Italian Fabio Grosso has been officially named coach of Lyon, the club, currently last in the French championship, announced on Saturday September 16. Aged 45, Grosso, world champion in 2006 with Italy and former player for Olympique Lyonnais (OL, 2007-2009), has signed up until June 30, 2024 with an option for an additional season. He will take office on Monday, OL wrote in a press release.
He replaces Laurent Blanc, whose departure “by mutual agreement”, after the defeat recorded at home against Paris Saint-Germain (4-1) in the league, was announced on September 11.
“First Italian international to wear the OL jersey” – winner of the French championship and the Coupe de France in 2008 – Fabio Grosso also becomes the first Italian coach of the Rhone club, in the midst of a sporting and institutional crisis from the start of the season.
Currently last in Ligue 1, with only one point in four games (one draw and three defeats), Lyon has been the scene of tensions in recent weeks between its illustrious former president, Jean-Michel Aulas, and the club’s new owner, the American John Textor.
Fabio Grosso must attend on Sunday, from the stands, the Lyon-Le Havre match which will be managed from the sidelines by a trio of temporary workers made up of Jean-François Vulliez, former director of the training center and assistant to Laurent Blanc, and two former players of the club, Jérémie Bréchet and Sonny Anderson.
