PSG Women dismisses their coach Fabrice Abriel

For Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) players, the 2024-2025 season has been a pretty good one so far: a French championship title, confirmed on April 5, a favorable playoff in the Champions League semi-finals, and a Coupe de France final to be played on May 24 against Reims. For the club's women's team, the current season is far less encouraging.

Two days after a painful defeat in the Coupe de France final against Paris FC (0-0, 5 penalties to 4), coach Fabrice Abriel, 45, was suspended with a view to a dismissal procedure, Le Monde learned from a source close to the case on Monday, May 5, confirming information from the newspaper Le Parisien . He is replaced by Paulo César, who until then officiated on the bench of the PSG women's under-19 team.

This change comes just as the Parisians have only one chance left—and two games at most—to try and save their season. On May 11, Grace Geyoro's teammates will face their rivals Paris FC in the semifinals of the playoffs of the Premier League, the top flight of the French championship.

Appointed on July 8, 2024, to replace Jocelyn Prêcheur, Fabrice Abriel has had a complicated time at the helm of PSG. On September 24, his team was eliminated in the second qualifying round of the Champions League by Juventus Turin. Although second in the regular season, the club was largely outpaced by Olympique Lyonnais – 59 points to 49 –, conceding four draws and two defeats.

But more than results, it was Fabrice Abriel's management that caused his downfall. Since his arrival, the former PSG and Olympique de Marseille midfielder has come up against two of his squad's best players: French internationals Grace Geyoro and Sakina Karchaoui.

At the end of 2024, he first deprived the former of her captaincy, before leaving her out of the squad for three consecutive matches between November 23 and December 13. As for the latter, she was left on the substitutes' bench on March 29, during the victory against Saint-Etienne, before being, in turn, left out of the squad for the matches against Reims on April 11, then Le Havre on the 23rd.

Asked about this at a press conference before the Coupe de France final on Friday, May 2, Fabrice Abriel appeared annoyed: "I know how I want to win matches. I have a very clear idea and it's all mine. I'm focused on the positive things." Against Paris FC, he persisted by not starting either Sakina Karchaoui or his star striker, Marie-Antoinette Katoto. The two players, who finally came on after an hour, almost had a decisive goal.

While the understanding between Sakina Karchaoui and Fabrice Abriel has never been obvious, it has reportedly turned into a conflict following an interview given by the left-back to the daily newspaper L'Equipe. "I don't have the same affinity that I had with Jocelyn [Prêcheur] , in all honesty. So I work differently ," she explained. "When you have a really good relationship with a coach, it changes you, that's for sure." During this interview, she also lamented, on a more sporting level: "We don't have anything very specific in the game plan either."