Yoann Damet, 35, is the new St. Louis City SC head coach after three seasons as an assistant with the Columbus Crew.Jeremy Miller /Cincinnati Soccer Talk

In only their 4th year in existence in Major League Soccer, St. Louis City SC has a new coach in Yoann Damet, who replaces interim coach David Critchley, who was brought in after Olaf Melberg was let go midway through the season. Last season, the City SC finished 8-18-8 last season and finished 13th in the 15-team MLS Western Conference.

“I’m honored to be joining City SC,” Damet said, “and really looking forward to getting to work with the team and building a high-standard environment that represents the fans and this city.

“This is an ambitious club, and we’ll work extremely hard every day to be competitive and play an entertaining style of soccer the fans and supporters can relate to and enjoy.” 

For Damet, this is very first head coaching job in the Major League Soccer. A native of Marseille, France, Damet started at 16 with Beaune FC’s U13 team. He moved later coached at Jera Sud Foot and Dijon FCO before joining CF Montreal Academy in 2014. In 2017, he served as an assistant for USL FC Cincinnati and was an interim coach in 2020 before the team was disbanded. He spent the last three years as an assistant coach under former head coach Wilfried Nancy with the Columbus Crew and was a member of the Crew’s winning MLS Cup (2023) and Leagues Cup (2024) teams. Nancy was named the new head coach at Celtic FC of the Scottish Premiership.

City SC hopes to return to its winning ways, as it did in its inaugural season in 2023, when it finished atop the Western Conference only to be knocked out of the first round by its rival, Sporting Kansas City. Since then, the team has been in a downward spiral after the controversial firing of Bradley Carnell, who went to Philadelphia and helped the club finish on top of the Eastern Conference and win the Supporter Shield in 2025.