MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact and Thierry Henry announced on Wednesday the first team coaching staff for the 2020 MLS season. The staff will be completed by assistant coaches Kwame Ampadu, Wilfried Nancy and Patrice Bernier, goalkeeper coach Rémy Vercoutre and fitness coach Jules Gueguen.
Kwame Ampadu is joining the Impact as assistant coach, after serving in the same functions with Henry at French club AS Monaco, in Ligue 1, in 2018-19. A UEFA A licensee, they previously worked together within the Academy of English club Arsenal FC.
He began his coaching career in 2005 with Exeter City FC, subsequently working with the U18 team between 2008 and 2012. He then returned with the Gunners in 2012, helping the U14, U16 and U18 teams. He led Arsenal FC U18 to a second place finish in the 2016-17 U18 Premier League Professional Development League.
On the field, Ampadu, 48, started his professional career with Arsenal in 1988, before successively playing with West Bromwich Albion, Leyton Orient FC and Exeter City FC in England, and Swansea City FC in Wales. He retired in 2006, after appearing in more than 450 professional games. At the international level, he represented Ireland four times with the U21 team.
Wilfried Nancy will return as assistant coach, after occupying this role for the last four seasons with the first team. He previously served as a coach with the Academy since its inception in 2011, successively acting as U18 head coach from 2011 to 2013, U21 head coach in 2014 and U16 head coach in 2014 and 2015.
Patrice Bernier, who served as assistant coach in the last two months of the season, will also remain with the first team coaching staff to work closely with the club’s young players and their transition from the Academy. Bernier played with the Impact from 2000 and 2002, and from 2012 and 2017 in MLS, wearing the captain’s armband from 2014 to his last professional game. He appeared in the MLS All-Star game against A.S. Roma in 2013 and was named Impact MVP and Communitarian in 2012. Holding several club records, he joined the Impact Academy as coach in 2018.
Rémy Vercoutre will begin his second season as goalkeeper coach. He played a total of 240 games in Ligue 1 during a career spanning 20 years with HSC Montpellier, Olympique Lyonnais, Racing Strasbourg and SM Caen, winning the French title five times with Lyon, as well as lifting a Coupe de France, a Coupe de la Ligue and two Trophées des Champions.
Finally, Jules Gueguen becomes the first team fitness coach. He joined the Montreal Impact Academy in 2016 as assistant fitness coach, before taking on the role of senior fitness coach in 2018. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physical activity intervention from UQAM and a Master’s degree in science, sports science and sports psychology from Lund University, in Sweden. He is also has a college degree in physical evaluation and preparation from the Institut national du sport, in partnership with the University of Poitiers, in France, and holds a National B Licence.
