Yoann Damet

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Yoann Damet
CINvPGH 2018-09-01 - Yoann Damet (30148583167) (cropped).jpg
Damet with FC Cincinnati in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1990-03-19) 19 March 1990 (age 35)
Place of birth Marseille, France
Team information
Current team
 St. Louis City SC (head coach)
Managerial career
YearsTeam
2017–2021 FC Cincinnati (assistant)
2019 FC Cincinnati (interim)
2020 FC Cincinnati (interim)
2021 United States U20 (assistant)
2022 LA Galaxy II
2022 LA Galaxy (assistant)
2023–2025 Columbus Crew (assistant)
2026– St. Louis City SC

Yoann Damet is a French association football coach who is currently the head coach of Major League Soccer club St. Louis City SC.

Contents

Damet began his managerial career at age 16, coaching several youth squads in France and Canada. He then spent four years as an assistant coach with FC Cincinnati, twice serving as interim head coach. At 29 years of age, Damet was the youngest head or assistant coach in Major League Soccer when Cincinnati joined the league in 2019. He then served in assistant and second-team coaching roles at LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew. In December 2025, he was named head coach of St. Louis City SC, his first permanent head coach position with a top-division team.

Early life

Damet was born on 19 March 1990 in Marseille, France. [1] [2] 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 league system. However, he did not think he would make it to a professional level as a player, so he developed an early interest in coaching. [3] In 2011, he earned a degree in sports training with a specialty in football from the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. [4]

Career

Youth coaching

Damet began his managerial career at age 16 with the sixth-tier club Beaune, where he coached the under-13 level from 2006 to 2011. He then moved on to the fourth division club Jura Sud, where he was the head coach of the U-15 and U-17 teams from 2011 to 2012. 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, then in Ligue 2, and served as the U-11 head coach. [5]

In 2014, he moved to Canada to work for the Montreal Impact Academy. Initially he worked as the U-12 head coach, then became the U-18 head coach in December 2015. [5]

FC Cincinnati

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. [4]

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". [6] As a result, Damet was named interim head coach while an international search was undertaken for a permanent replacement. At 29 years old, Damet was the youngest head or assistant coach in the league. [7]

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 alleged 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]

LA Galaxy

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 as an assistant coach on 26 August 2022. [14]

Columbus Crew

On 17 January 2023, Columbus Crew announced the hire of several first-team coaching staffers, including Damet as an assistant coach. The hires came one month after Wilfried Nancy had taken over as Columbus's head coach in December. [15] During Damet's time with the club, Columbus won MLS Cup 2023 and the 2024 Leagues Cup.

St. Louis City SC

After Nancy departed Columbus for Scottish club Celtic on 3 December 2025, some media outlets mentioned Damet as a possible next head coach for the club. [16] [17] But instead, on 16 December, Damet was named as the new head coach of St. Louis City SC, his first permanent head coaching position in Major League Soccer. [18] Damet's hire came seven months after the firing of his predecessor, Olof Mellberg, and one month after the hire of sporting director Corey Wray. [17]

Managerial statistics

As of 30 June 2022
Managerial record by team and tenure
TeamNatFromToRecordRef
GWDLGFGAGDWin %
FC Cincinnati (interim) Flag of the United States.svg 7 May 20194 August 20191540111740−23026.67 [19]
FC Cincinnati (interim) Flag of the United States.svg 17 February 202021 May 2020200235−2000.00 [19]
LA Galaxy II Flag of the United States.svg 28 January 20221 July 2022187382633−7038.89[ citation needed ]
St. Louis City SC Flag of the United States.svg 16 December 2025Present000000+0!—
Total35113214678−32031.43

Honors

Assistant coach

Columbus Crew

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ "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.
  3. ↑ Welcome to Cincy: FC Cincinnati's Yoann Damet Talks with CST (Video interview). Cincinnati Soccer Talk. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  4. 1 2 Hatch, Charlie (4 April 2019). "The Rapid And Remarkable Rise of Yoann Damet". FC Cincinnati. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. 1 2 Kimura, Fumi (28 March 2017). "Yoann Damet joins Coaching Staff as Assistant". USL Soccer. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Bogert, Tom (7 May 2019). "FC Cincinnati dismiss head coach Alan Koch". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Brigand, Maxime (9 October 2019). "Damet: «Sur le banc, tu n'as pas le temps de te dire que tu as 29 ans»". SO FOOT (in French). Archived from the original on 19 November 2020.
  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. ↑ Caperton, Alex (17 January 2023). "Columbus Crew announces additions to coaching staff". WSYX.
  16. ↑ Kay, Brianna Mac (12 December 2025). "How Issa Tall is approaching Crew's search to replace Wilfried Nancy". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  17. 1 2 Horneker, Justin (16 December 2025). "5 things to know about new St. Louis CITY SC manager Yoann Damet". St. Louis Magazine . Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  18. ↑ MLSsoccer staff (16 December 2025). "St. Louis CITY name Yoann Damet head coach". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  19. 1 2 "FC Cincinnati: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
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