Bompastor will join Chelsea ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. She has signed a four-year contract and arrives from French football with a reputation for winning silverware that dovetails with the Blues.

In her first full season as Lyon manager, Bompastor claimed a league and European double. It was a sign of what was to come during her three-year tenure.

Two more league titles would follow, as would two Trophee des Championnes, a Champions League and a Coupe de France feminine. Lyon reasserted their place as a formidable giant of the women’s game under Bompastor’s watch.

A successful playing career

Lifting trophies was not an unfamiliar experience for our new head coach when she first stepped into the dugout. She began her coaching career with an illustrious playing career behind her.

A left-sided player in defence and midfield, Bompastor would catch the eye of anyone watching on, with those who faced her and those who played alongside her all in awe of her talent.

One such admirer was former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes, who was on the coaching staff in 2010 during Bompastor’s spell in the United States with Washington Freedom.

‘What a brilliant player, honestly,’ recalled Hayes when asked about Bompastor before Chelsea hosted Lyon at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League in 2023. ‘An unbelievable left-back with an unbelievable wand of a left boot.’

It was the first time and only Bompastor played club football outside her native France. And to play overseas was something of a career goal achieved, as she highlighted when announcing her retirement.

‘I've won all that I could win, and I also had the chance to experience two years in the United States, which brought me a lot,’ Bompastor said when explaining her decision to hang up her boots back in 2013.

She retired, as she said, having won everything there was to win at club level.

On her final day on the pitch, Bompastor captained Lyon to a Coupe de France feminine win – her fourth triumph in the competition as a player, winning it three times with Lyon and once with Montpellier.

Bompastor retired from playing having won eight French league titles, six with Lyon and two with Montpellier, as well as two Champions Leagues.

And having guided Lyon to the European trophy after moving into coaching, Bompastor became the first – and remains the only – woman to have won the competition as a player and a head coach.

French legend

Bompastor racked up 156 caps for the French national team, making her first appearance against Scotland in 2000. There were also five major tournament appearances: three European Championships and two World Cups.

Her final cap was in 2012 and she retired from international duty with a legacy of one of the best to ever play for the Les Bleus.

Following her retirement, Bompastor began her coaching career with Lyon’s academy. Doing so for eight years, before taking on the reins of the senior team.

With a background in developing young talent, Bompastor joins the Blues at a time where the likes of Aggie Beever-Jones and Maika Hamano are starting to thrive.

And one of our new manager’s former players, Melchie Dumornay – who joined Lyon in 2023 at only 19 years old – spoke highly of Bompastor’s approach to working with young players.

‘The coach, Sonia, has added a lot to my game,’ said the Haitian international. ‘I think she was already aware of me for a fair few years. She saw a large stretch of my development and spotted skills in me that I was unaware I had.

'She has also helped me find out more about who I am as a person, so she has definitely had a big role to play in those aspects.’

In joining Chelsea, Bompastor reunites with former Lyon players Kadeisha Buchanan and Catarina Macario. French international Eve Perisset will be another familiar face to our new manager, as will Ashley Lawrence, who she faced when the Canadian defender was in France with PSG.

Duo join Bompastor

Bompastor will be joined in the dugout by her trusted assistants Camille Abily and Theo Rivrin, who will also join from Lyon.

Abily spent five years as assistant at the coach, working with Bompastor and her predecessor Jean-Luc Vasseur. Like Bompastor, Abily made the move into coaching after enjoying a successful playing career of her own.

The 39-year-old won numerous trophies in France with Lyon and Montpellier - where she was a teammate of Bompastor - including five Champions Leagues, and also played in the United States in two spells with Los Angeles Sol and FC Gold Pride.

She won more than 180 caps for France and played at five major tournaments: three European Championships and two World Cups. Abiliy retired from international football in 2017, before retiring from club level the following year.

Meanwhile, Rivrin joins Chelsea from Lyon where he had worked as Bompastor's assistant and previously the head coach of the under-19s team.