and mentioned with traders, there’s a robust need for a chance to take a position solely into the ladies’s sport… BDT & MSD Companions, a worldwide service provider financial institution, has been engaged as monetary advisor on a possible minority funding within the membership, inclusive of evaluating inbound curiosity associated to Chelsea Girls.
“The club ownership group will continue to be the controlling shareholder of Chelsea and is committed to further substantial investments that will enrich the squad, elevate player development, and ensure a world-class environment for our athletes and staff.”
