Samba Diawara will not be the Reims manager next season | OneFootball

For a second successive summer, Stade de Reims will be on the lookout for a new manager.

L’Équipe reported on Monday that Samba Diawara will not be in charge of the Champagne club in 2025-26. The 47-year-old, born in Paris, was named the caretaker manager in early February after the club sacked Luka Elsner.

Diawara guided them to an appearance in the final of the Coupe de France, where they were hammered 3-0 by Paris Saint-Germain. The former defender, however, failed to find much success at Reims in Ligue 1, as they won just three matches in his second stint as manager.

Following their defeat in the Coupe de France final, Reims were relegated to Ligue 2, losing the second leg of their play-off at home to FC Metz 3-1 in extra time. It will be the first time the former two-time European Cup finalists will compete in the second tier since the 2017-18 campaign.

This season was eerily similar to the previous one for Diawara, who replaced Will Still as coach in the latter stages of 2023-24. While he won’t be in charge of this team, there’s a chance that Diawara will remain on the coaching staff, seeing as he’s under contract with the club until 2028.

It’s unclear who will be the next manager of Reims, but L’Équipe understands Philippe Montanier is the frontrunner. The 60-year-old former goalkeeper was most recently in charge of Toulouse FC, guiding them to the Coupe de France crown in 2022-23, their first in club history.

The club sacked Montanier in June 2023, having previously led them to the Ligue 2 title in the 2021-22 season. He was named the Ligue 2 Manager of the Season on two prior occasions.

GFFN | Joel Lefevre