Former US national team manager Bob Bradley has signed a two-year contract to manage French Ligue 2 side Le Havre, the club announced on Tuesday. Bradley will be introduced Wednesday morning.
Le Havre club president Vincent Volpe, an American who took over the club this summer, announced the hiring on Tuesday in a statement on the club’s website.
“We are proud to bring Bob Bradley to HAC,” the statement said. “Throughout his great career, marked by success, Bob has demonstrated his management qualities in the US, in Egypt and in Norway. Without a doubt, he is a natural leader with strong international experience, and we are confident that his management ability and experience will bring much to the Havre Athletic Club.”
Having coached in the college ranks, then as an assistant to Bruce Arena at D.C. United in 1996-97, Bradley managed the Chicago Fire from 1998-2002, winning an MLS Cup title and two US Open Cup championships. He then coached the MetroStars from 2003-05 and Chivas USA in 2006 before taking the helm of the US national team.
Bradley led the US to final of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the Round of 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup but was fired after losing to Mexico on the final of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Bradley was then appointed manager of the Egyptian national team. Despite managing during one of the most tumultuous times in the country’s history, Bradley led Egypt to the final round of African World Cup qualifying before falling to Ghana.
For the last two years, Bradley has managed Norwegian club Stabaek, helping the newly promoted club stay in the top flight and thrive, earning a Europa League qualifying-round spot for 2016-17 after finishing third in 2015.
Joining Bradley as new additions to the Le Havre staff will be Oswald Tanchot, a veteran of the French lower leagues as both a player and head coach, and fitness coach Pierre Barrieu, who was widely praised for his work with Bradley on the US national team.
Currently fourth in Ligue 2, from which the top two teams will be promoted to Ligue 1, Le Havre have not competed in Ligue 1 since finishing last in 2008-09. In recent years, they have ranged from 6th to 15th in Ligue 2, including a 7th-place finish last season.
The club have been without a permanent manager since Thierry Goudet was fired at the end of the 2014-15 season; former club goalkeeper Christophe Revault has served as interim manager.
Le Havre, a city of about 175,000, is located on the English Channel and at the mouth of the River Seine in the region of Haute-Normandie.
