Yoann Damet is a French

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach who is currently an assistant coach with the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

in the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He twice served as interim head coach of

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

at ages 29 and 30, making him the youngest head or assistant coach in

Early life

Damet was born on 19 March 1990 in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, France. He first started playing football at age 8 following the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, which was both hosted in and won by France. At age 17, he says he played club football at the fifth tier of the

French football league system The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France and Monaco, and includes one Spanish side. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two pro ...

. However, he did not think he was skilled enough to play professionally, so he turned his interests to coaching at age 16. In 2011, he earned a degree in sports training with a specialty in football from the

University of Burgundy The University of Burgundy (french: Université de Bourgogne, uB; formerly known as ''Université de Dijon'') is a public university located in Dijon, France. The University of Burgundy is situated on a large campus (more than 150 ha) in the east ...

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, France.

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 Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Jura in the

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...

region. In 2013, he joined the academy staff of

Dijon FCO Dijon Football Côte d'Or (; literally "Dijon Football Gold Coast"), commonly referred to as Dijon FCO or simply as Dijon, is a French football club based in Dijon. The club was founded in 1998 as a result of a merger between two local clubs in ...

, then in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

, and served as the U-11 head coach. In 2014, he moved to Canada to work for the

Montreal Impact Academy Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Initially he worked as the U-12 head coach, but became the U-18 head coach in December 2015. In March 2017, he left Montreal to join

in the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

as an assistant coach.

retained Damet through their transition up to

in 2019. 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 Jeff Berding (born February 8, 1967) is an American sports executive and politician. He serves as co-CEO of FC Cincinnati, a professional soccer team he co-founded in 2015. He is also a Democratic politician, having served on the Cincinnati City ...

, "a series of recent issues and a team culture that had deteriorated". 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. This ended both a seven-match winless streak and a 528-minute scoring drought for the club. 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 Ron Jans (, born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch football coach and former player, he currently is the head coach of Twente. Coaching career FC Groningen Born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Ron Jans joined FC Groningen on 2002, and was the longest-serv ...

on 4 August. 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. On 27 September 2021, Damet was released from the club along with head coach

Jaap Stam Jakob Stam (; born 17 July 1972) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. As a player, he played as a centre-back and is regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation. Stam played for several European clubs including P ...

and fellow assistant coach

Said Bakkati Said Bakkati ( ar, سعيد بقّاتي; born 23 March 1982) is a Dutch former footballer of Moroccan descent. He was a defender who played as a rightback. Playing career Club Bakkati's career began when he signed a professional contract with ...

. Damet was named head coach of

LA Galaxy II LA Galaxy II is an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, United States founded in 2014. It is the reserve team of the LA Galaxy. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the United Sta ...

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

on 28 January 2022. Damet joined the

first team staff on August 26, 2022.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Damet, Yoann Living people 1990 births Expatriate soccer managers in Canada Expatriate soccer managers in the United States French expatriate football managers French expatriate sportspeople in Canada French expatriate sportspeople in the United States CF Montréal non-playing staff FC Cincinnati non-playing staff FC Cincinnati coaches French football managers Sportspeople from Marseille LA Galaxy II coaches USL Championship coaches LA Galaxy coaches