Jonatan Giraldéz addresses departure from Washington Spirit: ‘Football is unpredictable'
Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giraldéz on Friday began his first press conference since the news of his midseason departure to lead OL Lyonnes by admitting the situation was 'not ideal.'
As he gets set to coach his final three games in NWSL before moving to France, he encouraged fans and players 'keep working, keep supporting the team in the way that they were' last season when the Spirit made it to the NWSL Championship.
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'I am part of the group. I am not the most important guy,' Giraldéz said. 'I came here with a plan, probably to stay longer, but… in soccer things change so quick.'
OL Lyonnes, like the Spirit, is one of three women's soccer clubs owned by Michele Kang under her expanding Kynisca Sports International organization. OL Lyonnes (formerly Olympique Lyonnais Féminin) is the most successful women's club in Europe, having won the UEFA Women's Champions League a record eight times. Giraldéz will start his job in Lyon on July 18.
'Coaching at a club like Lyon, training those players, will be a major step forward in my career,' he added.
According to Giraldéz, as well as sources who previously described the move to , the organization only began approaching the coach with the opportunity after it became clear that former OL Lyonnes coach Joe Montemurro was leaving. Australia announced Montemurro as the next coach of their women's national team earlier this week.
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'From the organization, they thought that the first person to lead that project, it's me,' Giráldez said, describing the timeline for the changes. 'I have to say yes to lead that project, for sure. It's not about them, it's about us, all together, as an organization, owner, CEO and then the sporting director, and then the head coach has to decide something.'
In addition to Kang's overlap of teams, Kynisca's global sporting director, Markel Zubizarreta, and Giraldéz worked together at the coach's previous club in Barcelona. Giraldéz will leave the Spirit in July and will bring two members of his coaching staff who came with him from Barcelona, fitness coach Andrés González and club analyst Toni Gordo, to Lyon.
Giraldéz arrived in D.C. last summer from FC Barcelona Feminí, fresh off winning two UEFA Champions League titles with the Spanish powerhouse. When he left Barça in 2023, he made it clear he wasn't planning to stay in Europe, as he didn't want to risk facing his former club as a rival. However, OL Lyonnes and Barcelona are regular Champions League finalists.
On Friday, Giraldéz explained that he would not go directly from Barcelona to a team that competed against them, but clarified he never ruled out a return to Europe. The stopover in Washington helps add distance.
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'When I left Barça, I said I didn't want to compete against them right after my departure, that's one of the reasons I came here,' Giraldéz said. 'But I'm 33 years old, and of course, Europe is still on the table.
'Also, I've said many times, we can't plan five years ahead in this sport. Football is unpredictable. I've lived it. You think you'll be in one place, and then everything changes.'
Something that has been made clear by Kang's multi-club organization is that having assistant coach Adrián González waiting in the wings makes the transition more comfortable. Giraldéz said as much on Friday.
Gonzalez, who was tasked with leading the Spirit through the first 15 games of the 2024 season, while Giraldéz finished the Champions League season with Barcelona, will take over the Spirit full-time again this summer.
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'We found that the best option for both sides was going to Lyonnes for the next season, and here (in Washington) they can keep continuing to build some things and be able to get a lot of trophies,' Giraldéz said. 'I don't think the team is going to have less chances to win because the same ideas are coming for the future.'
One thing that has been consistent at Washington is inconsistency, especially when it comes to head coaches. The Spirit have had seven coaching changes since 2021, the year they won their first NWSL Championship.
After players started catching word that Giraldéz might leave, via other players and agents, they held a players' only meeting, according to goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury.
'It wasn't a big shock just because, like I said, we heard of it, so maybe that was a little easier to take,' Kingsbury said. 'But we're very happy for Jona. We're happy for Adrian.
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'We've gone through a lot of transition. I think we're well-positioned for this one, because a lot of us have already worked with Adrian. Obviously, he's been here as an assistant coach, and a lot of us had him as a head coach. Yes, we're sad to see Jona go, but just very grateful for the time that we've had with him, the foundation he's laid, the competitiveness he's brought every day.'
Despite the optics, Kang has emphasized to fans and players that the Spirit was her first investment in sports, which carries weight. Kingsbury and fellow veteran Ashley Hatch repeated that on Friday. The club limited questions, however, and did not make additional front office staff at Washington or Kynisca available to the media.
Under Giraldéz, the Spirit finished second in the NWSL and made it to the championship, where they fell to the Orlando Pride. They won the Challenge Cup earlier this year, a one-off match between the two top finishers in NWSL from the year prior, and currently sit fourth in the league with a 6-3-1 record.
'I know there can be some noise around situations like this, but for me, this is all part of the game,' Giraldéz said. 'Football isn't about coaches, it's about players.'
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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