Sonia Bompastor, the daughter of Benfica fans who coaches Lyon and came from a house where even “the cups for drinking coffee were from Benfica”

Sonia Bompastor remembers the silence. The daughter of Portuguese emigrants, when she spent her summers in the land of her ancestors, had to remain silent during some afternoons of the week: at times when Benfica played, the absence of side conversations highlighted the importance of the moment.

Many years after that, the Portuguese-French woman returned to travel to the land of her roots, on a journey of reunion. She, the daughter and granddaughter of Benfica fans, will guide Lyon in the tie against Benfica, in the Eagles’ debut in the quarter-finals of the women’s Champions League.

Owner of one of the most important careers in French women’s football of this century, Bompastor, aged 43, was a reference footballer, with 156 caps for the French team and two Champions League wins, both with Lyon. After hanging up his boots, he started working in the club’s academy before, in 2020, taking on technical command of the main team, a role in which he has already repeated the Champions League triumph, in 2022 – in total, the French club has eight.

In an interview with Express Tribune, recalls the family’s Benfica past and explains the importance of the meeting, even if sentimentality does not take away its competitive discourse. In Portuguese with that accent of an emigrant’s daughter, Bompastor praises Kika Nazareth and reflects on the possibility of seeing women at the head of technical teams in men’s football.

After the draw for the quarter-finals, he said he was happy to have won against Benfica, as his family is Benfica fans. Where does this connection to the club come from?
My parents are both Portuguese, they came to France when my father was 16 and my mother 19 years old. I have two brothers and the three of us were born here in France, but at home we always spoke Portuguese. Most of the family on my father’s side also came, but on my mother’s side they all stayed in Portugal, in Póvoa de Varzim. My grandfather, my uncles, my cousins, are all Benfica fans, with the exception of my father’s brother, who is a Porto fan. The whole family on my mother’s side is also from Benfica and, every summer, when we returned to Portugal, the club was the main reason for conversation and passion: there were Benfica flags and posters, the cups for drinking coffee were also from Benfica. , it was a great passion.

What do you remember most about those summers of supporting Benfica?
My grandparents and uncles, when they showed games on television, were always watching and it was a solemn occasion, you couldn’t make any noise. It was the most important moment.