He has officially been in office since August 23, but had not yet been presented to the press. Laurent Bonadei delivered his first words as coach of the French women’s football team this Monday.
Former Savoyard deputy Hervé Renard warned that he would not advocate the status quo. “What I told all the players is that everyone has a chance but no one is essential,” he warned in particular.
His mission will be, like his predecessors, to guide the Blues towards a first coronation in an international competition, knowing that they remain in seven quarter-finals lost out of eight contested. In this sense, his staff was expanded with the arrival of Thomas Sammut, Léon Marchand’s mental trainer. “Her mission will be to help the players progress from a mental point of view” and help them break this glass ceiling of the quarter-finals, explained the new coach, while warning that Sammut was neither “a guru, nor a psychologist.”
Laurent Bonadei, who has “met 31 players over the past month”, also affirmed that he was not closing the door to the French team to anyone, mentioning the case of Melvine Malard. The new coach has already met the Manchester United striker, 22 caps for Les Bleues, but who had not been called up by Hervé Renard for the 2023 World Cup and for the Paris Olympic Games.
Laurent Bonadei will unveil his first list on October 17. The Blues must play two friendly matches against Jamaica on October 25, in Sochaux, and October 29, in Geneva, to challenge Switzerland, the host country of the next Euro (from July 2 to 27, 2025).