Sonia Bompastor has said she is looking forward to building on the foundations laid by Emma Hayes at Chelsea to continue her legacy.
Bompastor, who was announced as Chelsea Women s new head coach in May, arrives from Lyon after three years with the French side.
During her time with Les Fenottes, she won seven titles, including the Women s Champions League in the 2021-22 season.
Bompastor won 100 of her 118 games in charge (D10 L8), with her side scoring 381 goals in that time while averaging a win percentage of 84.75%.
The 44-year-old replaces Hayes who spent 12 years in charge at Stamford Bridge, winning 16 titles and triumphing in 261 of her 367 games at the helm (D42 L64).
Hayes is on the cusp of another major honour in her first tournamen…
Duncan Ferguson never stopped to consider the significance of his return to Scottish football when he seized the chance to take over as Inverness manager.
The former Dundee United and Rangers striker is back in his homeland 29 years after leaving Ibrox for Everton.
The 51-year-old had a swift return to Glasgow in 1995, a year after his move to Merseyside, when he spent 44 days in Barlinnie Prison following a failed appeal against his conviction for assault against John McStay during a game against Raith Rovers at Ibrox.
He never played in Scotland again as he ended his international career in 1997 amid lingering resentment over the Scottish Football Association’s attempts to impose a 12-match suspension – both before his initial court case and after his jail …
Bayern Munich are reportedly interested in signing Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen this summer, but according to Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes, the newly crowned Bundesliga champions are keen to keep hold of the 28-year-old defender.
At the moment, Tah is under contract with Leverkusen until the summer of 2025, and Bayern apparently wish to take advantage of the situation to strengthen the defensive section of their squad as they aim to reclaim the title from his current club in 2024/25. But Bild has quoted Rolfes in saying, We want to keep Jonathan Tah and extend him beyond 2025. We’ll talk about that after the end of the season, Tah thinks the same way too.
Tah has been at Leverkusen since 2015 and has made a total of 346 appearances for the club, sc…
Sunny Singh Gill will become the first British South Asian to referee a Premier League match this weekend.
Singh Gill has been appointed to take charge of Crystal Palace against Luton on Saturday, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has announced.
He took charge of his first Sunday League match aged only 17, and in April 2021 both he and his brother Bhupinder became the first pair of British South Asians to officiate in the same Championship match.
His father, Jarnail Singh, was the first EFL referee to wear a turban when he took charge of Bristol Rovers v Bury in August 2004. Singh senior went on to referee almost 200 EFL matches up to 2010.
In an interview published on the Premier League’s website last month, Sunny Singh Gill said: “Yo…
While Iceland and Italy made the headlines on the pitch, there was the usual light-hearted stories to be seen off it.
Here s our off-beat look at what might not make the headlines
WILL GRIGG S ON FIRE, AND HE S BACK IN BELFAST
Few footballers have cast a spell over a tournament quite like Will Grigg.
His name has been belted out at virtually every game at Euro 2016 and thousands have danced to the now famous Will Grigg s on fire song that has become the unofficial soundtrack of the tournament.
Northern Ireland s adventure in France ended on Saturday with the 1-0 defeat to Wales but there was still one last chance for Grigg to take centre stage when the team returned to heroes welcomes in Belfast.
Not bad for a man who didn t …
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be open to returning to Manchester United as manager, admitting he would say yes every day of the week if the possibility arose.
Solskjaer was dismissed by the Red Devils in November 2021 after just under three years in charge at Old Trafford.
The Norwegian, who initially replaced Jose Mourinho on an interim basis in December 2018, led United to a second-place Premier League finish in the 2020-21 season, but a run of six defeats in 11 matches culminated in his departure.
Erik ten Hag the man who permanently succeeded him at Old Trafford has come under increasing pressure following a difficult start to this term, which has brought just three wins from the Red Devils opening eight games.
And Solskjaer, who has worked as a technica…
Football Manager is back and franchise fans will be ready to sign away all their free time to one of the most engrossing video games ever created.
Lambasted as a series of spreadsheets by people who have never experienced the glory of leading Dulwich Hamlet to the Champions League title, FM19 feels like a new chapter for the long-running management simulation.
Starting a fresh save offers a familiar process to regular FM players, but there is a clear attempt to simplify the admin side for those who have little interest in the nitty-gritty details of management.
As usual, badges and faces are missing for many teams and players, while opening a career with Real Madrid presents league fixtures against Real Hispalis and Real San Sebastian . Completists may find th…
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Getting their Nations League adventure back underway on Saturday night, Spain will welcome Denmark to the Estadio Enrique Roca.
Spain
Starting with the hosts, making real history over the summer as they were crowned European champions, Spain are in the midst of what has become a sensational fairytale. Making real history on July 14th as they secured a famous 2-1 victory against England in Berlin, La Roja have only continued to shine since their EURO 24 success over the summer. Last seen laying down a real Nations League marker on September 8th as they stormed their way to a 4-1 romp away at Switzerland, Luis de la Fuente’s men find the mood in their camp at a red-hot high. Already pencilled in as a standout contender to defend their …
With Ligue 1 set to get under way this weekend, eyes across the world will be on Paris Saint-Germain and Neymar, the world-record jewel in the crown of Unai Emery s side.
The Brazil star has swapped Barcelona for the French capital in a bid to escape the shadow of Lionel Messi and stake a claim to be considered the finest footballer on the face of the earth.
While his frankly preposterous €222million price tag has caught most of the headlines, Neymar is sorely mistaken if he believes the spotlight will be his and his alone in what could be a fiercely-contested top flight in 2017-18.
Here, we take a look at five players who could overshadow the 25-year-old in his first season in France. One or two names might surprise you
MARIO BALOTELLI (NIC…
Vanni Sartini has backed Vancouver Whitecaps to finish high up the table at the end of the season and is targeting a win over high-flying Houston Dynamo.
The Whitecaps currently sit sixth in the Western Conference on 45 points, but only three points separate them and second-place Los Angeles FC.
They are on a three-match unbeaten streak in MLS, though their last defeat in the competition did come against Wednesday s opponents.
Sartini believes his team can continue to challenge for a place at the top given their impressive record this season.
I think I count two games out of 36 where the other team was better than us and where we didn t play well, and it tells us that we do well, Sartini said.
We are having a really great season. The times of hi…