Lyon women hire Australian coach Montemurro

Australian Joe Montemurro has signed a two-year contract to coach Lyon women's team, the French club announced on Wednesday.

Montemurro replaces Sonia Bompastor who left the most successful French women's team to coach English rivals Chelsea.

The 54-year-old from Melbourne takes over on July 4 and will be the first foreigner to manage the southeastern French side.

The former Juventus and Arsenal women's manager said he was "extremely honoured to be part of an organisation as exceptional as OL, a world leader in women's football".

"Facing this team was always the pinnacle of football for me. It always brought me joy and inspiration," he added.

Montemurro arrives from Juventus where he won five trophies in three years including the league, the Italian Cup and the Super Cup in the 2021-2022 season.

He guided the Turin club to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2022 where they were eliminated by eventual winners Lyon.

Previously he managed Australian youth teams before moving to Arsenal from 2017 to 2021 where he won the Women's Super League in 2019.

Bompastor enjoyed great success with Lyon with seven trophies over the past three seasons. The club was taken over by Korean-American businesswoman Michele Kang a year ago.

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