The Washington Spirit announced Monday that manager Jonatan Giráldez will leave the team to join OL Lyonnes in France, ahead of the start of Lyon's 2025-26 Première Ligue campaign.
The departure will happen at the end of June, with three more Spirit matches in the National Women's Soccer League to be taken under Giráldez.
Giráldez joined the Spirit less than one year ago from FC Barcelona, where he won the UEFA Women's Champions League twice in three seasons.
Giráldez led the Spirit to second place in the NWSL and was the runner-up in the Championship final in 2024. Giráldez's current record with the Spirit is 14-6-3.
Spirit assistant coach Adrián González, who was the interim head coach in 2024, will be promoted to manager in July.
We are excited to announce the promotion of Adrián González as Head Coach of the Washington Spirit 👏
— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) June 2, 2025
Coach Jonatan Giráldez will continue to coach the team until July 18 and will then transition to Head Coach of OL Lyonnes! https://t.co/W7IeKAFMmD
In that interim period in 2024, González was admired by the fans and led the team to a successful record of 10-4-1 before handing the reins over to Giráldez.
The multi-club conundrum
Both the Spirit and OL Lyonnes are owned by Michele Kang. The move brings multi-team ownership under the microscope as Kang transfers one manager between two of her teams.
In addition to the Spirit and OL Lyonnes, Kang also owns London City Lionesses in the English Women's Super League.
Giráldez will replace Joe Montemurro in Lyon, who only spent one season as manager before departing so he could become the head coach of the Australian women's national team.
The Spirit community has been taking to social media to share their confusion over seeing the team's coach move to another Kang-owned team in Europe.
Annie Elliot, host of the "Hey Spirits" podcast, added her frustration: "After all the fanfare and expense of bringing Giráldez to the U.S., he doesn't even last a full year. No matter what the reasons behind this, it's a bad look for Michele Kang's soccer empire and a crappy way to treat the Spirit."
The news of Giráldez's departure also comes while star player Trinity Rodman is away from the team, as she manages a back injury. Rodman will also be out of contract at the end of the 2025 NWSL season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Washington Spirit Manager Jonatan Giraldez to Depart for French Powerhouse Lyon.
