- Chelsea appoints Sonia Bompastor as head coach for four years
- Chelsea Women becomes an independent entity for new investments
- Bompastor aims to honor Emma Hayes’ legacy and achieve success
Chelsea has appointed Sonia Bompastor as its new head coach on a four-year contract. With Lyon, Bompastor is the first woman to win the Women’s Champions League as both a player and manager.
Chelsea also announced that Chelsea Women would become a separate entity, no longer positioned beneath the men’s team, but rather alongside it. Chelsea Women’s controlling shareholder, the club ownership group, will continue to make significant investments in the squad and share football resources. However, we will structure the women’s team as an independent business. We aim to attract new investment and have enlisted a bank to explore the possibility of minority ownership of Chelsea Women.
Bompastor’s appointment follows her successful leadership of Lyon to the Champions League final this season. Barcelona defeated the eight-time champions 2-0 on Saturday, their first defeat to the Catalan club.
Chelsea’s general manager, Paul Green, and the other sporting directors assembled a shortlist of four candidates and considered the French manager as the most exceptional. Throughout the process, they consulted Emma Hayes, the departing manager.
It is believed that the club was impressed by Bompastor’s experience as a player and manager, her enthusiasm for the position, and her determination to succeed in a more difficult division and environment. It is also believed that Chelsea was not as interested in hiring a woman as previously reported, as the club is amenable to the possibility of hiring either a male or female manager.
The absence of a transition process with Hayes, who served as Chelsea’s head coach for 12 years before accepting the position of head coach for the United States women’s national team, is due to the fact that Lyon and Chelsea had significant games remaining in the season.
“I want to carry on the work we’ve done in recent years and honor Emma’s legacy,” Bompastor said. “Let the adventure commence.”
Transfer recruitment is already underway when Bompastor arrives, as Chelsea frequently operates a window or two in advance. However, the club anticipates accommodating her into the existing system and investigating any requests she may have for this summer.
During his career as a player, Bompastor won eight French league titles, four Coupes de France féminine, and two Champions League championships. While serving as Lyon’s manager, she won three consecutive league titles, one Coupe de France, and the 2022 Champions League.
In 2013, Bompastor, a left-sided midfielder who occasionally played as a left-back, concluded her professional career at Lyon, where she played for two distinct periods. She also played for Montpellier, the Washington Freedom, and Paris Saint-Germain on loan.
Bompastor, who was born in France to Portuguese parents, is the eighth-most-capped player in France, having appeared in 156 matches over a 12-year international career. Following her playing career, she served as the director of Lyon’s academy before taking on the role of manager of the first team in 2021.
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Chelsea Women has established itself as an autonomous entity in an effort to expand the club. The women’s team will receive management, commercial leadership, and resources. Despite the current requirement for any prospective investor in the women’s team to invest through the men’s team, we have engaged a global merchant bank, BDT & MSD Partners, as a financial adviser regarding potential minority investment.
Chelsea has quadrupled sponsorship for the women’s team in the past year, with exclusive agreements for the team. Additionally, they have doubled ticket sales and have not experienced a loss in their nine games at Stamford Bridge.
Zarah Al-Kudcy, the commercial director, stated, “We are committed to elevating our efforts by leveraging the team’s long-term potential at this critical juncture in the sport’s history.”
“Women’s football requires and deserves dedicated resources and facilities to capitalize on the substantial opportunities that exist within the sport.” The additional investment underscores Chelsea’s commitment to women’s football, and its advantages will become evident in the years ahead.
