<p>LYON, France — Europe’s most successful women’s soccer team has hired a woman as its coach for the first time with Lyon’s appointment of Sonia Bompastor to replace Jean-Luc Vasseur.</p>
<p>The seven-time European champion on Tuesday parted ways with Vasseur after the team recently was knocked out of the Women’s Champions League at the quarterfinal stage.</p>
<p>Lyon had won five consecutive Champions League titles but was eliminated by French rival Paris Saint-Germain this season. The 14-time French champions also trail PSG in the domestic league by one point.</p>
<p>The 40-year-old Bompastor, a former France midfielder and defender who played six seasons at Lyon, has a contract through June 2023. She was director of Lyon’s women’s academy for the past eight years.</p>
<p>“I am a competitor, and I like challenges,” Bompastor said. “We have everything we need to win the title and rediscover the (Lyon) DNA on the pitch. I’m going to put that into place.”</p>
<p>Vasseur was the UEFA women’s coach of the year in 2019-20, his first season with Lyon.</p>
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