How Bompastor used Chelsea build-up to make her mark

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Bompastor: ‘Small details’ separate Chelsea from UWCL glory

Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor discusses Chelsea’s chances of success in a competition she won as a player and manager, the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

WASHINGTON — For the first time in 12 years, Chelsea will enter a Women’s Super League (WSL) season under a different manager. When legendary Emma Hayes announced in November that it would be her final year with the club, taking the USWNT job in the summer, the soccer world was shocked.

The Hayes name is synonymous with success. She built an empire at Chelsea, winning 16 trophies, including five consecutive WSL titles – the last of which came at the end of her final season. But just as Manchester United and Arsenal had to find replacements for Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the Blues had to find a candidate who would ultimately do an impossible job.

After an exhaustive search, Chelsea announced their choice of former Lyon player and manager Sonia Bompastor. Her credentials are impeccable: during a four-year reign at Lyon, she led the team to seven trophies, including the 2021-22 UEFA Women’s Champions League title. It was the one trophy that had always eluded Hayes as a manager, although she did win it when it was called the UEFA Women’s Cup as assistant first-team coach at Arsenal in 2007.

It was a sign of intent that Chelsea were not yet prepared to relinquish their place at the top of English football. But now, with Bompastor at the helm and the new season fast approaching, the club are entering a crucial transitional phase. The squad, playing style and team dynamics are evolving from the Hayes era to what will soon be unmistakably Bompastor’s Chelsea.

After ESPN joined the club on a US tour this summer, playing matches against WSL rivals Arsenal and NWSL club NJ/NY Gotham, we look at the high expectations and what fans can expect from Bompastor now that her journey has kicked off in London.

Assembling a team

Bompastor inherited a team full of world-class talent — players used to winning consistently. Yet she wasted no time in reshaping the team. Known for her nose for young talent during her time at Lyon’s academy, she has targeted emerging stars ready to make their mark.

Chelsea followed a similar strategy to the generous men’s team, welcoming a wave of promising talent to inject fresh energy and ambition into an already strong squad, including Sandy Baltimore (24), Oriane Jean-François (23), Julia Bartel (20), Louna Ribadeira (20) and Maelys Mpomé (21).

“For me it is very important to have a big squad, both in terms of numbers and quality, because we have to play a lot of games this season and I know that not every player can play every game,” Bompastor told ESPN.

“There are a lot of games and most of the players in the squad are also internationals, so they have to play a lot of games. It’s really important to have young players. And for me, coming from Lyon, I was the head of the academy for the women’s section, and I really like working with young players.”

Chelsea boast a squad of 30 players, with a further seven youngsters on loan, and Hayes had already started thinking about the future before her departure, signing youngsters such as Wieke Kaptein (19), Maika Hamano (20) and Alejandra Bernabe (22). So with just 25 squad spots available due to WSL rules, the battle for starting positions and even places on the bench is set to be fierce.

Bompastor also inherits a crop of promising academy graduates — including Lexi Potter, Cerys Brown, Charlotte Wardlaw and Lucy Watson — but one name has already burst into the spotlight: Aggie Beever-Jones. The 21-year-old forward is looking forward to staking her claim for a starting spot up front against elite internationals such as Australia’s Sam Kerr and the USWNT’s Catarina Macario.

“I’ve been in that position and done it myself, so I know how important it is to go out on the pitch and be able to express yourself and be confident,” Beever-Jones said. “And I think it’s down to Chelsea that they’ve built that philosophy of ‘anyone here is good enough to play Chelsea’ and that they can go out on the pitch at any time and show their performance.”

Connection outside the field

In a bid to improve team cohesion, Chelsea players and staff took part in a team-building adventure at Go Ape before embarking on a tour to New Jersey, Manhattan and Washington, D.C. And while it was great to see the success come on the pitch – with a 3-1 win over Gotham and a narrow 1-0 victory over Arsenal – it was also important to forge important bonds off the pitch.

“That’s the most important moment for me; this opportunity to get to know every player, every member of the staff,” Bompastor said. “You spend so much time together on the journey and I think that’s the best way to get to know each other.

“It’s also something very special because we travel with the team, almost all the players and the staff, and that’s a way to get to know each other really well. We still work on the field, but also off the field, and we just felt that coming to the US was a good way to prepare for the season in a good way.”

The trip wasn’t all about football, though. Off the field, the players bonded through a series of unique experiences, from ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to testing their creativity in a drawing challenge at the National Portrait Gallery. They participated in a bagel-making workshop, made friendship bracelets to give to fans, visited Times Square and even watched the New York Liberty WNBA opener. These moments, filled with shared laughter and connection, were invaluable in building team spirit before the grind of the season sets in.

“I think when you go away, you feel like you’re on a little holiday,” club captain Millie Bright told ESPN. “I also think when you’re in a different place, you can experience new things and you start to see the walls come down and players start to settle in.

“We are the ones who can rely on each other in the difficult moments, whether that is between players, whether that is between staff, so it is very important that we build those relationships and that everyone feels very comfortable with that.”

Aligning motives

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While team building was a major focus during pre-season, there was a deeper mission at play for Bompastor: ensuring that everyone from staff to players was aligned with the club’s ambitions and its vision for the team. For her, pre-season wasn’t just about fitness or tactics, but about laying the foundations and trying to embed her philosophy early on.

“I always focus on my job, making sure the players understand the high expectations and the ambition of the club, making sure they understand how I want to play,” she said. “I think (pre-season) is also a time when you can work on the cohesion and the dynamic of your team, your squad, so this is something very important for me as a new manager.”

At a club like Chelsea she is expected to win every game and compete for trophies, but for Bompastor it is equally important that the team embodies her style of play.

“I think I’ll observe for the first few weeks,” she added. “This is part of the job, and I’ll also help everyone achieve our goals. We have high expectations, and we’re already ambitious, so I just want to make sure that this is a good time to observe everything, to make the right decisions, to make sure that we’re going in the right direction.

“That way I can make sure my players understand my game model. And also the style I want to play on the pitch. When I say high (expectations), it’s not about me, it’s about the players, how they can understand what I expect from them.”

The early days of Bompastor’s reign are crucial in setting the tone and building a foundation of trust and clarity that will fuel Chelsea’s drive for success throughout the season. The new boss will hope to build on Hayes’ legacy, but also wants to create her own. And she is busy preparing her team to do just that this season.