Patrice Lair (born 16 June 1961) is a French
football coach. He is currently the manager of
Division 1 Féminine
The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...
side
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
.
Career
As a footballer Lair played in the lower categories in France. After spending a decade in
Stade Briochin and
US Avranches
L’Union Sportive Avranches Mont Saint Michel is a French football club based in Avranches, in the department of Manche, and founded in 1897. Since 2014 it plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football.
The club has b ...
, in 1987 he moved to
FC Périgueux where he had his first experience as a coach, coaching the junior team while playing in the first team. He repeated these functions in
US Saint-Malo
Union Sportive Saint-Malo is a French association football club founded in 1901. They are based in the town of Saint-Malo and their home stadium is the Stade Marville. As of the 2017–18 season, they play in the Championnat National 2.
Current ...
before making his debut as a
player-coach
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
in
USA Pouancé in 1993. He subsequently played and coached for
Racing Doué,
AC Pouzauges,
Trélissac FC,
ESA Briviste and Reims either as a player-coach or training junior teams, before retiring in 2001.
After retiring he was appointed the assistant coach of
Stade de Reims, which was promoted in 2002 to
Ligue 2 after a decade in lower categories. After first coach
Marc Collat was sacked in 2003 he was offered his position, but he declined the offer and moved to
AS Angoulême
As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer
* "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder
* , a Spanish sports newspaper
* , an academic male voic ...
as an assistant coach. In 2004, he held his first position as a first coach in
CS Villeneuve, and in 2005 he made his debut in
women's football, taking charge of
defending champion Montpellier HSC
Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...
. Under Lair's two-years tenure Montpellier won two
national cups, reached the
2006 European Cup semifinals and was the championship's runner-up behind
FCF Juvisy
Paris FC is a French women's football club based in Viry-Châtillon, a suburb of Paris. The club is the female section of Ligue 2 men's club Paris FC. The club was founded in 1971 and currently play in the Division 1 Féminine, the first divis ...
and
Olympique Lyonnais. Lair subsequently returned to male amateur football, coaching
Castelnau-le-Crès FC for two seasons. In 2009, he moved to
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...
to coach
Espoir de Savalou, but he left the team after a month. He also coached briefly the
Rwanda under-17 national team, also serving as the senior team's assistant coach, the following year.
In June 2010, Lair returned to France to coach Olympique Lyonnais women's team, replacing
Farid Benstiti. He was nominated for the
FIFA Women's Football World Coach award in 2011 and 2012. After the
2013–14 Division 1 Féminine season, Lair stepped down as the Coach of Olympique Lyonnais women's team, after achieving a third straight domestic double. He stated that it was the perfect way to leave. During his reign at Lyon, Lair led the club to four
Division 1 Féminine
The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twel ...
titles, three
Coupe de France Féminine
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
titles and two
UEFA Women's Champions League
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
The ...
titles.
On 28 May 2018, he was announced as the new head coach of
Chamois Niortais. In December 2018 he was suspended, and he was formally sacked in January 2019.
On 4 June 2019, he was announced manager of newly relegated
Ligue 2 club
Guingamp
Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 6,895 as of 2017, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Gui ...
for the 2019/20 season. After a poor start which saw the club in 14th place with nine points, he was sacked on 23 September 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lair, Patrice
Living people
1961 births
Sportspeople from Saint-Brieuc
French football managers
French footballers
Association football midfielders
Stade Briochin players
US Avranches players
US Saint-Malo players
Trélissac FC players
Stade de Reims players
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin managers
Paris Saint-Germain Féminine managers
En Avant Guingamp managers
Chamois Niortais F.C. managers
Footballers from Brittany