Sonia Bompastor: Chelsea appoint Lyon boss to replace Emma Hayes

Women's Super League champions Chelsea have appointed Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor as their manager on a four-year deal.

Compensation has been agreed with the French club for the 43-year-old, who had a year remaining on her contract.

She succeeds Emma Hayes, who left at the end of the season to take charge of the United States women's national team.

Former France captain Bompastor - who took charge of Lyon in 2021 - led them to Women's Champions League success in 2022 and has won three successive league titles.

Her final game in charge was this season's Champions League final in Bilbao, which Barcelona won 2-0.

Lyon’s assistant coaches Camille Abily and Theo Rivrin will join Bompastor at Chelsea.

"I am incredibly grateful to join Chelsea as the head coach of the women's team," Bompastor said. "It is an institution in English football. I will give my all to this new project to meet the ambitions of the club, the staff and the players.

"I hope to live up to Emma's legacy and continue the work that has been done in recent years. Let the adventure begin."

After retiring from an illustrious playing career in 2013, Bompastor became the director of Lyon's women's academy - a position she held for eight years before taking the helm at Europe's most dominant female side.

The former defender, who also won the Champions League twice with Lyon as a player, guided the club to an eighth European crown in her first season in charge with a 3-1 win against Barcelona in the final.

In doing so, Bompastor made history by becoming the first person to win the competition as both a player and a coach and the first female manager to win the competition since Martina Voss-Tecklenburg in 2009

Lyon only lost once in the Division 1 Feminine campaign as they finished 11 points clear, before beating Reims and Paris St-Germain in the play-offs to win the title for a 17th time.

Chelsea's general manager Paul Green said: "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."