Sonia Bompastor, the first woman to win the Women’s Champions League as a player and manager, both with Lyon, has been appointed as the new head coach of Chelsea on a four-year contract.
The club also announced that Chelsea Women would become a standalone entity, no longer sitting beneath the men’s team but alongside it. The club ownership group will continue to be the controlling shareholder of Chelsea Women and is committed to substantial investment in the squad and sharing footballing resources but the women’s team will be independently structured as a business. This is designed to attract new investment and a bank has been engaged to look into potential minority ownership of Chelsea Women.
Bompastor’s arrival comes after she guided Lyon to this season’s Champions League final, where the eight-time winners lost 2-0 to Barcelona on Saturday– their first loss against the Catalan club. The French manager was regarded as the standout candidate among a shortlist of four put together by Chelsea’s general manager, Paul Green, as part of a recruitment process led by Green and the sporting directors. The departing manager, Emma Hayes, was consulted during the process.
It is understood the club were impressed with Bompastor’s pedigree as a player and manager, her desire for the job and her drive to win in a different environment and more challenging league. It is also understood reports that Chelsea were keen to recruit a woman were wide of the mark, with the club open to the manager being male or female.
The fact that Lyon and Chelsea had important games to the end of the season means there has been no handover process with Hayes, who spent 12 years at Chelsea and has taken the head coach job with the US women’s national team.
“I hope to live up to Emma’s legacy and continue the work that has been done in recent years,” Bompastor said. “Let the adventure begin.” Bompastor arrives with transfer recruitment well under way because Chelsea often operate a window or two ahead, but it is understood the club will slot her into that system and look into any requests she has for this summer.
As a player, Bompastor won eight French league titles, four Coupes de France féminine and two Champions League titles. As a manager with Lyon, she secured three back-to-back league titles, one Coupe de France and the 2022 Champions League.
Bompastor, a left-sided midfielder sometimes used at left-back, ended her playing career in 2013 at Lyon, where she had two spells. She also played for Montpellier, Washington Freedom and on loan at Paris Saint-Germain.
Born in France to Portuguese parents, she is France’s eighth-most-capped player, having made 156 appearances across a 12-year international career. After her playing career, she became the director of Lyon’s academy before she was appointed as manager of the first team in 2021.
The move to make Chelsea Women an independent entity is part of a strategy to grow the club. The women’s team will have dedicated resources, management and commercial leadership. Any prospective investor in the women’s team is currently required to invest through the men’s team but a global merchant bank, BDT & MSD Partners, has been engaged as a financial adviser regarding potential minority investment.
In the past year Chelsea have quadrupled sponsorship for the women’s team, in deals exclusively for the women’s team, and doubled ticket sales and their nine games at Stamford Bridge did not come at a loss.
The commercial director, Zarah Al-Kudcy, said: “At this pivotal moment in the history of the sport, we want to take our work to the next level by unlocking the long-term potential of the team.
“Dedicated resources and facilities are precisely what women’s football needs and deserves to fulfil the enormous opportunities within the game. Further investment only underlines how seriously Chelsea values women’s football and the benefits of this will be seen in the many years to come.”
