Less than a year after taking over as head coach of the Washington Spirit, Jonatan Giráldez is already moving on. Giráldez will be leaving the Spirit to join OL Lyonnes as the French club’s new head coach, per multiple reports, moving between two teams owned by billionaire investor Michele Kang.
The 33-year-old coach will reportedly depart Washington at the end of June, per The Athletic — just one year after arriving. Giráldez will leave the Spirit without having completed a full NWSL season.
Advertisement
Assitant coach Adrián González will take over as head coach, per The Athletic.
At the time of the first report about Giráldez’s move, which ESPN reported last week, Lyon did not have a head coach vacancy. However, that changed this weekend: The club announced Sunday that Joe Montemurro will be leaving the club after a year as head coach. Montemurro has been linked to a coaching position with the Australian women’s national team, who has been without a permanent head coach since last summer.
But the move, passing Giráldez between two teams owned by Kang, sets a worrying precedent. Kang has said in the past that she doesn’t plan to move players between teams, telling ESPN that she is “not going to rob the best players from one team and give them to another team.” But that resolution seemingly doesn’t extend to the coaching staff.
The Spirit is one of the strongest teams in the unpredictable NWSL; the team currently sits in fourth with a 6-1-3 record, while dealing with a slew of injuries, including to star forward Trinity Rodman. Meanwhile, OL Lyonnes is one of the most successful women’s soccer teams in the world, and has dominated the French Première Ligue for nearly two decades.
Advertisement
In addition to Washington and Lyon, Kang also owns the London City Lionesses, which was recently promoted to the first-tier Women’s Super League after winning England’s second-tier league. Kang also told ESPN that plans to add a fourth club to her portfolio in the near future.
Prior to joining the Spirit, Giráldez was head coach of Barcelona Femení, leading the club to three Liga F titles and two UEFA titles in three years at the helm. He joined Washington five months after he was announced as the club’s new head coach, joining the team last June after finishing the season with Barcelona.
Advertisement
During that five-month period, González served as interim head coach, guiding the Spirit to a 10-4-1 record at the start of the season.
After leading the team through the first half of the season without Giráldez, González will now do the same with the latter half. Washington’s final game before the July international break takes place on June 22; by the time the NWSL starts up again in August, the Spirit will have to reset with González at the helm.
Read the full article here
