Yoann Damet

Yoann Damet
Damet with FC Cincinnati in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1990-03-19) 19 March 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth Marseille, France
Team information
Current team
 Columbus Crew (first-team coach)
Managerial career
Years Team
2006–2011 Beaune FC U13
2011–2012 Jura Sud Foot U17
2012–2013 Jura Sud Foot U15
2013–2014 Dijon FCO U11
2014–2015 Montreal Impact Academy U12
2015–2017 Montreal Impact Academy U18
2017–2021 FC Cincinnati (assistant)
2019 FC Cincinnati (interim)
2020 FC Cincinnati (interim)
2022 LA Galaxy II
2022 LA Galaxy (assistant)
2023– Columbus Crew (assistant)

Yoann Damet is a French association football coach who is currently a first-team coach with Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer. He served twice as interim head coach of FC Cincinnati at ages 29 and 30, making him the youngest head or assistant coach in Major League Soccer.[1]

Early life

Damet was born on 19 March 1990 in Marseille, France.[2][3] He first started playing football at age 8 following the 1998 FIFA World Cup, which was both hosted and won by France. At age 17 he played club football at the fifth tier of the French football league system. However, he did not think he was skilled enough to play professionally, so he turned his interests to coaching at age 16.[4] In 2011, he earned a degree in sports training with a specialty in football from the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France.[5]

Career

Damet began his managerial career at age 16 with the sixth-tier club Beaune FC, where he spent five years as the under-13 coach. He then moved on to the fourth division club Jura Sud Foot, where he was the head coach of the U-15 and U-17 teams for two years. He also spent a season managing the U-14 district tournament of the department of Jura in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. In 2013, he joined the academy staff of Dijon FCO, then in Ligue 2, and served as the U-11 head coach.[6]

In 2014, he moved to Canada to work for the Montreal Impact Academy. Initially he worked as the U-12 head coach, but became the U-18 head coach in December 2015.[6]

In March 2017, he left Montreal to join FC Cincinnati in the United Soccer League as an assistant coach. FC Cincinnati retained Damet through their transition up to Major League Soccer in 2019.[5]

On 7 May 2019, Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch was fired after starting the season with just 8 points through 11 games and, according to club president Jeff Berding, "a series of recent issues and a team culture that had deteriorated".[7] As a result, Damet was named interim head coach while an international search was undertaken for a permanent replacement. Damet's first match as head coach was a 2–1 win on 11 May against his former club Montreal Impact.[8] This ended both a seven-match winless streak and a 528-minute scoring drought for the club.[9] However, this was followed by another losing streak which lasted six regular season matches. Damet's tenure as interim coach ended after 15 matches when FC Cincinnati announced the hiring of Ron Jans on 4 August.[10]

Jans resigned from his head coach position on 17 February 2020 amidst an investigation into his use of a racial slur. The club once again selected Damet to serve as interim coach while a permanent replacement was sought.[11]

On 27 September 2021, Damet was released from the club along with head coach Jaap Stam and fellow assistant coach Said Bakkati.[12]

Damet was named head coach of LA Galaxy II in USL Championship on 28 January 2022.[13] Damet joined the LA Galaxy first team staff on 26 August 2022.[14]

Managerial statistics

As of 30 June 2022
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
FC Cincinnati (interim) United States 7 May 2019 4 August 2019 15 4 0 11 17 40 −23 026.67 [15]
FC Cincinnati (interim) United States 17 February 2020 21 May 2020 2 0 0 2 3 5 −2 000.00 [15]
LA Galaxy II United States 28 January 2022 1 July 2022 18 7 3 8 26 33 −7 038.89 [16]
Total 35 11 3 21 46 78 −32 031.43

Honors

Assistant coach

Columbus Crew

References

  1. ^ Damet: «Sur Le Banc, Tu N'as Pas Le Temps De Te Dire Que Tu As 29 Ans» sofoot.com
  2. ^ FC Cincinnati [@fccincinnati] (19 March 2019). "Before training, the #FCCincy squad celebrated @YoannDmt's birthday! Wish him the best on his special day!" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 May 2019 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "Le Français Yoann Damet plus jeune entraîneur de l'histoire de la MLS" [French Yoann Damet youngest coach in MLS history]. L'Équipe (in French). 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  4. ^ Welcome to Cincy: FC Cincinnati's Yoann Damet Talks with CST (Video interview). Cincinnati Soccer Talk. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b Hatch, Charlie (4 April 2019). "The Rapid And Remarkable Rise of Yoann Damet". FC Cincinnati. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  6. ^ a b Kimura, Fumi (28 March 2017). "Yoann Damet joins Coaching Staff as Assistant". USL Soccer. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  7. ^ Bogert, Tom (7 May 2019). "FC Cincinnati dismiss head coach Alan Koch". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  8. ^ Brennan, Pat (11 May 2019). "Yoann Damet's debut a success as FC Cincinnati tops first-place Montreal Impact, 2–1". Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  9. ^ Quillen, Ian (11 May 2019). "Yoann Damet has the interim tag, but he's still trying to leave an imprint". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  10. ^ Baer, Benjamin (4 August 2019). "FC Cincinnati name Ron Jans head coach". MLSsoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  11. ^ Brennan, Pat (18 February 2020). "FC Cincinnati: Ron Jans resigns as head coach". Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  12. ^ "FC Cincinnati announce departure of Head Coach Jaap Stam".
  13. ^ "LA Galaxy II Announce Yoann Damet as Head Coach". LAGalaxy.com. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  14. ^ "LA Galaxy Add Yoann Damet to First-Team Coaching Staff". LAGalaxy.com. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  15. ^ a b "FC Cincinnati: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Yoann Damet career sheet". footballdatabase. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yoann Damet.