Sonia Bompastor, the first woman to win the Women’s Champions League as a player and manager, both with Lyon, has been appointed as the new head coach of Chelsea on a four-year contract.
The club also announced that Chelsea Women would become a standalone entity, no longer sitting beneath the men’s team but alongside it. The club ownership group will continue to be the controlling shareholder of Chelsea Women and is committed to substantial investment in the squad and sharing footballing resources but the women’s team will be independently structured as a business. This is designed to attract new investment and a bank has been engaged to look into potential minority ownership of Chelsea Women.
