Washington Spirit head coach Jonatan Giráldez is in advanced discussions to take over as head coach of French powerhouse OL Lyonnes, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.
Both the Spirit and OL Lyonnes -- the eight-time women's champions of Europe who recently rebranded from Olympique Lyonnais -- are owned by Michele Kang.
A Spirit spokesperson would not comment when contacted by ESPN about the possibility of Giráldez leaving the club.
OL Lyonnes is expected to soon have a vacant head coach position. Joe Montemurro, who took the job last summer, will leave to become the head coach of the Australian women's national team, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Details of the move for Giráldez are still being finalized and discussions are ongoing, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.
Kang owns the Washington Spirit, OL Lyonnes and England's London City Lionesses. She told ESPN recently that she will soon add a fourth club to her growing ownership umbrella. Kang has said on several occasions that she would not use the multi-club model to move around players.
"I'm not going to rob the best players from one team and give them to another team," she told ESPN recently. Adding, she wants to create "the No. 1 team in each country."
Giráldez took over as head coach of the Spirit last year after guiding Barcelona to a UEFA Champions League title. He arrived in Washington last summer and helped guide the Spirit to a second-place finish in the regular season and runners-up finish in the NWSL Championship.
Adrián González coached the Spirit on an interim basis last spring and would be a likely successor to Giráldez.
At Barcelona, Giráldez won league titles in each of his three seasons as head coach and won UEFA Champions League titles in 2023 and 2024. He and Barcelona finished second in 2022, losing the final to Lyon.
