Wilfried Nancy leaves CF Montreal to become Columbus Crew head coach

Wilfried Nancy, a finalist for Major League Soccer coach of the year, has left CF Montreal to take over the Columbus Crew.

CF Montreal says the team reached a financial agreement with Columbus that will allow Nancy, under contract with Montreal through the 2023 season, to join the Crew.

"Despite the club's efforts to have Wilfried continue our project, we were forced to accept his decision to leave the organization. We want people who want to be with us and Wilfried has chosen a different path," said CF Montreal president Gabriel Gervais. "I would like to thank him for all his years with the club and in particular, for what he accomplished with the first team over the past two seasons."

Nancy is taking three members of his Montreal staff — assistant coach Kwame Ampadu, fitness coach Jules Gueguen and video analyst Maxime Chalier — with him to Columbus.

The 45-year-old Nancy succeeds Caleb Porter, who was fired one day after the regular season ended Oct. 9 with the Crew (10-8-16) finishing eighth in the Eastern Conference, missing out on the playoffs for a second straight year.

The facilities, the stadium, and the persons in place ... there is everything [here] to do something great.— Former CF Montreal coach Wilfried Nancy on move to Columbus 

Nancy, meanwhile, led Montreal to second place in the East with a 20-9-5 record. Montreal opened the playoffs by beating Orlando 2-0 before falling 3-1 to New York City FC in the East semifinal.

At a press conference in Columbus announcing his arrival, Nancy said the opportunity to play home games in the Crew's stadium, the 20,000-seat Lower.com Field which opened in 2021, was a major factor in his decision to switch teams.

"When I came [to Columbus] the first time, when I stepped on the field, I had goosebumps. It's as simple as that," Henry said Tuesday.

"I have travelled a lot and when I came here, I saw this — the facilities, the stadium, and the persons in place [were] good people and competent people. … There is everything [here] to do something great and that is why I came here."

Nearly won MLS coach of the year award

Montreal set franchise records last season for wins (20), points (65) and goals scored (63), among other marks. Its 35 points away from home was also an MLS record in the non-shootout era.

Nancy narrowly lost to Philadelphia's Jim Curtin in balloting for the 2022 Sigi Schmid coach of the year award. Curtin had 23.57 per cent of the vote by MLS technical staff, media, and players, while Nancy had 23.47 per cent.

Montreal has already seen plenty of turnover with U.S. star midfielder Djordje Mihailovic and Canadian internationals Alistair Johnston and Ismael Kone moving to clubs in Europe.

Nancy succeeded Thierry Henry as Montreal head coach in March 2021 after the former star striker announced his departure from the club for family reasons.

Nancy worked in a variety of roles with Montreal, serving as a coach with the club's academy since its inception in 2011. He coached the club's under-16, under-18 and under-21 teams before becoming a first-team assistant coach in 2016.

Born in Toulon, Nancy played from 1995 to 2005 in France.