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Following a season of instability on the sidelines, the San Diego Wave have found a new coach.
Jonas Eidevall, a Swede who spent four years as the head coach of Arsenal’s women’s team, has agreed to become the team’s new coach, sources confirmed to the Union-Tribune on Monday. A formal announcement isn’t expected until after the holidays.
Eidevall becomes the fourth person to coach the Wave since the start of the 2024 season.
Casey Stoney signed a contract extension in January that was supposed to keep her in San Diego through 2027, but a slow start and a stagnant offense led club president Jill Ellis to fire Stoney in June.
Paul Buckle was named interim coach through the summer’s Olympic break. In August, Ellis announced that former U.S. Men’s National Team star Landon Donovan had been named the team’s interim coach, replacing Buckle.
Donovan went 3-6-1 in 10 NWSL games and 2-1-0 in the Concacaf W Champions Cup and watched as star Alex Morgan retired, Abby Dahlkemper was traded and Sofia Jakobbson and Sierra Enge were released.
The Wave announced last month that Donovan would not return and that the club was “nearing the final stages” of its coaching search — one that will not include Ellis, who left the Wave for a job with FIFA.
New Wave Sporting Director and General Manager Camille Ashton aimed big with the 41-year-old Eidevall. He spent the past three-plus seasons at Arsenal, posting a record of 80-24-16 with a goal differential of plus-192. Eidevall resigned from the club in October after Arsenal struggled to a 1-1-2 start. Coincidentally, Stoney was initially rumored to be a candidate to replace Eidevall. Renée Slegers has been coaching the team since Eidevall’s departure.
This marks Eidevall’s first job coaching in the United States. Eidevall served as an assistant and head coach for Sweden’s Lunds BK and Sweden’s FC Rosengard from 2006-14. He returned to Rosengard in 2018 before being hired by Arsenal. He has also served as an assistant coach for Denmark’s Lengby Boldklub and Sweden’s Helsingborgs IF.
Eidevall’s teams typically play with a possession-first style that will be a marked difference from Donovan’s uptempo pace. Fortunately for the new coach, the Wave boast two of America’s top young players: defender Naomi Girma and midfielder Jaedyn Shaw. Both were part of the United States’ Olympic gold medal-winning team this summer.
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